Teaching and Learning at Herstmonceux CE Primary School

As you will be aware, our school has excellent results for all our children, which makes us one of the most consistently high performing schools in East Sussex. Our pupils do well at KS2 SATs and also our KS1 and Foundation Stage children achieve well in relation to other schools and nationally. We are equally proud of our pupils’ all–round development and good behaviour, which makes our school both popular and well-respected.

We are, however, continually striving to make improvements to provide the best possible educational opportunities for all our pupils and also to respond to the new systems that are introduced by the Government. I would like to share with you some of the main developments that are happening at the moment and will start with Teaching and Learning.

We are very fortunate to have an excellent team of teachers who are dedicated to providing the best possible educational experience for all the children in their classes. We also have very experienced and professional Teaching Assistants (TAs) whose role has developed over the years from a support role (photocopying, washing paint pots etc) into a role where they are trained to teach groups of pupils under the direction of the teacher. This means that pupils have regular individual attention with their learning and this contributes directly to the good progress that pupils make.

We also have our Inclusion Manager, Mrs Stockman, who directs the work of pupils in need of extra support and also those who are highly able and need further challenge. She works for us 3 days a week and works for the SEN support Team at County level additionally.

The Governors have adopted the County Council’s document.  (A copy is held in school).

The content of the curriculum and the methods of learning are crucial at primary level.  The attitudes, atmosphere and the organisation of our school, together with the knowledge and skills which are learned, are of vital importance.

We focus on the development of learning through the Building Learning Power programme, which ensures the development of skills throughout the school and have a new framework to ensure that pupils progress a real understanding and learning in early childhood are firmly rooted in practical activity.

Foundation Stage

We teach the Foundation Stage of education for children aged 4-5 years.  The curriculum here underpins all future learning by supporting, fostering and promoting children’s development.

The curriculum is organised into six areas of learning:-

Personal, social and emotional development

Language and literacy

Mathematical development

Knowledge and understanding of the world

Physical development

Creative development

The Foundation Stage is distinct and important in its own right and in preparing children for later schooling.

Key Stages 1 & 2

Our curriculum is broad and covers a wide range of subjects.  There are 10 subject areas, plus RE, which we teach across the 5-11 age groups.  In addition, we offer areas which we think are important in the education of the whole child.

The subjects covered in the National Curriculum are English, Mathematics, Science, Geography, History, Information Communication Technology, Design Technology, Art, Music and PE.  Personal, Social, Citizenship and Health Education form an important part of our work here.
 

We continue to place literacy and numeracy as top priorities within our school.  Our children consistently achieve highly compared with other schools.  These can be seen in the published results from National Tests.

Literacy and Numeracy hours were introduced and we were chosen as a pilot school for the National Numeracy Project.

We have set challenging literacy and numeracy targets as we strive to continue to raise standards.  We are currently involved in cross-curricular developments to ensure that we provide the best possible opportunities for stimulating writing and problem solving.

We follow a broad and balanced curriculum that ensures access to all subject areas and believe that the best work comes from a rich creative, stimulating, enjoyable and challenging educational experience.

The planning of sessions and the time spent on individual subjects is monitored by the Headteacher.  The quality of teaching and learning is also monitored regularly by senior staff and the Governing Body.

We believe that school uniform is practical and helps to give the school a special identity.  Can we please ask for your co-operation in providing the school uniform for your child.

This consists of:-

Navy blue sweatshirt/cardigan with yellow school logo (available from school)
Yellow or white shirt/blouse (yellow polo shirt available from school)
Grey trousers/shorts/pinafore dress/skirt
Navy fleece with school logo (available from school)
Black school shoes

For PE children will require:-

White t-shirt
Navy shorts
Plimsolls
A track suit is useful for cold weather

For art work the children need to have an old shirt or overall to protect their school clothes.

Please can you make sure that ALL clothing and shoes are named.  Book bags with the school logo on are also available from the school.