Welcome to Sherwin Knight Junior School

We aim to create a friendly, supportive and caring atmosphere in which your child can learn and grow and we look forward to getting to know you as individuals whilst aiming to develop each child’s academic potential in pursuit of excellence. The purpose of this booklet is to give you basic information about the school so that you and your child can immediately feel part of it and understand what we are setting out to achieve. The information is correct at the time of writing. We believe strongly that the key to a good education lies in a partnership between the home and the school and that it is important that children see parents and teachers working together in their best interests. If after reading this booklet you still have questions that you would like to ask or information that you think we might need, please contact either Mrs Cross, our Administration Manager, or myself.

Finally, with this booklet you will also have received a copy of our admission forms, home-school contract and the information card that we keep for each child. Please complete all of these and return them to the office preferably by the end of this term, or on the first day of next term. . Should you change any of the details given such as your address, telephone number, doctor or contact number during the time your child is at Sherwin Knight, please let us know as soon as possible.

We hope that you and your child will enjoy your time as members of our school community.

Yours sincerely

L J Rose

Headteacher 

ABOUT OUR SCHOOL

The school was purpose built as a Boys' Secondary School in l936 and was opened as a Junior School in l961 when the Secondary School moved on to the present Temple site. The school was named after Cyril Sherwin Knight, a former Mayor of Rochester.

The Junior School and adjoining Infant School share a large site with spacious grounds overlooking Rochester and the River Medway. The two schools are separate and each have their own Headteacher and their own Governing Body Staff work very closely together however to ensure a smooth transfer of children at seven, as well as regularly discussing curriculum areas, record keeping and other joint concerns.

The Junior School is built round an attractive quadrangle with an additional hutted building and mobiles at the back of the school. The large assembly hall is also used for PE and as a dining area. Midday meals are cooked in the adjoining kitchen. The classrooms, Hall and TV room are all on the ground floor whilst the staff room and Nurture room are housed on the first floor, above the main entrance.In order to work towards the aims for children outlined by the Governors, our approach to the children in our care and to the school community as a whole is based on several major objectives:-

We aim to provide a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum for the children appropriate to their individual needs and capabilities, in which they can realise their potential to the full. Further details about individual curriculum areas can be found in Section Two.

We believe that a sound relationship between the school, the home and the community provides a strong foundation for a successful education. Good communication is an important part of this approach and this booklet is just one way of explaining about the education of your child. Regular newsletters are sent home with up-to-date information about dates, school events and items of interest. Parents are invited into school for meetings, consultation sessions, and open days, etc to view work and discuss approaches to learning. Staff work hard to establish a caring and stable environment for the children in which they can develop as individuals and learn to respect others. We believe that all children should be given full and equal opportunity to develop in an academic, intellectual, physical and social sense.

We have had an established school uniform at Sherwin Knight Junior School for several years. We believe very strongly that it helps encourage and develop a strong sense of belonging to the school and pride in it. We have however noticed recently that some children have been coming into the school with slightly different varieties of sweatshirts, jumpers, tracksuit trousers etc, which really do defeat the object of having a uniform.

Our uniform helps to set a standard of personal tidiness and appearance and avoids competition between children as to who has the most expensive and extensive set of clothes. In order to further cut down on this competition we have recently changed our description of our school uniform and the full list is now as follows:-

	Royal Blue sweatshirts or Royal Blue cardigans with the Sherwin Knight Logo
	White shirts, white polo shirts or white blouses
	Plain grey or black trousers, shorts (not sports shorts) or skirts
	Grey or white socks or tights
	Plain black school shoes (flat or with a low heel)
	Girls are also permitted to wear blue and white gingham school dresses during summer months

Please note that trainers are no longer part of our school uniform.

We keep a stock of polo shirts, sweatshirts and cardigans, swim hats and baseball caps, school pens and assorted bags for sale at cost price.

We would request that parents make sure their children wear school uniform every day, except on specified school trips. Thank you for your help and support in this matter.

Sports and PE equipment

All children will require a sports kit of tee shirt, white or blue shorts (not baggy or Bermuda type please) or blue or black jogging bottoms for outdoor sports only. Children will need plimsolls for indoor sports and trainers for outdoor games. Girls may also wear PE skirts or leotards if preferred. In the interests of safety all stud earrings and watches (the only jewellery allowed in school) must be removed for all PE activities.

As from September 2003 we will be stocking a range of tee shirts for children in their school ‘house’ colours of either red, yellow, green or blue. Wearing these team colours for PE and games encourages children to work as part of an easily identified team and we would be delighted if parents would purchase these tee shirts from us as from September. They will be sold at cost price, which will be in the region of £2.50 - £3, depending on size.

Art and Craft

In order to protect your child's clothes we ask that they bring and keep an old shirt/overall/apron in school for use in art and craft sessions.

The National Curriculum came into operation progressively in September l989. This curriculum, which has since been reviewed and redrafted and is laid down by the Department for Education and Skills, comprises Mathematics, Science, English, Art, PE, History, Geography, Music, Design Technology, Information Technology and Religious Education.

It has always been the aim of Sherwin Knight School to offer a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum in order to assist each child to develop her/his abilities and potential to the full. As in many Primary Schools several areas of the curriculum are not always treated as separate subjects but are instead integrated into a theme or topic. At other times certain aspects of a subject may be treated as a separate topic.

Within this framework as a whole we aim to provide children with much direct and first hand experience as well as the essential concepts, knowledge and skills to enable them to become active learners.

SPECIAL NEEDS

We are very conscious of our responsibilities towards catering for children with special educational needs.

Year 3 teachers liaise with the Year 2 teachers in the Infant School about those children already identified as needing specific help. They discuss the individual needs of every child who will be joining our school. Where a child has been receiving or requires special needs provision this will be catered for in the Junior School. Account is taken of the SATs results (National tests taken at 7) and also the class teacher's awareness of any special needs provision that may now be required for an individual child.

Our setting arrangements for English and Mathematics will allow us to pay particular attention once again to the individual needs of all our children in these key areas. Setting will also allow us to split each year group into four groups for English / Literacy and Mathematics, except for Year 4 which is a smaller year group requiring three sets only. This enables the teacher to focus on targets on Individual Education Plans.

Special needs provision is also made when and where it is indicated to be appropriate for each individual child throughout their four years in the Junior School. These "indications" may be as a result of internal testing or where the class teacher considers that a specific child is experiencing difficulty with one or more areas of their class work. There are various areas where a child may need to be on a "Special Needs" educational programme. They range from difficulties with English or Mathematics related work, through to emotional and behavioural problems and speech and language difficulties.

Children can also be withdrawn to the Nurture Room for a short time, where they can discuss problems or take part in circle time in a small group.