A Friendly Caring Village School

School Prospectus 2013-2014 A friendly caring village school Welcometo St John’s CE Primary School Dear Parents & Carers, Welcome to St John’s CE Primary School. We are a local village school based on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors in the village of Rishworth. We have a committed and talented team of staff, governors and volunteers who all work together to provide children with an exciting and enjoyable learning experience. Our prospectus aims to give you a glimpse of what our school has to offer your child and hope you find all the information you need. If you have further questions please don’t hesitate in contact us and you are very welcome to arrange a visit to the school. We look forward to your visit P Simpson Mr Philip Simpson, Headteacher 2 Our School Our School was originally opened by the National Society in January 1874 and remains a Church School to this day. St John’s CE Primary School, Rishworth is a co-educational Church of England Academy for day pupils aged from 4 to 11. Since its opening, the build- ing has been extended several times and now provides five spacious classrooms, an extra infant teaching area/library, an ICT suite, two meeting rooms, a large hall and school kitchen. All our classrooms are warm and welcoming; they are carpeted and well furnished and resourced. Teachers use display boards to show children’s work and to provide a reference for children during lessons. Interactive whiteboards are installed in each classroom and children have access to class computers as well as those in the ICT suite. The school also has wireless connectivity throughout. 3 Our Aims & Objectives Philosophy of Education: We believe that children learn best when they are happy and have the confidence to respond to the challenges that result in learning. At St John’s we endeavour to set learning challenges within a caring, Christian environment where adults lead by example. We value the role of parents, families and the community in the education of our children and we endeavour to keep our practices under systematic review with the aim of continuing improvement. The School’s Aims are : To maximise the academic attainment of each child To maximise the personal, social and spiritual development of each child Helping us to meet our aims - the School’s Objectives are to: Provide an environment that keeps pupils Provide practical opportunities for partner- and staff safe from physical and emotional ship with parents harm Be a friendly and inviting place Provide excellent learning opportunities, Create a happy and caring environment inside and outside the classroom Provide enriched, extra-curricular provision Ensure that a disciplined, well ordered environment is maintained Be committed to the professional development of our staff Create a caring, Christian environment where children learn about the traditions Be a good employer and beliefs of the Church of England Ensure that every child becomes an effec- Help children to develop knowledge of and tive, contributing member of the school respect for the beliefs and value systems of community others Meet the needs of each individual child Parents, children, Governors and the Church Provide a good quality learning environ- community have helped us to identify our objec- ment tives. Provide access to good quality resources 4 The Curriculum You may already know that every state school in Britain follows the same guidelines as to what children should learn. This is the National Curriculum. Our school follows this statutory framework to plan its curriculum. The curriculum for each age group is organised in different ways. In Reception children cover the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. This is organised under 3 headings: 1. Personal, social and emotional development 2. Physical development 3. Communication and language In key stage 1 and key stage 2 children study the core subjects: And the foundation subjects: Religious Education English – using Calderdale syllabus for RE Mathematics Music History Science & ICT Geography Art and Design Information Communication Technology Design Technology Physical Education 5 Reception & Key Stage 1 RECEPTION: In reception much of the curriculum is delivered through focussed and structured play. The teacher sets up activities arising from ongoing observations to further the physical, emotional and academic development of the children. KEY STAGE 1: Because our classes contain children of different age groups, class 1 and class 2 teachers plan together and follow a programme of work over 3 years. In both classes subjects are themed, e.g. seaside holidays is used to teach children history and geography. Themes are chosen which reflect the way that children’s experience of the world grows. However, some areas of the curriculum; PE, music and some aspects of language and maths are delivered discretely where the teacher considers this a more effective approach. READING: As soon as your child starts school s/he will begin to follow our reading programme. The school uses a synthetic phonics scheme to teach children to identify the spoken sounds of the English language, to blend the sounds into words for reading and to break words into sounds for writing. The scheme currently used is Read Write Inc: Oxford Press University Press. Children’s reading is supported by the use of a graded reading scheme. The school bases the scheme on the Oxford Reading Tree publications. Other graded materials are added to provide a rich experience of stories, poetry and information. We rely on parents reading with their child at home each evening in order for children to progress real- ly well. WRITING: The school adopts a policy of emergent writing. Children are encouraged to record their ex- periences and ideas using the letters and sounds that they know. Systematic teaching of synthetic phonics gradually develops the child’s knowledge of how to represent sounds in writing. Tricky words must be learned by rote. Spellings are often invented by the children as they gradually acquire con- ventional spelling. Confidence to write expressively and creatively is the school’s priority in teaching writing in the early years. Parents are invited to a presentation early in the school year where they can talk to teachers about the methods used to teach reading and writing. MATHEMATICS: Mathematics is taught in a variety of ways. Very young children benefit from interactive, hands on approaches to developing the basic concepts. The school caters for this at all levels providing access to high quality resources; computers, Interactive White Boards and games. The school uses various publications to support its maths curriculum. Teachers use also use a written calcu- lations policy in addition to this. 6 Key Stage 2 READING: In key stage 2 we divide our reading scheme into 2 sections; learning to read and reading to learn. Where children are still acquiring skills in decoding words, they are supported by a graded reading scheme which is suited to the needs of their age group. Children using this learning to read material, read individually to an adult in school as regularly as possible. Once Children have acquired decoding skills they are provided with a range of books to help them read to learn. These books are chosen by the children themselves and cover stories, poems, non-fiction materials of different levels of challenge. We rely on parents reading with their children at home on a daily basis. In key stage 2 children take part in guided reading; small groups of children read, discuss and analyse their reading under the direction of the teacher. WRITING: Children are taught to write in KS2 by establishing links with their reading. Teachers use examples of different kinds of stories, poems and non-fiction texts to help pupils analyse the way pieces of writing are organised, what kind of vocabulary and language structures are used. Pupils are then assisted in systematically developing their own written work. MATHEMATICS: The National Curriculum Document provides the basis for planning mathematics work. Teachers continue to use practical teaching strategies to promote pupils’ understanding. Interactive white boards (IWB), games, problems and challenges are used to provide exciting opportunities to learn to apply mathematical skills and knowledge. The school uses a variety of published schemes when a more theoretical approach is required. SCIENCE: Science is organised on a two year cycle so that pupils cover each Science topic twice in KS2 (at a different level). This is considered important in assisting pupils to develop their scientific thinking. FOUNDATION SUBJECTS: The school seeks to make its curriculum broad and balanced. In order to avoid repetition of content the school has organised a four year topic cycle for other subjects. Key Stage 2 teachers plan work together to ensure that work provides suitable challenge for pupils of different ages. Detailed programmes of work have been written and are constantly evalu- ated and improved. The school invests generously in resources to enhance children’s enjoyment of each topic and special days and events are often organised to provide a more in depth experience. The school provides the opportunity for instrumental tuition; all KS2 pupils are taught guitar by a local guitar tutor. Parents can select further instrumental tuition from visiting specialist music teachers. As part of the Personal, Social and Health Education Programme pupils receive Sex and Relation- ships Education (SRE). Parents have supported the school in developing its SRE policy and programme of work. The school uses video material developed by Channel 4 to support its work. Parents can view the SRE policy on the web site or by request from school. 7 Inclusion The school seeks to provide for all its pupils, no matter what their need.

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