Sherburn Village Primary School Brochure

Sher bur nVi l l age Pr i mar ySc hool Sc hool I nf or mat i onBookl et

Headt eacher :Mi s sSus anCor nfor t h

Dear Parents, Having worked at Sherburn Village Primary school for the past few years I was delighted to be appointed as Head in April 2014 of The Hill and Village Federation. We are federated with Sherburn Hill Primary. Running the two schools benefits both the staff and pupils as it means that we are able to share staff expertise and the children enjoy opportunities to work with children from Sherburn Hill on joint projects.

We currently have 145 children on roll, making us a smaller than average primary school. This means that all staff know the children well and are able to meet their individual needs.

At Sherburn Village Primary we aim to ensure that all children meet their full potential in all aspects of their development. We want children to be happy in school and to enjoy their time with us. The school has a wonderful staff, delightful children and supportive parents – which makes working here a real pleasure!

We are dedicated to providing a safe and secure environment for all and a copy of our child protection policy is included in your induction pack.

Successful education relies on an effective partnership between home and school. We value parental support. Parents are welcome to come into school to discuss their child’s progress or to share any worries or concerns. We really appreciate the time that some of our parents, grandparents and members of the local community are able to give to help in the classrooms, hear readers and to support teachers on school trips.

We hold regular open-evenings providing you with opportunities to look at your child’s work and talk to their teachers. Currently we hold weekly reward assemblies to celebrate children’s achievements.

We hope the booklet will answer many of your questions about Sherburn Village Primary school, but to really get to know us please arrange a visit – we’d be delighted to show you round our school.

Sue Cornforth Headteacher

Contact Details Headteacher: Miss Susan Cornforth Deputy Headteacher: Office Manager: Mrs. Tracey Pearce Sherburn Village Primary School Cookshold Lane Sherburn Village Co. Durham DH6 1DU Telephone: 0191 3720281 Fax: 0191 3723451 E-mail: sherburnvillage@durhamlearning.net

Meet the Team The Staff We have a committed and highly skilled staff. They are dedicated to providing the highest possible level of education and care for your children.

Position Headteacher

Name Miss Susan Cornforth

Responsibility Strategic Development of the School Curriculum Manager More Able and Talented Provision Health and Safety RE

Deputy Headteacher

Miss Linda Gunn (Y5/6 teacher)

SEND Co Assessment and Recording Literacy

Teaching Staff

Miss Gill Jones (R/Y1 teacher)

ICT/Science/Forest Schools Coordinator

Miss Kimberly Runciman (Y1/Y2 teacher)

Music

Mrs Lorraine Cox (Y2/3 teacher)

Maths

Mrs Allison Dobson ( Y3/4 teacher)

DT/Art

Miss Fiona Wilkinson (Y4/5 teacher)

Humanities/Global Links/MFL

Mrs Joanne Smith (Y4 teacher)

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Learning Support Staff

Ms Allison Carlyon Mrs Debra Forth Ms Anne Hutchinson Miss Rebecca Judd Miss Kimberley Mayhew Miss. Lyn Pinkerton (HLTA) Mrs Elaine Reed Mrs. Lesley Silcock

Displays PE/PPA cover/Displays EYFS/Displays Displays Displays PPA cover/Displays Lexia Library/Dispalys

Administrative Staff

Mrs. Tracey Pearce

Office Manager

Ms Allison Carlyon

Administrative support

Mr. Brian Colledge

Administrative Assistant to teaching staff

Lunchtime Supervisors

Ms Allison Carlyon Mr Brian Colledge Mrs Olivia Laverick Mrs Lesley Bowes

Breakfast Club

Mrs. Kathryn Laverick

Caretaker

Mrs. Jackie Huntingdon

Cleaners

Miss Linda Birkett Mrs. June Laverick

Health and Safety

The Governing Body The Governing Body act as a ‘critical friend,’ overseeing the work of the school. The team, like the staff, want the best for your children and work closely with the Headteacher and staff of the school to ensure a high quality of education in a school which provides high standards of care.

Chair of the Governing Body: Mr Raymond Pye Vice Chair:

Mrs Deborah Halliwell

The School Day The School runs a breakfast club each day from 8am. Many parents find this a useful facility. We aim to keep charges as low as possible and at present charge ÂŁ1.20 a day for this service or ÂŁ5 a week if the money is paid in advance. This is non-returnable if a child is absent, as we do have to ensure that the books balance.

The school day starts at 8.55am, and unless children are coming to breakfast club they should not be at school until 8.45am, as there is no supervision before this time. All children, other than those in Reception, come into school via the main entrance or side gate and go straight onto the school yard. Reception children come into school via the garden entrance leading into Rainbow Room.

In line with legal requirements, all children take part in a daily act of worship. This is sometimes a whole school-event and at other times is conducted in class. If you wish your child to be withdrawn from this please have a chat with me.

We have a mid-morning break from 10.30 – 10.45. The children all go out to play together.

Lunch begins at 12pm and finishes at 12.45pm for Infants. Children go into lunch on a rota basis. For our older children lunch starts at 12.15pm and finishes at 1.00pm.

School finishes for all children at 3.15pm. Staff, parents and visitors run a variety of after-school clubs throughout the year and letters are sent out to keep you informed of these.

Absence From time to time all children are ill and unable to come to school. Please contact us, by phone, on the first morning of absence to let us know that your child is unwell and how long he/she is likely to be absent for. If you do not contact us we will contact you, as we need to know that your child is safe and nothing has happened on the way to school.

Where children are frequently absent the Educational Welfare Officer, Sarah Hope, will become involved and will visit your home to discuss problems and see if she can offer any help or support.

School Uniform The School adopted a uniform a number of years ago and the children look very smart wearing it. It is inexpensive and many parents say that it is invaluable as it saves arguments over what can be worn for school and is considerably cheaper than fashionable clothing. Some uniform items can be ordered through school and anybody wishing to place an order or try on uniform for size should contact Mrs. Pearce in the school office.

Uniform consists of: Red sweatshirt or cardigan available through school with logo if you wish – these have initials embroidered on to help us reunite children with their clothing if it gets lost.

White polo shirt Grey or black school trousers, skirt or pinafore (the wearing of track suit bottoms is actively discouraged) Black school shoes (no trainers or high heels please) PE Kit plain white t-shirt and plain black shorts. We suggest that P.E. kit is brought into school in a drawstring bag and left here most of the time.

Most children take it home for washing at the end of each half-term.

In the summer many of the girls choose to wear a red and white checked dress.

Waterproof jackets are also available to purchase through school if you wish. These are both warm and serviceable. However, please make sure these are clearly named.

PLEASE ensure that all clothing is labelled clearly with your child’s name.

This can save an awful lot of time and distress.

The Governing Body do not allow the wearing of Jewellery at school for Health and Safety reasons. Any child who wears earrings for school will not be allowed on the playground and cannot participate in P.E. lessons.

School Dinners We have a pre-ordering system so that parents can help their child to choose a meal they will enjoy.

From September the cost of a school meal will be £1.95 per day, £9.75 per week. Dinner money for the coming week should be sent into school on a Monday morning in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name.

All Infant children will receive a free school meal from September 2014.

Some children choose to bring a packed lunch and we are happy for them to do this. However, we do ask that you try to keep these as healthy as possible. We do not allow children to bring sweets, chocolate or fizzy drinks as part of their packed lunch.

Snacks and Drinks All children in Reception and Key Stage 1 are given fruit each day as part of a national scheme to encourage children to eat more healthily. We actively encourage children in Key Stage 2 to bring in fruit, cereal bars and fresh fruit juice as a snack for playtime. We do not allow any other snacks at playtime. However, on Fridays we do allow a free choice of snacks – we try to encourage the children to see that these can be part of a healthy, balanced diet if eaten in moderation.

Children are actively encouraged to bring still water into school to drink throughout the day. This should be in a bottle with a sport’s style cap to avoid spillage. Children will be allowed to keep their water in the classroom so that they can drink from it regularly. Research has proved that children who drink water regularly are able to concentrate for longer periods of time.

Milk is provided free of charge for any child who has not reached their 5th birthday. Parents can chose to pay for milk if they wish and forms will be provided for you to place your order. The school does not handle money or order forms, parents deal directly with the company.

Contacting You Each year you will be sent a personal details form to complete, please make sure you return this as soon as possible as we need to be able to contact you quickly if your child is poorly or has an accident at school. If contact numbers change at any point throughout the year please inform us promptly. Children can become very distressed when we cannot contact anybody for them, especially those children in Reception or who are new to the school.

Giving Children Medicines We are quite happy to administer prescribed medication to your child, but, for everybody’s safety, we must insist that the following guidelines are followed without exception:  Medication is brought into school and collected by an adult,  A parent or nominated adult completes a form giving instructions for administration.

Care plans are drawn up with the School Doctor for children who have illnesses which may affect them in school, e.g. diabetes, allergies or epilepsy.

We are also happy to apply prescribed creams and lotions as long as these are not to intimate parts of the body.

The Curriculum The school offers a broad and balanced curriculum for all children, in line with National Guidelines. The children in Reception follow the foundation curriculum and develop skills in the following areas:     

Language and Communication Mathematics Creativity Physical Development Knowledge and Understanding of the World

 Personal, Social and Emotional Development The curriculum for children in Years 1 to 6 is designed to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum in an interesting and stimulating way. The following subjects are studied: Literacy Mathematics Science Information, Communication Technology ( Computing) Art Design Technology Geography History Music Personal, Social Health and Citizenship Education ( Learning for Life)  Physical Education  Religious Education          

Teachers send out details of the curriculum at the beginning of each term so that parents’ have a clear understanding of the work we will be covering.

Sex and Relationships Education is covered through the PSHCE and Science Curriculum. Explicit work on Sex Education is covered in Year 6, with support from the school nurse. Parents are informed prior to these sessions and have the right to withdraw their children.

R.E. covers the following religions: Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Any parents wishing to withdraw their children from this subject should contact Miss Leggett for an appointment.

Special Needs Provision At some point during their school career many children will encounter difficulties that require additional help to be given. Many of these problems are easily overcome, but others take longer and require a special programme of work to be drawn up for your child. If we consider it will be helpful we will ask someone from the Learning Support Team to

come into school to do further work with your child to help us fully diagnose issues. We would always seek your permission before doing this.

Every child is considered as an individual and suitable programmes of work are developed for them. Our philosophy is clear - we identify the need and promote strategies, with the help of parents, to ensure that each child has the best possible chance of success.

All teachers are teachers of pupils with Special Educational needs. Full use is made of information passed to the school when a child transfers from early education provision. The school assesses each child’s level of attainment on entry (LEA Baseline Assessment) and teachers identify special needs by measuring progress being made in the various areas of experience provided by the school’s curriculum.

If progress is not adequate a child will require additional or different arrangements from other pupils. The school uses the skills of our Learning Support Assistants to provide support for children through intervention programmes; this gives them access to additional literacy and numeracy work in a small group.

Children may have a disability which makes it harder for them to use the same educational facilities that the school provides for the majority of children. For some children this may be a temporary difficulty, while others may have a long term need for additional help. The SENDCO will work with families to address any concerns. The school is committed to working alongside families and health care professionals to see that each child’s needs are fully met.

Our Special Educational Needs Coordinator is Linda Gunn. She works closely with teachers and outside agencies to coordinate work for your children.

Trainee Teachers The school works with trainee teachers from Durham University. The children gain much from this; it gives them a fresh approach – trainee teachers tend to be very creative and have wonderful ideas, it frees up

teacher time so that they can work with small groups of children from across the class; to challenge the more able, facilitate accelerated progress with the average ability and support those having difficulties.

The university involves us in exciting projects which can enhance the children’s education.

The Behaviour Policy The School’s Behaviour Policy centres around a Code of Conduct developed by children, parents and staff.

Code of Conduct We all need to work together happily and pupils, staff, parents and visitors are expected to follow the Code of Conduct at all times. If people upset you by not following the Code of Conduct make sure you tell someone who can help you.

1. Always remember good manners; say please and thank you and be polite to everybody.

2. Respect one another’s feelings.

3. Try not to make others unhappy by fighting and saying nasty things.

4. Look after you own belongings as well as other peoples.

5. Take care of our school and everything in it.

6. Give other people a helping hand whenever you can.

7. Walk around school in a safe and calm way. Keep to the left on the stairs and in corridors.

8. Always try your best in everything you do. Work hard at all times and remember to do your homework and ask for help when you need it.

We insist that everybody adheres to this and reward those who do with Good Citizen and Helping Hands Awards. Those who do not conform to the Code of Conduct will be reprimanded. There are a series of sanctions which can be used: 1. Warning by the teacher 2. Morning playtime detention 3. Sent to Deputy Headteacher or Headteacher

4. Letter to parents 5. Home-school diary set up 6. Exclusion – this is something which rarely happens, but is a sanction which will be incurred when children persistently make life unbearable for others.

Bullying It would be both naĂŻve and short-sighted to say that bullying never happens. It is a rare occurrence at Sherburn Village Primary School, but nonetheless one we will to deal with promptly.

Bullying is covered through our Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education programme and children are regularly reminded about what to do if they feel they are being bullied.

Sometimes parents are slow to approach us if they feel their child is the subject of bullying, hoping it will sort itself out, but we urge all parents to contact us immediately if they feel there is a problem which needs addressing.

What is Bullying?

Bullying is any behaviour which makes somebody else feel threatened, uncomfortable or scared. This can range from physical violence to constant staring. This behaviour, often seen as just a bit of fun, by the bully needs to be dealt with promptly to ensure everybody’s well being.

Bullying is not friends falling out with one another. This happens frequently with children and we will do everything we can to help them mend their differences.

What to do if you are being bullied We tell children that they must share their worries with somebody who can help them if they feel they are being bullied; a teacher, parent, older brother or sister or one of our Playground Buddies, who will help them to share their problem with an adult if they wish.

How will the school deal with a bullying incident?

Each case is different so there are no hard or fast rules for this. Some cases are solved easily by talking to the bully, who is often unaware that their behaviour is causing somebody else distress. In other cases it is necessary to provide the bully with support to help them change their behaviour. If bullying behaviour continues we will work with the Local Education Authorities Behaviour Support Team to provide additional work to modify behaviour. In all cases the parents of anybody bullying will be informed. If school and home work together these problems are normally solved quite quickly. We will, of course, also contact the parents of anybody who has reported bullying if you are unaware of the situation.

Child Protection All School’s Staff are required by law (DfES and Local Education Authority) to look for signs of abuse in their pupils in order to protect any children at risk and to act accordingly.

Child protection procedures require a school to refer disclosures to the appropriate authority, i.e. Social Services, for investigation. The school has no choice but to pass on such information without consulting the parents of the children involved, if we feel the child is in danger of further harm as a result of us talking to you. In all other cases we will talk to parents before any referral is made.

Children in Need Staff are trained to notice pupils exhibiting signs suggesting neglect and recognise possibly associated behaviour patterns. School would discuss these concerns with parents, in order to gain consent for appropriate family support to be sought.

Complaints It would be helpful where parents have concerns about the operation of the school, if they could discuss these, in the first instance, with the Head Teacher as in most cases complaints can be dealt with successfully

at this informal level. We endeavour to work closely with parents and recognise that like us you only want the best for your child and issues can normally be easily addressed. We hope that we never have to use the complaints procedure but are legally obliged to publish it in the school brochure.

Please note “Complaints” procedure as outlined does not apply to such matters as:• Individual Teachers •

Pupil Discipline

•

Matters that are the responsibility of the Local Education Authority

•

Conduct of Staff at the School

•

Content of a statutory statement of Special Educational Needs

•

Pupil admissions

•

Pupil exclusions

•

The National Curriculum and related issues including religious education

•

Child protection

If you are unsure whether your complaint is a School or LEA matter please contact the School and Governor Support Service.

All complaints will be dealt with as quickly and efficiently as possible. The period of consideration will vary with the gravity and complexity of the complaint and the urgency with which it needs to be settled.

Stage One

Informal Stage – First Contact

Discussion of a concern with appropriate members of Staff, including the Head Teacher if necessary.

Stage Two

Formal Consideration

Parents dissatisfied with the informal stage, should write to the Head Teacher giving details of their concern, and asking for the matter to be given further consideration.

All complaints at this stage will be logged, acknowledged by the School, and copied to the Clerk of the Governing Body for information. The Head Teacher will seek any necessary clarification about the complaint, including interviewing the parent where necessary, and will write to the parent addressing the concerns, within 15 school days.

Where a parent or carer is not satisfied with the outcome of the formal stage, they have 21 days from the date of the Head Teacher’s letter to register the complaint with the Clerk to the Governing Body of the School c/o School and Governor Support Service, Education Department, County Hall, Durham, DH1 5UJ. Stage Three

Appeal – Referral to the Governing Body

The Clerk of the Governors will refer such appeals against decisions or actions taken by the Head Teacher to the Governing Body. Only appeals which have progressed through Stage 1 and 2 can be considered, and within 21 days of stage 2 process.

The Clerk will arrange for a Committee of the Governing Body to consider the appeal as soon as possible, and within 21 days of receipt of the letter, and invite the parent to the meeting to address the issue. The Clerk to the Governing Body will notify in writing the outcome of the appeal to the parent and Head Teacher within 5 School days.

Admission Arrangements All children start their education at Sherburn Village Primary in the September preceding their 5th birthday.

Children have visits during the previous term in order to meet the class teacher and the other children in their class.

30 pupils will be allowed admission to the Reception class from September 2015 If we are over subscribed the following admission criteria will be used: •

Medical reasons

•

Family links

•

Distance from school.

Charging for School Activities No charges are levied for any activity taking place during school hours but voluntary contributions will be sought from parents of participating pupils to allow special educational activities and school visits to continue.

No pupil will be denied participation in any visit or activity on the grounds that no contribution has been made on his/her behalf. The school must

also reserve the right to cancel any activity where insufficient funds are generated through voluntary contributions.

School Closure When conditions are icy or there is snow on the ground all children should come into school via the front entrance where they will be met in the Dining Hall. Nobody should go onto the playground as this area gets particularly dangerous and we wish to ensure everybody’s safety.

It should be noted that the path drive way to school from the main entrance will be kept as safe as possible and the caretaker will ensure this route is gritted. We have extensive grounds and it impossible to grit all areas. Therefore during icy weather the side gate will remain locked to ensure everybody’s safety on school grounds.

When it is snowing it is best if parents, wherever possible, bring children to school.

School Holidays 2014/2015 Holiday

Closing Date

Date Re-open for Teaching Purposes

Summer 2014

Friday 18 July 2014

Wednesday 3 September 2014

Autumn Half-Term 2014

Friday 24 October 2014

Monday, 3 November 2014

Christmas 2014

Friday 19 December 2014

Wednesday 7 January 2015

Spring Half-Term 2015

Friday, 13 February 2015

Monday, 23 February 2015

Easter 2015

Friday 27 March 2015

Monday 13 April 2015

May Day 2015

Friday 1 May 2015

Tuesday 5 May 2015

Summer Half-Term 2015

Friday, 22 May 2015

Monday 1 June 2015

Summer 2015

Friday, 17 July 2014

To be determined

The information in this brochure was correct of 10th October 2014. Any alterations will be notified wherever possible.

Don’t forget the best way to get to know us is to come and spend some time with us.

Susan Cornforth (HT) and Staff