Clewer Green First School Prospectus 2022/23

Clewer Green CE First School

Inspiring Children

Our School Aim

Our aim, in line with our distinctly Christian values, is for every child to have the support that they need, and, by example and direct teaching, promote a Christian ethos within the school, whilst recognising that not all of its members will be practising Christians. It is also a primary aim of our school that every member of our school community feels valued and respected, and that each person is treated fairly and well. We are a caring community with mutual trust and respect for all.

Courage Faith Love Respect Honesty

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Welcome from our Head teacher

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Quite simply, we want every child that passes through our doors to develop a love for learning that will stay with them for the rest of their lives and allow them to achieve their potential in whatever area of life that may be. Our Vision Statement states just that:

Inspiring Children

‘Every child is blessed by God with unique potential. Our vision for Clewer Green is to inspire and nurture children in a safe, happy and caring Christian community, where everyone is valued and enjoys learning.’

Our school values, which are at the side of each page, were driven by our pupils. They saw it was important that they have the courage to attempt difficult things; to have faith in themselves to succeed; to love life; to respect everyone and everything and finally, to have the ability to be honest and true to yourself and with others. These principles are not limited to the Church or Christianity, but are important principles from all major faiths and to those of us with none and that is why I firmly believe that we are a school for the whole of our community.

No one gives you a handbook on parenting and choosing a school for your little one is a significant and important choice and can be quite daunting. Hopefully you will find all sorts of things of interest in this prospectus and I hope that it places us at the top of your list of choices.

Best wishes,

Martin Tinsley

What people say about us……

What Ofsted and SIAMS said about the school.

• The calm, supportive and well organised environment ensures that everyone is valued within this caring community. (OFSTED)

• Strong and established routines ensure that pupil’s behaviour is good and that they feel safe. (OFSTED)

• Pupils are enthusiastic about the curriculum and enjoy the wide range of enrichment opportunities that bring learning alive. (OFSTED)

• Teachers have high expectations of pupils’ learning. They support pupils well by responding effectively to their work so pupils know how to improve their understanding and skills. (OFSTED)

• The school’s vision, underpinned by carefully chosen and theologically understood Christian values, is lived out by all members of the school community. It drives all aspects of the school’s work and as a result, all pupils and adults flourish. (SIAMS)

• Well established links between school, church, families and local organisations create a community where all respect and care for each other and live well together. (SIAMS

(More importantly) What parents say about the school.

Inspiring Children

• Love the overall ethos – treating children as whole human beings, so that manners and kindness are as important as academic learning. Thank you.

• The school is an amazingly calm, warm and nurturing place. The children are kind and caring towards one another and this is strongly encouraged by staff.

• We LOVE Clewer, it is an outstanding school with transparent leadership and a sincere care for each and every child, both in terms of educational and emotional wellbeing. Could not commend the teacher cohort here enough.

• My son loves going to school, I have seen him grow in confidence and this is down to the nurturing approach the school has.

• The school is a fantastic community led by an exceptional Head Teacher and excellent staff.

(Even more importantly) What the children say about the school.

• I love everything we do at school.

• I love this school very much because the teachers encourage me to work harder and be smart.

• This is the best school in the world.

• It is awesome at Clewer Green!

• You will never regret going to Clewer.

Our Curriculum

Learning to read is one of the most important things your child will learn at our school. Being able to read has a powerful effect on their capacity to learn, develop and grow. We put as much energy as we possibly can into making sure that every child learns to read as quickly as they can.

Phonics is our main tool to develop early reading and writing. We teach children using Read Write Inc. Phonics scheme. Once children have learnt to blend sounds to read words, they begin to receive phonics based home reading books. As their reading develops the books help the children to build fluency and confidence by matching closely with their phonics acquisition.

We want children to be life long readers and to build a strong passion for reading. We actively promote ‘reading for pleasure’ as much as we can including daily story times, reading events, quiet reading times, story based assemblies. We purposely choose high quality texts which explore diversity and challenge stereotypes. It is important that children can identify with characters and see themselves in the books we read.

Teachers model great writing and enable children to write confidently for a range of different purposes including stories, poetry, letters and reports

At Clewer Green, we support the children to gain a deep and lasting understanding of mathematical procedures and concepts so that they have a positive attitude about the subject and are confident to “have a go”. We follow a Mastery approach, using White Rose materials and we make sure that children are secure in the foundations and have developed a high level of competence before they move on. The children are encouraged to believe that by working hard, everyone can succeed at Maths and we move forward in small steps to facilitate this. Children are then given appropriate challenges to promote deeper understanding and to give them opportunity to develop the power of resilience and perseverance when solving more sophisticated problems.

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Maths MasteryEnglish Science

We aim to provide an exciting and challenging Science curriculum where, from a very early age, all children can confidently explore, discover and start to understand and care for the world around them. By encouraging investigation, observation and questioning children will acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes to prepare them for the increasingly scientific and technological age we all live in.

Humanities

History and Geography at Clewer Green are taught using a number of approaches, including drama, recreations, using artefacts and the environment around us. The topics studied are often interlinked. Skills are consolidated with enrichment activities including Roman, Victorian and Greek workshops as well as visits around the local area including mapping skills and identification of geographical features.

As a school, we pride ourselves on continually reviewing best practice in teaching and learning

Computing

The role of ICT in the lives of our children will only ever be increasingly important. Unlike many schools, we have a newly upgraded, dedicated ICT suite in addition to classroom iPads and desktops. Our regular use of technology helps children develop an awareness and understanding of online safety and the ability to navigate devices responsibly in preparation for their independent use as they get older.

Religious Education

Our Discovery RE scheme provides an engaging way to teach the major religions.

Music

All children take part in weekly music sessions following our comprehensive scheme. The aim is to develop a love of a wide variety of music, to inspire creativity, and to build confidence and a sense of achievement through a range of performance opportunities both in and out of school. Topics range from performing hiphop to the classical orchestra, from singing ballads to composing musical stories.

Food and Nutrition

All children in the school learn the fundamentals of this lifelong skill. WE have our very own curriculum kitchen. Our Year 4 children also take part in our Clewer Green Bake Off which is always looked forward to with excitement by our children and our Head Judge Mr Tinsley!

PE

P.E. and School Sport play a very important part in the life of Clewer Green. Through PE we wish to provide our children with the opportunities to be physically confident, develop fundamental sports skills and lead healthy lifestyles. We encourage our children to take part in competitive sports as well as to nurture respect, cooperation and fairness towards others. We have strong links with Windsor Schools Sports Partnership and coaches from the partnership come into school every week to share their expertise and work with all our year groups over the year. Festivals and competitions between local First Schools are held throughout the year; all children participate and are encouraged to be ambassadors for Clewer Green and take pride representing their school.

Modern Foreign Languages

The National Curriculum requires children in Key Stage 2 to study a Modern Foreign Language. Here at Clewer Green we follow the Kapow scheme for teaching French to Years 3 and 4. It provides our children with the basics that they will need as they move to Middle Schools to study the subject in greater depth.

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Transition from Nursery

At Clewer Green, your child’s smooth transition into school is of the greatest importance to us.

It starts during the summer term before the children start school when you and your child are invited in on 3 separate occasions to visit the school and on one occasion to stay for lunch. Children get to play in our very own Foundation playground with a play tower, slide and even its own pirate ship.

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Our staff also visit/talk to the nurseries to understand the specific needs of each child from their key workers.

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After this at the beginning of the new school year the staff will pay a short visit to the homes of any children whose families are new to the school. This helps to build the relationship by giving the children a chance to share their own environment with us as well as us sharing our school environment with them.

Finally, the children will have a phased induction in September over a number of days with reduced class sizes to give each and every one the care and attention they need to make the experience of starting school a calm but exciting one.

Pastoral

Here at Clewer Green we continually strive to create an environment where all of our children feel safe, secure and valued by all members of our community.

We take the pastoral care of your children very seriously and we treat children with respect. Sometimes there will be events happening in your lives that may have an impact on the emotional wellbeing of your children and if we know about these issues we will be able to support your child whilst they are in school. We are an inclusive school and support students across the four areas of special educational needs: cognition and learning, communication and interaction, physical and sensory and social and emotional. We have a number of Teaching Assistants who are trained as Emotional Literacy Support Assistants to support children with their emotional difficulties. All of this type of work is dealt with the upmost confidentiality. We have our own SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator), a dedicated nurture room and teaching assistants specialising in emotional support, speech & language, nurture and English as an additional language, as well as access to an educational psychologist.

The children come up with their own classroom rules at the start of each year, supported by some of the rules that we as a staff have in place (such as walking rather than running down corridors) and we explain to the children that throughout life there are rules that we follow to ensure that everyone is kept safe or in order to make things work properly.

We have a Positive Behaviour and Relationships Policy which focuses on promoting and celebrating the good choices that children make during their time at school.

Safeguarding

All staff ire committed to creating a safe environment for our pupils through robust safeguarding practices. We make sure that all adults who work in the school are well trained and know how to respond if they have concerns about a child’s wellbeing to provide early help. We work closely with agencies and services to plan timely interventions or provide targeted support.

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On site breakfast and after school club

The school recognises that for many of our working parents, there is a need for care beyond the hours of the school day. We are very proud of our breakfast club and after-school club, both of which are run by our own staff who provide pastoral care, fun activities and nutritious meals. Breakfast club starts at 7.45am and parents who use our after-school club can choose to collect children at 4.30 or 5.30. Children who don’t want to miss out on our other extra-curricular clubs which finish at 4.30pm can transfer into our afterschool club for tea and collection at 5.30pm.

Externally run clubs

We have a variety of external clubs offering a range of activities at lunchtimes and after-school; from sports such as football, rugby and fencing to creative activities such as craft, drama and languages.

Music Tuition

All children at Clewer Green have the opportunity to learn an instrument from one of our very own music teachers either individually or in small groups during the school day; including piano, keyboard, drums and guitar. The children have lots of fun learning and there are opportunities to perform in assemblies and at school events.

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Trips and Themed Days

We have a wide range of visits that help to enrich the learning of our children. These could be at places a short bus journey away or walking visits around our locality. All aim to provide the children with different experiences that will make their learning experience here at Clewer Green a really positive one.

Every year as one of their trips, the children in EYFS visit Combermere Barracks. The children learn lots of historical facts in the museum, dress up in army clothes, feed the horses and look at a whole range of army vehicles and tanks.

Every year our Year 4 children embark on a 3 day/2 night residential trip. They take part in a wide range of activities which include wall climbing, archery, zip wires, orienteering, go-karting and a night hike. They have tremendous fun and return with a new-found confidence!

In addition to trips, we aim to stimulate children and excite their curiosity about the world with themed days/weeks. Past events included a visit from a mobile planetarium, travelling theatres and dress up days focusing on important times in history. We even fired a rocket across the school field!

Year 4 Responsibilities

Our children in Year 4 are invited to take on roles so that they gain leadership skills and understand a role of responsibility prior to them moving onto Middle School. The roles include House Captains, Worship Leaders, Librarians, Peer Mediators, School Councillors and Story Tellers. Some of the roles are voted for democratically by their peers, others by staff and the Headteacher. The children are given guidance and support so that they fully understand their roles which helps them with their confidence as they move into Year

The Clewer Green Family and the Wider Community

Community is very important to us at Clewer Green; both locally and internationally

Our school has linked with other schools across the World. This link serves as a reminder to our children of the Christian communities that exist all around the world. Our children have both an annual project in which the children are set a task to communicate with the other school and also a fundraiser in which we, as a comparably wealthy community, can support others who have less. We learn about similarities and differences in the way different cultures live and learn. It is always lovely to see the excitement that is created when we receive messages from our friends from other countries around the World.

More locally, we have developed relationships with local care homes for elderly residents. The children visit the homes and a special relationship builds up between the residents, staff and children. As a church school, our Christian Values are embedded in everything we do throughout the school day. We have strong links with St Andrew’s Church and the children benefit from regular assemblies and church visits, including our Year 4 Pilgrimage, all led by Reverend Rosie. Our well-established links help promote dignity and respect among our children and their community.

The children also have a House Charity that they support each year, as we feel it is important for our young people to develop a sense of civic responsibility and to also recognise that there are people locally, nationally and internationally who are not as fortunate as they are.

Our school benefits from being part of Windsor Learning Partnership. We are a long-standing member of the Windsor Sports Partnership which enables all our children to compete against other First Schools in a range of sports as well as having high quality coaching from specialist PE coaches. This ongoing initiative runs alongside the children’s weekly PE lessons. In additional we have weekly singing assembly from Windsor Learning Partnership’s Director Of Music and take part in joint music events with local schools.

We have a very active PTA (Friends of Clewer Green) who not only raise significant funds for the school but run lots of fun and exciting community events for families and children; some of the highlights being the Summer Fair, Easter bunny bingo and the school disco, to name but a few. Being part of Friends is a great way to become a part of the school community, meet new people and have a lot of fun doing so.

Our History

The school was founded back in 1806 by Countess Mary Harcourt and our deeds are dated November 1815. In the deeds it clearly states that the school was founded for ‘the poor of the Parish of Clewer,’ meaning that from our very inception we have been here for all of our community. Today, is no different! We exist to serve the children of our community irrespective of background, race, faith or disability and that is exactly what we strive to achieve.

look forward to welcoming you and your child to Clewer Green!