Briary Primary School PROSPECTUS

Transcription

1 Latest Ofsted report Briary Primary School PROSPECTUS Briary Community Campus Greenhill Road West Greenhill Herne Bay Kent CT6 7RS Tel: Fax: Website:

2 Contents Page The Aims of Briary School 3 Admission of children 4 Entering the School 4 Friends of Briary 5 Curriculum 6 Additional Support for Children 7 Homework 9 Extra Curricular Activities 9 Queries and Concerns 10 Behaviour Policy 10 School Information 10 Teachers and Parents Working Together 12 Emergency Closures 13 1

3 Dear Reader Welcome to Briary Primary School, which has been serving the community since We are a co-educational school for children aged from four to eleven years. If you are considering a school place for your child, we hope very much that you will get in touch, so we can arrange a visit, at a time which suits you. We warmly welcome visitors and take pride in being open and friendly. Many of our children attended other schools before joining Briary, and they do seem to make new friends and settle happily. This is important, since above all else, we want all our children to be happy at school. We are proud of our school and very committed to providing the best education for all the children. Our school was inspected by OFSTED in January 2012 with inspectors being particularly impressed by the well-behaved and safe environment. In April 2010, we launched the Briary Community Campus, with the strapline, Putting Children and Families First. This is because we are fully committed to the idea that a school should support its community and provide a range of services and opportunities for children and families. This includes Briary Children s Centre, newly opened in 2010, catering for children aged 0 to 5 and their families; our fabulous Briary Pre-School, established in 2001, but now a beautiful brand new purpose-built log cabin and our eye-catching School Club (decorated in 2010 by local artist Rob Turner and the children). We have a long tradition of running a wide range of after-school clubs, which helped us achieve the prestigious Activemark Gold recognition from Sport England in Since 2009 we have achieved Established Extended Schools status, ArtsMark Gold, Sing-Up Gold and MFL Silver awards. We have also achieved our Healthy Schools Award and Eco-Club Green Flag Award for the second and third time respectively. Briary School is a vibrant place, full of people who are forward-looking and positive thinking and has continued to grow both in reputation and in numbers. No prospectus can adequately reflect the day to day life of the children s school, so do come and see us! If you cannot easily get to the school, perhaps because of disability, or if your first language is not English, do let us know so we can help. All the information in this prospectus and much more is available on the school website If you have anything you d like to ask us, feel free to give us a call on We look forward to meeting you. Kind regards Mr R McDonagh Headteacher Mr D Stanley Chairman of Governors 2

4 The Aims of Briary School The School aims to ensure that every child reaches his or her highest possible standard of achievement, academically, physically, socially, morally and spiritually, so that they may reach their full potential. These aims accord with the five outcomes from Every Child Matters. To achieve this broad aim, we are committed to continuously reviewing our provision and use of all available resources. Our specific aims for the children of the community served by the school are that they:- Develop strong skills in reading, writing and maths as a pre-requisite to other learning. Develop lively enquiring minds, the ability to question and argue rationally and that they apply knowledge learnt. Develop a skills based curriculum through a creative cross-curricular approach. Develop self-discipline and are sensitive to the needs of others. Develop a positive attitude to learning and a sense of pride in personal achievement and the achievements of their school. Develop healthy lifestyles which include positive attitudes towards exercise, diet and personal safety. Develop a knowledge of community cohesion at a global, national, local and school level and their part in it and understand the interdependence of individuals, groups and nations. Care for their school community and the world in which they live. Develop their own personal, spiritual and moral values and an understanding and respect for the religions, moral values and ways of life of others. Develop positive attitudes to foreign language learning and to speakers of foreign languages and a sympathetic approach to other cultures. 3

5 Admission of children We warmly welcome new children and their families to the school community. A significant percentage of our children have attended other schools before joining Briary. The earlier we know about children of pre-school age, the better we are able to plan. We can also add you to our mailing list, keeping you informed of what s happening at the School through our weekly newsletter, the Briary Bulletin. There s a sample copy in the back of the folder. Children are admitted into Year R (Reception) at the beginning of the school year in which they will be five years old, that is, in September. If there are more applications than places, the Local Education Authority allocates places according to the following criteria:- 1. Children in Local Authority Care 2. Whether there are already brothers or sisters attending the school (providing you have not moved further than 2 miles away from the school) 3. Whether there are health reasons 4. Nearness of home/ease of access Before your child starts school for the first time We would like you to see the school in action. There s a lot we need to talk about with you before your child can start school and make sure you know about our various policies and procedures. We try to cover this in one general meeting with parents, a series of taster visits for the children and individual meetings between parents and teachers. Children attending Briary Pre-School will already have had many informal visits. Parents will be sent dates, times and other details early in the summer term. It is expected that all parents whose children are offered places will attend meetings, because if you know exactly how the school works, there s less chance of something going wrong later. It s also a chance to meet many of the people working for the children of Briary School. When your child starts school In, the children were admitted into two classes, Dolphin and Octopus Class. Along with two classes of Year 1, Sea-turtle and Starfish Class, these are our Early Years classes. The September entrants attend school on a morning s only basis for two weeks. This year they starting in phased settling in mornings from Wednesday 10 th September. In the third week they stay to school at lunchtime, leaving at 1.00pm. In their fourth week they start full time. However, if you as parents, or we as a school, feel that any child is not yet ready for full days, they will remain part time with parental agreement. Entering the School We take our responsibility for safety very seriously, so we ask everyone to observe the following please:- 4

6 Please don t drive into the school car park unless you are disabled; there s not the room and we want to keep cars away from children! Please remember not to stop on the zig zags outside the school gates; it s an offence which carries a fixed penalty of 60 plus 3 points on your driving license. Please do not park on junctions, or pavements, or across private driveways. Please use the pavements, and hold toddlers hands. If you visit the school for any reasons, it s essential to always call at the school office, so we know who s on site. Not only for safety, but also for fire regulations! If you come to meet your child at the end of the day, please wait on the playground near the gates, or near the children s classroom doors, from 3pm. Please keep toddlers at your side! If you wish your child to walk home alone, please do make sure you let his or her teacher know, in writing. Dogs and smoking are not permitted in the school grounds, including the car park, and waiting area. Friends of Briary (our Parent-Teacher Association) The Friends of Briary is a non-profitable charity fundraising group comprising of Briary Primary School, Briary Pre-school and Briary School Club. Our aim, with your help, is to support each other in raising funds to benefit your children no matter which setting they attend. In view of this the Core Committee have drawn up an annual plan of events to be held during this school year Officers of the Committee:- Chairman: Mrs Watson Treasurer: Mrs McCann Secretary: Mrs Ackers Lottery Licence: Mr Dempsey For these proceedings to be successful we depend on your support to help us organise, prepare and run particular events and to share the responsibilities with parents and teachers who are already members of the fundraising team. The Friends of Briary meet approximately every two months to discuss and plan for up and coming events which includes group decision making and volunteering for specific tasks which individuals feel they might be able to help with. The Friends of Briary meetings are relaxed and informal affairs and we look forward to seeing you soon. Please support the work of the Friends: their efforts really do make a difference! Over the last two years the Friends have contributed a considerable amount of money to all of the organisations, subsidising school trips, school plays, Cycling Proficiency and a whole range of other things besides. This year they are fundraising to pay for our new Playground Improvement Project. Events include Discos, Christmas Bazaar, Mother s Day Shop and the Summer Fair is the highlight of the year! 5

7 The dates are always put in the Bulletin/Newsletter and the Friends also has its own Facebook page for fundraising business Friends of Briary Fundraising Group. Curriculum The curriculum is everything which influences children in school, including those things which aren t planned and those things which we can only sense. It s for this reason we hope that when you come to Briary School you will feel a friendly and purposeful atmosphere. We try to use the children s natural curiosity and interest. We aim to provide a broad and balanced education, which includes attention to attitudes, discipline and confidence. We recognise that current Government Policy means that reading, writing and maths are the areas used to judge the performance of schools. We have reorganised and re-timetabled our school curriculum to ensure we are in accordance with this. Children s performance in all these skills is our prime purpose. We organise our school to draw on the strengths that being a Primary School brings, outweighing those of separate infant and junior schools. The chart below shows how we organise the children for learning. National Curriculum Year Group National Curriculum Key Stage Briary School R (Reception) Foundation ) ) Early Years 1 ) ) ) Key Stage 1 (Infants) 2 ) ) ) Middle Years 3 ) ) ) 4 ) ) ) Key Stage 2 (Juniors) ) 5 ) ) Upper Years ) ) 6 ) ) 6

8 Nationally, the transition from Foundation Stage to Key Stage 1 and from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 are seen as very difficult for children. To minimise this issue at Briary, children are taught the skills and standards expected at their age in an environment with which they are truly comfortable. They make 2 small steps from Early to Middle years and from Middle to Upper years. Children starting school join our Early Years stage. These children start by following the Foundation Stage Curriculum (which they would have started in Pre-School), and move on to the National Curriculum in their second year at school or when they are ready. Middle Years aims to initially have an Infant approach to learning, whilst striving for standards which would be better than those in a Junior year 3 class for our year 3 children. For continuity and to ensure all children s learning needs are met, our whole school curriculum is organised in six area of learning. It still consists of all the usual subjects and skills but by teaching children in a cross curricular way, which means linking subjects together as topics whenever this is beneficial. This makes learning more interesting and more fun. It also allows teachers and children to use their creativity and improves children s understanding and progress. For information and guidance on our Curriculum, you can find this on our Website ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR CHILDREN A child may have additional educational needs (AEN) if he or she has difficulty coping with aspects of life in the classroom. This could be for lots of different reasons, such as problems with learning, behaviour or communication, or because of some social, emotional, physical, visual or hearing difficulty. Equally we recognise that there are children who are gifted or talented who need additional provision to ensure they are appropriately challenged. The school has an Inclusion Team Leader, Mrs Sarah Symons, a Learning Support Co-ordinator, Mrs Annie Penny and a Family Liaison Officer (FLO), Mrs Sue Bryant, who are responsible for making sure we identify children with additional learning, emotional or behavioural needs, and that we then meet those needs. A child who is having difficulties can get help in different ways. The class teacher can make everyday tasks a little easier or put the child in a small group for some extra help with a teaching assistant, under the guidance of the class teacher. Teachers can also be allocated to do specific work with them in order to help them catch up where they may have got a little behind on something. Indeed many children receive additional support with their learning from teachers in 1:1 or small group classes, who do not have special educational needs but are merely in need of support in a particular area of the curriculum. Early identification of problems is important. This is why we encourage you to contact us well before your child is due to start school and tell us if you feel your child may need extra help, or has a social, emotional or medical problem. This will be kept confidential to those who teach and help your child. Every effort will be taken to provide additional help and support where necessary, so that the child s time at school is happy and enjoyable from the 7

9 start. When you need help or support We know that at some point most of us will face some major difficulty in our home lives, which may have a real impact on our children. Our job is to ensure that children are able to come to school happily and get the best of their time at school. We can offer support in a number of ways, either in school through our FLO, or through the Children s Centre, which is based at Briary. Children s Welfare Each class teacher has a responsibility for the general welfare of each child in his or her class. Children are encouraged to share any concerns or worries they have with their teacher, or with any other adult in school. Of course, there may be times when we remain unaware of a difficulty, so if you suspect something is not right, please do get in touch with your child s teacher straight away. Equally, we will always let you know if we have concerns. Child Protection The School has a Designated Child Protection Co-ordinator, Sarah Symons, but Sarah Watson is also a trained DCPC. On occasions teachers may ask Mrs Symons to be involved, or you may wish to speak directly to her regarding any concerns. A copy of the school s Safeguarding Policy is available on request. Health Issues If your child is unwell or hurt at school, we shall want to let you know without delay. It s vital that we have not only your home and work telephone numbers, but also those of a friend or relative who can be contacted if you re not available. It is our policy to let you know of all bumps and knocks, but if a child doesn t tell us, we may not know. It is strictly forbidden for a child to bring medicines to school. This includes throat and cough sweets. Medicines will not be administered to any child, unless there are exceptional circumstances and arrangements have been made with the school office. This rule is to safeguard the interests of both children and staff. Of course, you may like to come into school to administer essential medicine yourself. If your child has a chronic illness, or long-term complaint requiring medication, such as asthma, please do get in touch. If your child isn t well, please don t send him or her to school until fully recovered. Children who aren t well can be very unhappy and infections spread quickly between young children. Children with nits or head lice should be treated before being sent to school. If your child has head lice, we ask that you let us know, in confidence, so that a letter can be sent home to all parents asking them to make a special check. The school cannot check children s hair. Children with long hair must have it tied back, as it s safer at playtimes, doesn t inhibit their work and reduces the risk of catching head lice. There is a team of school nurses who are responsible for schools in Herne Bay including Briary. Your child will be offered a school entry screening of height, weight, vision and 8

10 hearing. This is usually after the first term when a school entry questionnaire has been filled in and consent given. School nurses can offer advice about many issues and concerns including head lice, bedwetting and asthma. They can also refer children to other agencies e.g. school doctor or optician. So if you have any worries or questions about your child s health, do get in touch with them. They are based at the School Health building, Whitstable & Tankerton Hospital, telephone number: HOMEWORK We want every child to enjoy learning and with this in mind we have completely revised our approach to promoting learning out of school hours. In this folder you will find a copy of our Homework Policy, which we hope will help your whole family to be involved in the learning process. Homework is always set on the same day with clear instructions of what needs to be done and when by. We are currently in the process of developing a How to guide on our website to help parents support their children when completing homework tasks. Briary School Council Briary School Council comprises eighteen pupils. Each class elects two representatives and meetings are chaired by an older pupil. The Council discuss ideas and issues and enables the children s voice to be heard. They help organise events and competitions, they won for the school for their entry in the Woolworths Kids First Playground Project, and they also interviewed our current Headteacher when he applied for the post! Clubs Extra Curricular Activities There are currently lots of after-school clubs at Briary School, some run by coaches we employ, others run on a voluntary basis by the teachers often assisted by volunteer parents, whose help is greatly appreciated. These include some of the above. Full details are given to the children at the start of term. Parents will appreciate that since these activities are extra to the school curriculum, children s inclusion depends on their behaviour and on the number of places available. We do run clubs for all year groups from year 1 upwards. Clubs are subsidised and always run from 3 to 4pm, unless specified, for 8 week termly blocks. They are never cancelled so parents can confidently collect their children at 4pm on a club night. Educational Visits During the year it is likely that the children will make visits to places associated with their work. There may also be visiting speakers and perhaps travelling theatre companies. All these things have to be paid for and it s usually necessary to ask parents for a voluntary contribution towards the cost. The cost can usually be paid in instalments. No child will be excluded from an activity because the parents have not made a contribution, but the school may have to cancel a planned activity if there is insufficient financial support. If we ever ask you for money and it causes a problem, please do get in touch with the Headteacher, in complete confidence. Before taking children on educational visits, we carry out a full risk assessment. We usually have at least one adult to every six children and your written consent is needed before any child takes part in an off-site activity. 9

11 Queries and Concerns If you would like to know more about any aspect of the School s work with your child, we d be very pleased to discuss it with you. Similarly, if you have any complaint we are confident that it can be resolved by discussion with your child s teacher, or with a member of the Senior Management Team. However, if you are not satisfied that your complaint has been settled, you can ask to have it considered by the Governing Body. Details are available from the school office or from the East Kent Education Office. If you would like to see any of our policies or schemes of work, please contact the school office. You can also ask to see copies of Inspection reports. These are all available on our website. Behaviour Policy Behaviour Policy can be found on the school website. If you require a paper copy, please enquire at the school office. School Information Early Years Middle Years Upper Years Morning Registration 8.50am 9.00am 8.40am 8.50am 8.40am 8.50am Afternoon lessons finish at 3.00pm for all children. Early and Middle Years children must be met from their classroom door or pick up point by an adult known to the teacher. Curriculum teaching time for children in Early Years is 22 hours per week and for Middle and Upper Years is 25 hours 30 minutes. These times reflect DFE recommendations. A full list of school dates for the academic year is enclosed in the folder. Uniform and Clothing The School Governors and Staff encourage the wearing of school uniform. It promotes a feeling of belonging, as well as being practical and cheaper than alternative children s clothing. Our most recent survey of parents views showed 100% of parents like the uniform. Our uniform comprises: purple school sweatshirt/cardigan Please note: white shirt or polo shirt Purple fleece plain grey or black trousers should not be worn grey skirt or pinafore dress instead of a summer dress in purple/white check sweatshirt/cardigan plain socks in white, grey or black black flat-soled shoes, or sandals (not trainers) School uniform is available from Barnums of Herne Bay. Their shop is in William Street, Herne Bay, telephone number It is also available from Mapac via the school website or Mapac website Some of our parents have also used Heron Workwear - Unit 3, Hillborough Business Park, Sweechbridge Road, Herne Bay CT6 6TE - Phone number: For PE, the children must change. They need white or black shorts, white or purple tee-shirt (not polo shirt), spare pair of socks and black plimsolls, trainers for upper years. Older 10

12 children will need to have a tracksuit for outdoor use, as well as their shorts for indoor activities. Football and PE kit needs to be kept in a draw string bag; these are on sale at the school office from where you can also buy baseball caps to protect the children from the harmful effects of strong sunlight. Please do make sure all clothing is named and in school every day. Year 6 children will have the option/privilege of wearing a tie. This is not school uniform, but we hope will help with their transition to secondary school. Cost for tie - 4. In hot weather, we may agree on summer uniform i.e. PE kit, all day a letter will be sent if this is the case. Hair regulations at Briary are no colours, tramlines or Mohicans. We ask parents to adhere to these regulations. Personal Possessions Children are not allowed to bring toys and other personal belongings to school. This is because they tend to get swapped, lost or broken and end up causing grief! However, children in the Middle and Upper Years are allowed to wear watches to school but must remove them for PE. Found clothing is returned if it is named. So we ask parents to name everything and encourage their children to take care of their personal possessions. Jewellery No jewellery is to be worn to school except ear studs, these should not be worn for P.E. but it is not staff s responsibility to remove them. If tape is provided by the parents then we deem this to be their responsibility should any accident occur. Money Children must not bring money to school please, unless it s dinner money, or has been requested for a particular purpose, in which case it should be in a sealed envelope, with the child s name, class, the amount enclosed and the purpose for which it s intended written on the outside. Money for the school shop should be handed to the teacher for safe-keeping at the beginning of the school day. Lunchtime Briary School has its own kitchen which provides midday meals. Children are encouraged to eat their food, but never forced. The children are helped in the dining room and on the playground by midday supervisors. Each class has their own supervisor for the whole of the school year. She will know each child by name and will maintain a close working relationship with the children s teacher. We help to teach children good table manners. The younger children have their lunches before the older ones. School dinners cost 2.15 per day, and must be paid for in advance on the first day of that school week. Chartwells, who provide the meals, do not allow credit. All enquiries about meals must be made direct to 11

13 Chartwells on (Briary Kitchen). The fortnightly Bulletin advertises which Week the Menu is on and you can see what the kitchen offers on our website. Some parents prefer to give their children packed lunches. Lunch boxes must be named. Crisps are only allowed as part of the packed lunch; sweets are not allowed in school at all. Please do not include bottles or cans of fizzy drinks, since these things can make quite a mess! Children whose parents receive Income Support or income based Job Seekers Allowance, or Child Tax Credit (WITHOUT Working Tax Credit) may be entitled to free school meals. No distinction is made between those children whose parents pay and those who do not. Please contact the school office for the necessary forms and for confidential advice. Nut Free School We have made the decision that Briary Primary School is a Nut Free School due to the fact that two of our pupils have severe, life-threatening allergies to nuts including:- Peanuts Peanut Butter Nutella and other chocolate spreads Pecans Walnuts Nut Oils Nut flavourings etc. Body lotions, shampoos etc. containing any nuts Touching, smelling or eating any of these items may provoke a severe allergic reaction. Therefore, for the safety of these pupils we have asked all our parents not to send any food containing these items to school. We do understand this can be problematic, but do thank all our parents and staff for their understanding and co-operation in this matter. Healthy Eating We are very keen to do what we can to encourage children to eat healthy diets and take regular exercise. We provide all our Early Years and Middle Years children with mid morning fruit. All children will also be provided with a water bottle at the beginning of the academic year, to be kept and replenished in school (Thanks to the Friends of Briary). We have a tuck shop selling fruit juice and sometimes fruit, open on the playground at break time so that Upper Years children can buy something healthy at morning playtime. This is not a fund-raiser. We buy from local suppliers. Milk is available to all children through the Cool Milk scheme. Teachers and Parents Working Together You as parents are the most effective and influential teachers of your own children! So we really do need your support for what we do in school. We are keen that children see teachers and parents working together. Please help us by:- 12

14 * Make sure the child arrives and is collected on time * Avoid taking child out of school for holidays * Make sure the child attends regularly and contact the school on the morning of the first day of absence with an explanation. * Check for and read letters sent or ed home. * Sign up for and attend parents evening meetings to discuss child s progress * Let the School know of anything which may affect the child s life and work at school * Help children with reading and homework, sign contact books and homework diaries, as requested. * Support the school s behaviour, uniform and other policies. * Model good behaviour on the school site. * Ensure all equipment is labelled. * Ensure lunch, PE kit and coats are labelled and in school every day. * Let the school know of any changes in contact details. Do keep in contact: if you need a quick word with the teacher, see him or her at the beginning or end of the school day. Mrs Watson is almost always at the gate in the morning and on the playground in the afternoon. If he is not there, another member of staff will be! If you need a longer discussion, appointments are easily made by phone or letter. We arrange formal parent-teacher consultations in the autumn and spring terms, when we discuss your child s progress with you. In the summer term we send you a full, written end of year report and offer the opportunity to discuss this with your child s teacher. We send each family a copy of our fortnightly Briary Bulletin, a news sheet which tells you what s happening at school, either in a child s book bag or via . If you d like to let people know of a community event or activity, see the school office and we ll do our best to put something in the next edition. The Bulletin is also published on our website. To save paper - and money - we most letters and only ever send one copy of any circular letter to each family. We encourage the children to put letters in their bookbags - so do frisk your child! To demonstrate all of this is important we ask both parents and teachers sign a home-school agreement which we both keep a copy of. Emergency Closures In severe weather it may be impossible to open the school. On such days, a message will be displayed on our Website home page ( parents will be informed via our texting service and local radio stations will broadcast information. If heavy snow were to fall during the school day, please phone the office if you have to drive to collect your children and wish to collect them early. The School has not had to close for the last 5 years, so please assume we are open! Heart Radio KM-FM Radio Kent 102.8FM 106.0FM 104.2FM 13