Cold Norton Primary School

Cold Norton Primary School serves the village of Cold Norton which lies to the South-East of Chelmsford.  The attractive village consists of mostly owner occupied dwellings.  A number of our pupils attend the school from outside the village. A strong community spirit pervades all that we do and enhances the opportunities that we can offer our children. 

Although there had previously been a school building within the village, the original parts of the existing building were completed in 1914, to serve the then small, rural community whose children, for a time, had to walk to schools at Stow Maries and Latchingdon.  The building has been added to and improved from time to time, the most recent phases having been completed in 1996 and 2001, together with an ICT suite that was completed in 2003. The addition of a new Year 6 class was completed during summer 2007. 

We welcome you to our school and trust you will find your time with us an enjoyable and worthwhile experience.  We have high expectations of our pupils and strive to maintain the highest standards of work and behaviour.

At Cold Norton Primary School we will provide a rich learning environment where each child develops knowledge, skills and understanding to achieve their full potential. Our aim for each child is to become: 

·        Happy, independent, self confident, emotionally and spiritually literate.

·        An enthusiastic and equipped learner who enjoys a challenge and copes well with change.

·        Brimming with personal and physical wellbeing.

·        Have an interest, respect and awareness for both their world and the world beyond them.

·        A creative thinker who can make wise choices. 

We aim to develop: 

Enquiring minds, a love of learning and a good level of skills and knowledge. 

We want children to gain respect and tolerance for the moral and religious values of others and to forge good working habits. 

We aim to set standards which will stretch each child’s individual ability, whilst being realistically attainable. 

We strive to provide equal access to learning opportunities for all pupils irrespective of gender, ethnic background or disability.

 We believe that educational success is to be measured in individual terms. 

The Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and senior management team carry overall responsibility for the pastoral care of the children and the academic management of the school. As well as class responsibilities each teacher has a responsibility for some aspects of the curriculum or other area of work.  Responsibility allocations for 2007-2008 are as follows: 

The National Curriculum entitlement for all children is carefully planned, differentiated and assessed by individual class teachers. 

In Early Years/Foundation Stage, children’s work is planned according to The Foundation Stage Early Learning Goals. Learning through play both indoors and out is an essential part of the curriculum. 

Foundation Stage assessment takes place during the child’s first three terms in school and is assessed on a nine point scale.  The results of all pupil assessments are externally monitored and are used to inform further planning. 

Year 1 to Year 6 

Children work according to the National Curriculum and the Primary Frameworks in the following subject areas:

English, Mathematics, Science, ICT, Design Technology, History, Geography, Music, Art, PE, PSHE/C and RE. We endeavour to make cross curricula links with subjects as much as possible as this is more meaningful for primary aged pupils. A range of teaching styles and approaches are used to ensure that we are able to reach out to all learning styles. 

As from September 2007, we are introducing modern foreign languages to KS2. French will be taught in Years 3, 4 and 5. Year 6 will learn Spanish using “Sonica” and ICT. 

All children take part in daily Literacy and Numeracy Hours in line with National recommendations. 

Children are regularly assessed throughout their years at Cold Norton.  These results are used to track children’s progress and aid teachers to identify those who may need additional help through one of our intervention programmes. Pupils with special talents are identified and placed on a register. Their needs are met and stretched through challenging activities in class and with specific workshops with other local schools. 

Our aim is to make learning creative, challenging, meaningful and fun.

To enhance various areas of children’s education we are committed to providing a range of after school clubs.  These are available to children from Year1 to Year 6 and are rotated during the year to take account of out-door opportunities in summer months. Mrs Hayward co-ordinates the range of opportunities for the children. 

During the winter months, when it is cold outside at lunch breaks, a volunteer team of parents provide a variety of stimulating indoor lunchtime clubs ranging from chess, quizzes, games and support with homework.