Eastgate Academy prospectus

our academy prospectus

This prospectus will give you a good idea of what our academy is like. You can also find more detailed information on our website

eastgateacademy.co.uk Academy history Eastgate Academy is the second primary education member of the CWA Academy Trust family. Launched in 1911 as St. James, the original school building burnt down and was rebuilt, splitting into St. James’ Boys and St. James’ Girls infant schools in the 1960s. In the 1980s, the schools merged to form Eastgate Community Primary School, educating up to 270 young learners with a main catchment area of the North Lynn area of King’s Lynn.

Policies and procedures For more information on policies and procedures please visit eastgateacademy.co.uk

Local governing body The purpose of the governing body is to work with the academy on planning, developing policies and keeping the academy under review so that all learners achieve their full potential. For more information about the governing body please visit eastgateacademy.co.uk

We are proud of our academy and stand by our ethos of:

One team, learning and growing together page 02

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Contents 06 09 10 14 17 17 18 21 23

Welcome messages Ethos and aims Teaching and learning Community Academy Times and Dates Academy Uniform FACILITIES ACTIVITIES Well-being

It’s phenomenal Emily

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Welcome messages Eastgate Academy opened in April 2014 and is sponsored by the College of West Anglia (CWA) Academy Trust. Our academy is very much part of the local community in King’s Lynn and being part of the CWA Academy Trust builds on this.

I like Eastgate Academy because there are lots of friends and you get to learn new things Owen

Working as part of the CWA Academy Trust we have high aspirations for all our pupils and aim to provide a stimulating and challenging environment where children can excel.

Every child that comes to us brings something special to our community. We welcome everyone and do our utmost to support both pupils and their families. Our door is always open and we actively encourage families to be involved in academy life.

Linda Hothersall Principal, Eastgate Academy

CWA Academy Trus t is a multi-academ y trust founded by the Col lege of West Anglia , an established high qu ality provider of ed ucation with campuses in Nor fo lk and Cambridgesh ire.

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Our family of acad emies helps us fulfil our desire to establ vibrant education ish a system that inspire s young people an economic developm d supports ent of the region. As a successful educat provider we believe ion we can contribute to all phases of ed within our local co ucation mmunity, including primary, focussing standards and impr on raising oving transition an d progression for ev ery child.

Like all strong fam ilies, the CWA Acad emy Trust family of seeks to offer mut academies ual support to one another, develop sh learning and unde ared rstanding, collabora te to achieve bette recognise unique r outcomes, qualities and differe nces, be positive an aspirational, focus d on the successes of individuals and de culture of healthy velop a competition.

David Pomfret Chief Executive, CW A Academy Trust

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Eastgate Academy is awesome because they make learning fun Dean

ETHOS and AIMS Statement of Intent best that I can be Our aim is to be an A happy, confident and caring person outstanding academy Who is content to be me changing lives I want to love learning through learning And be inspired to learn for life To discover and develop my interests and talents And be ready to use them for the benefit of others I will treat others as I would wish to be treated With kindness and respect For the uniqueness of each person I will care about the environment And my place in the world around me I will know that with rights come responsibilities And I will always be proud to have been at our academy I want to be ready to take on new challenges and opportunities And continue to make a difference I would like to be the

Our vision is Learning Community Driving Excellence. Through this we want to ensure that Eastgate Academy offers the highest standards of education.

We will do this by:

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• • • • • • • •

Sustaining and developing an environment where every child matters Driving up academic standards to exceed national levels The pupil voice leading change and informing improvement Promoting inspirational teaching, challenging lessons and independent learners Facilitating staff development through mentoring and coaching to achieve excellence Delivering an outstanding curriculum that inspires and engages Engaging parents and carers to raise aspirations within our local community Having a sense of pride within our academy community.

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Teaching and learning Our curriculum

Our aim is to provide a personalised education for every pupil, based on individual needs and aspirations, focusing on ability and not age.

I really don’t want to leave Eastgate Jennifer

To do this, we offer a curriculum that: Is engaging,

relevant and challenging

Encourages creativity, Develops highly

problem solving and risk taking

confident, independent learners

Focuses on the development of literacy and maths Encourages students and teachers to be enterprising and explore new

technologies

Readily provides for meaningful progression to further study Is coherent through the key stages and supports Supports personal growth,

transition

development and good behaviour

Enables pupils to develop a view of the wider world and take

pride in their place in it

We want our pupils to be at the centre of their own learning. We actively encourage our pupils to challenge themselves and to have the confidence to try new things. All our children have their own targets and know what they need to do to achieve them. In marked work, they are given guidance on their next steps so that they can move forward.

With around 270 pupils aged from 4 to 11 years old, the academy has nine classes, three infant classes and six junior classes. We have an intake of thirty children into reception each year who stay with their classmates throughout their time in the infants.

In year three we have approximately 15 children from Highgate Infant School join us, so we have around 45 pupils in the year group. In years 3 and 4 we have one class of year 3s, one class of year 4s, and a mixed class of years 3 and 4. This structure is the same in years 5 and 6 and enables us to provide additional support to the class with the mixed year groups.

Our timetable includes key times of day where lessons focus on maths and literacy but also allows for study of topics where all the pupils’ skills are used. All classes have a physical education lesson each week and pupils have the opportunity to try different sports such as fencing and archery.

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Teachers make learning fun Josh

Swimming lessons start when the children reach the junior classes and, where possible, we also offer top up lessons for year six pupils to ensure they are able to swim at least 25 metres before leaving Eastgate. We encourage the pupils in music and have whole academy singing sessions.

The academy also regularly resounds to the sound of djembe drums as each of the junior classes gets an opportunity to learn to play them.

We try to make the most up-to-date information technology equipment available, which our pupils use in lessons. Digital leaders are pupils who have been appointed to help try new software for use in school and to go into classes and work with other pupils.

We have introduced a phonics-based system across the academy, which provides accelerated progress in reading and writing. This extends into other areas of the curriculum so that the children apply these skills in their topic areas.

An important part of our academy life are the trips which link to topic areas. Our trips have included going on the London Eye, visiting the London Aquarium, Cadbury World, Gressenhall Farm and Workshop and trips to the beach, the Royal Norfolk Show and Banham Zoo.

The academy and home We want our parents and carers to be actively involved in the learning journey of our pupils and we encourage a two-way dialogue between home and the academy.

Teachers are available at the beginning and end of the day for parents to talk to. We hold parents evenings to keep parents up-to-date on the progress of their children and run sessions on specific areas of learning so that parents can help support their children at home.

We regularly hold cafĂŠs on reading, maths and science where parents work with their children in class.

Parents are invited to come in for special assemblies so that the children can show them what they have been studying during the term and to weekly assemblies where we celebrate our stars of the week and citizen awards.

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COMMUNITY Our local community Being a part of the community is very important to us and we have built strong links with local people and businesses. We have good links with local nurseries, infant and high schools to ensure that transition between the different phases of education goes smoothly for all our pupils.

Businesses have generously supported us by providing opportunities for pupils to try new things such as tasting Indian food. We have end of term attendance prizes, which are sponsored by two local businesses and regularly have visitors to the academy such as the local fire crew, police officers and authors. We also take part in local activities such as the raising of the flag on Armed Forces Day and Christingle services at the local church. Our pupils have taken part in public speaking competitions in King’s Lynn and our choir has sung in local carol services.

Our academy community We aim to promote a sense of community within the academy so that the children will help and support each other. Through restorative practices, they are able to express their thoughts and feelings and take responsibility for resolving problems. Each week our older children work with children in infants to help them write up their learning journey for the week.

The older children take on jobs within the academy such as librarians, digital leaders and register monitors.

Parents, local people and businesses support us in fundraising activities through the Friends of Eastgate. We hold Christmas fairs and summer fetes, bingo, quiz nights and many other events.

The two learning catalysts in our academy work with parents to raise their aspirations for their children’s future. There are regular events where parents take part in activities with their children, such as making a bear or art club. We have a bank of parent readers that come into the academy to support the children in learning to read - part of this includes the parents doing some training.

We believe we are one team, learning and growing together!

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academy times and dates In order to make sure that Key Stage 2 pupils receive the recommended teaching time and to accommodate all the children during lunchtime, hours for infants (Foundation and Key Stage 1) and juniors (Key Stage 2) are different.

The day is structured as follows: Infants Morning session Lunchtime Afternoon session

8.45am - 11.45am 11.45am - 12.30pm 12.30pm - 3.05pm

Juniors - Lower Key Stage 2 (Years 3 and 4) Morning session Lunchtime Afternoon session

8.45am - 12.15pm 12.15pm - 1.00pm 1.00pm - 3.10pm

Juniors - Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6) Morning session Lunchtime Afternoon session

8.45 am - 12.30 pm 12.30pm - 1.15pm 1.15pm - 3.10pm

Infants have breaks of 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon. Juniors have a break each morning of 15 minutes.

Term dates can be found at eastgateacademy.co.uk/term-dates

academy uniform At Eastgate Academy, our uniform is formal, clearly defined and we expect all students to wear it correctly with pride. All pupils should wear the appropriate uniform unless there is a valid medical or cultural reason why they cannot wear a particular item or why they have to wear an additional garment.

As a parent I am grateful to the academy for keeping my daughter challenged and enhancing her abilities. page 16

For more information on the academy uniform please visit eastgateacademy.co.uk

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facilities Our academy is located in the centre of King’s Lynn and we have playgrounds and a field on-site. Our reception building was purpose built with a secure outdoor play area. We have incorporated an outdoor play area for our year one class and have developed the infants’ playground with play equipment and garden areas. We have a science garden, which includes a greenhouse, planting beds and even a pond which is popular with the children.

I like the fact we have a variety of animals to care for Jack

Inside we have two halls, which are used for assemblies, PE, lunches and many other activities as part of academy life. We have a wellstocked library, which the children run under the direction of our librarian and a resource room for all our reading schemes and story sacks. All the infant classes have access to computers and we have laptops and some learnpads in the junior classes. Each class has an interactive whiteboard to aid learning.

Our site manager has developed a menagerie of animals which started with chickens and now includes finches, budgies, quails and canaries. Then came the guinea pigs and finally the chipmunks. The children have seen new born guinea pigs and each week some children help to change the water and feed all the animals.

Our year six pupils have taken a special interest in looking after the guinea pigs which now proudly sport hi-viz jackets when they are taken for a walk on their leads!

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We do lots of activities like fencing and making clay fish Einoras

activities We feel that an important part of academy life is the opportunity to try out different things. We want to encourage children to do this and offer various clubs free of charge. The clubs vary from term to term depending on the season and have included:

Gym club

Mini sports

Football

Choir

Archery

Cookery Maths booster

Computer club Reading

Stamp collecting

Netball

Glee club

Take your pick...

Kwik cricket

Art skills

Drama

Guitar Each year we take 45 of the older children on a residential trip to different parts of the country, we have been to Cumbria, Salisbury and York. Each time they have had the opportunity to experience history, geography and activities they would not normally experience at home. A particular highlight is Cumbria with the fells and waterfalls providing a completely different landscape to Norfolk.

Our learning catalysts often organise activities for parents to work with their children and for parents themselves. These have included literacy skills, supporting children learning to read, budget management, jewellery making, love food hate waste, food taster sessions, build a bear workshop, pottery and story sack workshop.

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WELL-BEING The children are at the heart of what we do at Eastgate Academy, we want them to be happy, healthy and ready to learn.

We are a restorative practices academy, which means the pupils are encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings so they have a better understanding of how to support each other. This has proved a very powerful means of improving behaviour as they take ownership for resolving conflict but know when to seek support from staff as well. We also have a family support manager whose door is always open to pupils and families.

Our academy council play a big part in the life of the academy and the pupil-elected representatives are consulted on a variety of things connected with academy life.

We promote an ethos of caring so that pupils learn to care for each other both in learning and in play. Our older children work with the younger ones on a weekly basis to help them write their learning journeys.

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HOW TO FIND US D OA

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Eastgate Academy is located at the end of Littleport Terrace, in the centre of King’s Lynn.

8 A14

TERRACE ORT LEP LITT

OAD RAILWAY R

WELLESLEY ST

KFRIARS ROAD BLAC

T OLK S NORF

OO YW A G

CO B UR G ST

PORTLAND ST

WATERLOO ST

SEE YOU SOON! Eastgate Academy Littleport Terrace King’s Lynn Norfolk PE30 1QA t 01553 773088 e office@eastgateacademy.co.uk eastgateacademy.co.uk The information contained in this guide is correct as far as can be ascertained at the time of publication. You are, therefore, advised to satisfy yourself as to any amendments or alterations, which may affect your child.