A Friendly Caring Village School

School Prospectus 2017-18 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 small Church of England school based on the edge of the Pennine Moors in the village of Rishworth. We have a dedicated and talented team of staff, governors and volunteers who all work together to provide St John’s children with an enjoyable and successful education. The school is well supported by the parents in a range of ways from helping their child with homework to cheering the school teams on at sporting events. Most importantly, we are very lucky to have delightful pupils who give their best in all they do at school. 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 to contact us and you are very welcome to arrange a visit to the school. Yours sincerely J Wasyliw Mrs Joanna Wasyliw, 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 building has been extended several times and now provides six spacious classrooms, an extra infant teaching area/library, two meeting rooms, a large hall and school kitchen. All our classrooms are warm and welcoming; they are carpeted and well furnished and resourced. We are fortunate that our school is set in such a beautiful landscape and the children have lots of access to outdoor provision including: the large school field, 2 covered decked areas, a playground with trim trail and our school garden where we grow our own fruit and vegetables. 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. We also have a full class set of chrome books and tablet devices for use throughout school. 3 Our Vision, Aims and Values Our vision: 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, spiritual and physical development of each child The pupils, staff, parents and governors of St John’s have worked together to create our core values: Success. We aim to provide excellent learning opportunities to ensure the best possible progress and attainment for all children whatever their needs and abilities. Honesty. We aim to develop children’s understanding of the importance of honesty in all relationships and as part of self– reflection in a Christian environment. Independence. We aim to develop the self- confidence in all our children that enables them to think and work independently, so striving for excellence in all areas of the curriculum. Neighbourliness. We aim to ensure that every child becomes a compassionate and respectful member of the school, local, national and global communities. Enjoyment. We aim to be a friendly, safe and welcoming environment where children have exciting and creative learning experiences that help develop an enjoyment and love of learning. 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 prime headings, together with English and Maths: 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: English Religious Education Mathematics Music Science History Geography Art and Design Computing Design Technology Physical Education Personal, Health, Social Education and Citizenship Modern Foreign Languages 5 Reception & Key Stage 1 RECEPTION: In reception much of the curriculum is delivered through focused 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. We teach certain aspects of Maths and English to our Y1children as a cohort, which means that infant children can be taught in groups of 20. 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 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 non-fiction texts. We rely on parents reading with their child at home each evening in order for children to progress re- ally well. WRITING: The school adopts a policy of emergent writing. Children are encouraged to record their experiences 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 made phonically by the children as they gradually acquire conventional 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; work books, text books, computers, interactive white boards and games. The school uses various publications to support its maths curriculum. Teachers also use a written calculations policy to support this. 6 Key Stage 2 Our KS2 children currently receive their maths and English teaching in year groups as opposed to classes. This means that the children are in groups of 20 or less each morning. 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: We promote an enquiry-based approach to science, with children raising questions and devising experiments. 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.

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