CURRICULUM
Nursery
During the day at St Piran's Nursery there is a lively buzz as the children engage in a wide variety of activities. The Nursery is set in idyllic surroundings with plenty of secure outdoor space.
The Nursery garden is home for our pet guinea pig as well as the local wildlife, with an abundance of squirrels to entertain the children. Climbing frames and slides provide endless fun and exercise for the children.
During playtime the children can be seen whizzing up and down the playground on a variety of tricycles and tractors!
Inside the Nursery the children are busy participating in a variety of "messy" activities including painting, playdough, sand and water play and cooking.
In the other areas of the Nursery the children can be found "making music", dressing-up, using construction toys, and learning various language and mathematics skills.
As if this is not enough to stimulate the children we offer weekly swimming, dance and gymnastics lessons on site.
KS1 Reception, Years 1&2
Lower School
In Lower School there are six classes with a maximum class size of twenty. Each class has a support assistant who works under the direction of the class teacher. The children follow a curriculum that is broad and balanced and incorporates the National Curriculum and in the case of the Transition classes The Foundation Stage.
We are able to offer children specialist teaching in French, art, music, games, swimming and ICT. The school's facilities include a Lower School library, a sports hall, a swimming pool, a separate dance and art studio which children from Lower School use weekly.
Music plays a very important part in the life of Lower School with concerts performed to parents throughout the year. The Year 2 children are given the opportunity to learn to play the recorder.
Teachers regularly organise out of school visits to support the curriculum. Places visited include Warwick Castle, Cotswold Wildlife Park, Katesgrove Victorian School, Legoland, London Aquarium and The Planetarium. Every Christmas the Lower School children are taken to the theatre to see a pantomime.
Through our lessons and daily acts of collective worship we offer the opportunity to consider the spiritual and moral side of life. We are a Christian school and actively encourage the children to follow a Christian ethos. Lower School children attend the school chapel regularly. We aim to develop the children academically, emotionally, physically, spiritually and socially so they are happy in school and motivated to learn. The Head of the Lower School is a member of the Senior Management Team in order to ensure that the younger children's needs are taken into account when whole school decisions are made.
KS2, Years 3&4
Middle School
Year 3 and Year 4 are known as Middle School and are to be found in the main building of the school. There are three classes with a maximum of 18 pupils in each year group. The Head of Middle School is a Year 3 teacher who sits on the Senior Management Team and so is aware of decisions made in school policies and the ways in which they can be implemented in her area of the school.
Throughout their time in Middle School, pupils are encouraged to achieve their full potential across the whole range of traditional subjects. They are also given opportunities to develop their abilities in Art, Music, ICT, Technology and to participate in Poetry and Acting Performances.
In Year 3 the class teacher is responsible for teaching English, Mathematics (in sets), Science, History, Geography, Art, DT and PSHE. In this year the children have specialist teachers for French, Music, RE, ICT, Games, PE and Swimming.
The Year 4 class teachers are responsible for English, Mathematics (in sets), History, Geography and PSHE. In this year there are specialist teachers for Science, DT, French, Music, RE, Art, ICT, Games, PE, and Swimming. School trips, closely linked with the curriculum topics being covered, are organised each term for the year groups.
During their time in Middle School it is hoped that pupils will develop an ability to work independently on a wide range of homework tasks outside school hours. By way of example this may consist of reading, learning spellings, practising multiplication tables or completing a numeracy / literacy task linked to the curriculum. Pupils are assessed for effort each week in subject areas which are in turn fed back to parents by way of an Industry Card.
KS2, Years 5&6
The Upper School comprises Years 5 to 8. One significant difference between the Upper and Middle Schools is that every child has a tutor who looks after the child’s academic and pastoral progress throughout the Upper School. The tutor works closely with the child’s form teacher to ensure that every child is given the best possible support both in and out of the classroom.
The curriculum in Years 5 and 6 follows but goes far beyond the National Curriculum. In small classes, the children are taught the core subjects as well as French, History, Geography and Religious Education. There are also weekly sessions of Music, Art, Design Technology, PE, Swimming, ICT and twice-weekly sessions of team games. Children in Year 6 also have the opportunity to study either German or Spanish.
Children are placed in sets according to ability for Mathematics and English. This allows the teachers to extend the more able and to give those who need it the support that they require to ensure that the basics of Numeracy and Literacy are firmly established.
The Upper School has a thriving orchestra, as well as three choirs. The Chapel Choir sings at our weekly Friday evening service in the school’s beautiful chapel. Before and after chapel, children and parents are entertained by the school’s hand bell ringers, a St. Piran’s tradition that dates back over 60 years.
All the children benefit from our wide range of activities that run from 5:15 to 6:00 pm. These include sporting activities such as five-a-side football and basketball as well as a whole host of other activities as diverse as chess, web design and drama.
KS3, Years 7&8
The curriculum in Years 7 and 8 builds on the work that the children have completed during Year 6 and prepares them for the Common Entrance and Scholarship exams that they sit at the end of Year 8.
The core subjects of English, Maths and Science are given an appropriately large share of lesson time. Geography, History, RS and French are also given priority, as these are subjects in which the children will be examined.
However, Music, Art, DT, ICT, Spanish or German and a full range of PE and games are also an integral part of the curriculum in a child's last two years and help to give the balance that makes St Piran's unique.
In addition to the work carried out in the classroom, the children in their final years take part in our leadership programme, where they learn about teamwork, team building and leadership skills. |
We pride ourselves in being a warm and friendly school and wish to bring out the best in every child in our care. We aim to give each child a first class academic education as well as offering a full range of sports and activities. Courtesy and consideration for others and a sense of responsibility for the school community underpinned by Christian principles are of paramount importance at St Piran's. By the time the pupils leave the school we sincerely hope that they have contributed as much as they can and feel a sense of pleasure in what they have achieved. We think it is important to foster a happy and natural relationship between pupils, parents and staff so that everyone has a pride in being part of the school.
