We achieve this by imparting lasting knowledge to all our children, through an inspiring and challenging curriculum and a genuine understanding and appreciation of each child.
Our teaching is energising, purposeful and underpinned by continuous improvement, so that all children and staff are motivated to learn, share and retain knowledge.
We deepen and extend learning through rich experiences, drawing on our supportive and diverse school community and the advantages of our proximity to the heart of Norwich City Centre, and important sites of historic and cultural interest.
We take pride in how we do things. Our values and three pillars are deeply felt, lived and celebrated. The difference this makes is tangible – our children, staff and parents/carers benefit from a positive culture of achievement, kindness, inclusivity and belonging.
As children progress through the school, we create opportunities for memorable academic, social and emotional learning. Together, these build the foundations of knowledge, confidence and resilience needed for success and opportunity in their lives within and beyond Charles Darwin Primary.
Our Three Pillars
At Charles Darwin Primary, we strongly believe that if children can develop an Athlete Mentality and be exposed to Creative Arts to support their development of oracy, this will lead to Exceptional Outcomes and develop happy, well rounded children.
All pupils are provided with the opportunities, knowledge and freedom from our three pillars for their development both academically and personally. These pillars instil our core values and support the achievement of our ambitious vision.
Supporting Pupils at Every Stage
At Charles Darwin Primary we ensure that our transitions in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) are carefully curated to help pupils and families feel a sense of belonging when starting school. As part of our vision we want to ensure that all pupils are prepared for their next stage of education.
The documentation, Birth to 5 Matters, that informs early years practice states that “transitions are a process, not an event”. We strongly believe this and let it guide our decisions around how a pupil’s educational journey at Charles Darwin Primary begins.
Below is an overview of what we offer, and more importantly why:
Parent Engagement Evenings
Parents are invited to attend a presentation evening in the summer term. An overview of the Reception year is shared, and a tour of the classroom and outside space is given.
Welcome packs, with information regarding uniform and term dates are available for parents to collect. This allows parents to be aware of their child’s next steps in their educational journey.
This is also a chance for parents to meet the Reception Teachers and the school’s Senior Leadership Team.
Settling in Sessions
In the summer term we also offer 6 Settling in Sessions. We run three, onehour sessions in the morning, and three, one-hour sessions in the afternoon. Parents are encouraged to attend three of these sessions with their child.
1:1 Parent/Teacher Meetings
When a pupil has been assigned to a class, 1:1 parent meetings will take place. This ensures early conversations can be had about a pupil, as well as giving the class teacher a chance to learn about the child’s interests and experiences.
These discussions are so powerful, as to ensure that the transition process is effective, dual conversations between home and school must be had.
These conversations also allow class teachers to ensure the environment is welcoming and engaging for pupils when they visit, as we will be aware of their interests.
Visits to Nurseries
To ensure an extra perspective of the child is shared with us, we offer to visit a child at their current setting. This lets a child meet their class teacher in an environment in which they feel comfortable in. It also allows us to speak to the child’s current Key Worker and have professional dialogues with them.
Teddy Bear’s Picnic
At the end of the summer term, before they start in September, we invite all families to attend a Teddy Bear’s picnic held at school.
Families are encouraged to bring a picnic and spend the afternoon with us! It’s a lovely chance for families to socialise with each other, and share positive experiences with their child at their new school.
Story Videos/360 Tour of Classroom
On the week building up to pupils starting school in September the class teacher will email home a daily video of them reading a story. This ensures that the children gain familiarity with the teachers voice and personality.
It also allows for initial conversations to be had when a child starts school, as the books that have been read to the child can be used as a transitional tool to comfort a child.
We also send home a 360 degree tour of the classroom, outside space and school hall. Pupils can access this tour on a device and scroll through the environment, learning where the toilets and coat pegs are.
Our Curriculum
From the very start of their educational journey in Reception right up to the end of Key Stage 2, we provide a nationally-recognised curriculum that is both inclusive and ambitious.
Our curriculum empowers our pupils to develop the knowledge and skills they require to be successful in the wider world. It is structured by traditional subjects and logically sequenced to ensure systematic and thorough teaching for all to ensure links are made between and across subjects. Through our curriculum, we ensure all our pupils have equal opportunities to shine within our 3 pillars: Athlete Mentality, Exceptional Outcomes and Creative Arts, these are embedded into everything we do.
We place an intentional focus on ensuring reading is at the heart of our curriculum. It is through the explicit teaching of vocabulary, a focus on reading in class and
an accompanying love of reading that we aim to ensure that all pupils strive towards exceptional outcomes regardless of their background.
We intend to provide our pupils with a wealth of experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. This is supported by experiences from our cultural pledge ‘7 Experiences Before Year 7’.
Through becoming a Rights Respecting school, we empower our pupils to be able to articulate their rights as well as being able to respect and understand the rights and values of others around the world.
Progress and Attainment
Reading
We are passionate about ensuring every child develops the skills and knowledge they need, inspiring a love of reading that opens the door to the best academic opportunities.
In Early Years we teach children to read using the Read Write Inc. system of phonics teaching, providing them with the ability and confidence to sound-out both familiar and new words.
We have carefully planned our sequence of core texts to ensure our pupils encounter a range of themes and narrative perspectives as well as cultural and historical contexts. Our selection of texts range from Shakespeare and Greek myths through to modern classics such as ‘The Railway Children’ and ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’.
At Charles Darwin Primary we ensure that our pupils achieve the best possible progress in all areas of their education and personal development. Pupils at the end of KS1 consistently achieve above national averages, and in our first KS2 results in 2022 pupils achieved above the national average in Reading, Writing and Maths, bucking the national trend.
We will continue to ensure that pupils make excellent progress during their time at school and finish Year 6 with the best possible outcomes for their future.
7 Experiences Before Year 7
Here at Charles Darwin Primary we strongly believe in the value of experiences, which is why we set up our ‘7 Experiences Before Year 7’.
Each year has an identified experience which they may not otherwise come across in their everyday lives. This helps to build the cultural capital of all our pupils to ensure our pupils are well-rounded individuals. Throughout the school year pupils will also take part in a number of curriculum-based awareness days such as World Book Day, Children’s Mental Health Day, European Languages Week, and Remembrance Day (to name a few), enabling them to explore key events.
Teaching and Learning
Here at Charles Darwin Primary, we have very high expectations for all our pupils. We believe that quality teaching has a huge impact on pupil learning. As such, we have a strong focus on staff development, as well as clear pedagogical principles that we follow.
RECEPTION: Seeds to Supper
YEAR 1:
Visit a famous landmark
YEAR 3: Have a piece of work published in the community
YEAR 2: Perform to an audience
YEAR 4:
Invent a product
YEAR 5:
Carry out good deeds for the community
YEAR 6:
Go on a residential trip
We believe in explicitly teaching pupils, through high quality modelling and explanations, before guiding their practice. We utilise high leverage tasks to maximise learning time, and offer both challenge and support to ensure all our pupils achieve success. A key part of our teaching and learning principles is providing children with live feedback, to avoid misconceptions and improve learning.
As a school, we focus on individual pupil progress, ensuring all pupils excel from a range of starting points. We therefore celebrate individual improvements, demonstrating to children that they are on their own learning journey.
We believe strongly in our knowledge-rich curriculum, with children receiving explicit vocabulary instruction, alongside regular reading and writing opportunities. We teach a truly broad and balanced curriculum, with each discipline being taught explicitly.
We know that children thrive in their learning when they make connections. In order to do this, they need to remember what they have learned. We therefore utilise quizzing for memory, alongside making clear links to learning in prior units, different subjects, and previous year groups.
Our House System
Our House System is a key part of our school community, linking our school closely with the local area. We celebrate our Houses and the people that made significant and outstanding achievements throughout their lives.
On arrival at Charles Darwin Primary, pupils are placed into one of our four Houses:
Cavell
Nelson
Sewell
Fry
House points are awarded for actions that promote our school values. Our pupils get this instant reward for a variety of positive behaviours: being ready to learn, showing kindness to others, answering a question with confidence and going above and beyond!
We run a huge number of sporting events across the year to promote our House System and offer House points as rewards. We celebrate the winning House on sports day and at the end of each academic year.
Taking Part in Trust-wide Sports Competitions
At Inspiration Trust we pride ourselves on our sports provision which not only includes a nationally-recognised sports curriculum, but includes half-termly trust-wide sports competitions.
These competitions include football, athletics and dodgeball, and sees us working in partnership with brilliant local organisations such as the UEA Sportspark and The Nest in order to offer our students the very best facilities in which to compete. The atmosphere at these events is always described as electric!
Through taking part in sporting competitions our students are given the chance to shine outside of the classroom and learn vital skills such as the importance of team work, determination, patience and perseverance.
It is also proven that taking part in sport encourages higher standards of achievement, improves cognitive function and improves overall wellbeing through having fun and making friendships.
Whilst outstanding sports provision is often overlooked within the state sector, all of us at Charles Darwin Primary believe it is a core part of what every pupil should expect from their time in education and we are proud to deliver that.
Primary Olympiads
All pupils have the opportunity to be involved in our trust-wide Olympiads. These see pupils compete in competitions within their favourite subjects, allowing them to shine in areas where they are gifted.
One of our strategic aims is to ensure each and every child fulfils their potential. We believe this potential is not only reached through academic success, but through wider opportunities such as competitive programmes.
Our Olympiads cover everything from maths and modern foreign languages through to geography and computer science. They help children learn about teamwork and morals, and offer a fun, alternative way to explore the subjects they love.
SEND Support
At Charles Darwin Primary, we are committed to ensuring that learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are fully included in the life of the school and are able to thrive academically and socially.
If your child has an identified special educational need or an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the first step is to talk to our SENCO. They can give you an overview of the kinds of reasonable adjustments and provisions which are typically made for learners with SEND at Charles Darwin Primary, to ensure that they can access the curriculum and enrichment opportunities.
Once your child’s place at Charles Darwin Primary is confirmed, we will discuss your child’s barriers to learning with you and your child in detail. We will also talk to your child’s current setting (if applicable) and any other professionals working with your child. Together we will draw up a plan with shortterm targets focused on your child’s special educational needs.
The plan will include provisions that reduce your child’s barriers to learning as well as
strategies that your child’s teacher(s) can use in lessons.
Learning Plans, provisions and targets are reviewed on a termly basis with both you and your child and adjusted as needed to reflect their changing needs. If your child has an EHCP, the short-term targets will be linked to the EHCP outcomes.
We work with a number of outside agencies and providers to ensure your child receives the support they need to flourish. Whether this be a placement, an SRB, vision and hearing screening and support, speech and language therapists or working with an educational psychologist.
For more detailed information about what we do to support learners with SEND, please read our SEND Information Report on our website.
Safeguarding and Pastoral Support
At Charles Darwin Primary, we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our young people.
To achieve this we ensure the continuous development and improvement of robust safeguarding processes and procedures that promote a culture of safeguarding within our staff and volunteers.
We are committed to keeping staff, pupils and visitors safe and happy. Our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) ensures that effective support is provided to pupils that need it and our strong pastoral system ensures that all pupils are well-known and their needs are understood.
Here at Charles Darwin Primary, we are extremely lucky to be able to offer an excellent pastoral approach that provides all pupils with an environment where they will be listened to, challenged, and engaged throughout their school day.
Electives
Our elective vision is to broaden children’s horizons by providing opportunities outside of the classroom, building the cultural capital of all our pupils.
Our elective programme runs every halfterm, 3 days a week, for one hour per day. This is in addition to our after school club, which runs every day until 6pm.
We offer a diverse range of electives and extra-curricular activities. Some examples include: choir, sports, art, computer science coding, community outreach projects, karate, comic book designing, and targeted tutoring.
As a community-oriented school, our elective offer provides opportunities for local community organisations to partner with our school and deliver enriching
opportunities. In addition, our staff utilise their expert knowledge to maximise each child’s extended learning opportunity.
Working alongside the Norwich Schools’ Sports Partnership and other Inspiration Trust schools, we are able to offer over 30 events across our school each year.
A long term partnership with Norwich City Football Club’s Community Sports Foundation enables our pupils to receive high quality sports coaching throughout the day, as well as from specific electives.
Music Matters at Charles Darwin Primary
Inspiration Trust strongly believes in the power of music to enhance lives, both through the sheer pleasure of listening to and enjoying music, and through the discipline of individual and group playing and singing.
As part of our extended Arts and Culture Programme, pupils have the opportunity to take part in a variety of plays, concerts and music competitions. As part of our commitment to music education, we also offer our students a range of lessons with our highly-skilled and experienced team of
Visiting Music Teachers - these include piano, singing and recorder lessons. Learning to play an instrument helps students to develop cognitive and social skills, expand language and motor skills, as well as help build determination and patience. Plus, it is fun!
Our pupils are encouraged to participate in numerous trust-wide music competitions, including Battle of the Bands, Piano Competition, and the Annual Music Competition.
Every year our students get to take part in our trust-wide Carol Service.
An annual tradition, the Carol Service sees pupils from all across our sister schools - primaries, secondaries and sixth forms - join forces to perform a series of traditional carols and hymns in the winter term.
Always a big calendar event, the Carol Service is a fantastic opportunity for our students and staff to showcase their brilliant musical capabilities, whether through playing instruments or singing, while getting to perform in an iconic location.
The Carol Service is a fun Christmas event that always makes for a lovely family evening.
Our Uniform School Meals
At Charles Darwin Primary, all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a free school lunch.
We still ask that parents complete the free school meals application form if in receipt of benefits as this adds several thousand pounds of funding per child to the money we have to spend on your child’s education. Our school canteen provides a healthy, balanced menu, or parents can send their child with a balanced, healthy packed lunch.
Facilities
Library
Our library offers an inviting, warm space, filled with a wide range of books for children. We believe in cultivating a love of reading, and so ensure our library is well-stocked and regularly updated.
We work in partnership with the independent bookshop - BookBugs and Dragon Tales, to ensure our library is audited and our Y5 student librarians are professionally trained.
Classes utilise this space on a weekly basis, alongside teachers reading for pleasure daily in class with our children.
Science Laboratory
We are very lucky to have our own science lab, offering a space for practical experiments, where pupils can feel like a scientist. This space is used for pupils’ weekly science lesson, as well as our science elective, inspiring the budding scientists of the future.
We also utilise our science labs for our collaboration sessions with Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form. Teachers and sixth form students come to visit our pupils to deliver engaging sessions based on science and computer science. This has included sessions during Space Week and entering the Bebras Oxford University Computer Science competition.
We believe that school uniform promotes the ethos of our school, and helps set an appropriate tone for education.
We want our pupils to be proud to be a part of the Charles Darwin Primary community and represent the school positively, so it is important that they are always smartly dressed.
You can order your uniform from our supplier, Stevensons – all items marked with an asterisk must be bought from there.
White long-sleeved or short-sleeved collared shirt
White long-sleeved or short-sleeved open-collar blouse
Charles Darwin logo jumper* or cardigan*
Charles Darwin logo tie*
Black school trousers or shorts
Charles Darwin logo blazer* (optional in Reception/Year 1, compulsory from Year 2 onwards)
Black leather or leather-look shoes
Wellies (any colour)
Charles Darwin tartan pinafore*, skirt* or black school trousers
Yellow gingham dress with buttons only (optional)
Black tights or white/black socks.
We also have a second-hand uniform shop on site.
The Admissions Process Rights Respecting School Award
UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights, collaborating with schools in the UK.
UNICEF creates safe and inspiring places to learn, where children are respected, their talents are nurtured, and they are able to thrive. The Rights Respecting Schools Award (RRSA) embeds these values in daily school life and gives children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives.
This award is granted to schools that show commitment to promoting and realising children’s rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school.
At Charles Darwin Primary we work very hard to support our pupils to understand, appreciate and uphold their own rights and that of other children, through discussions, assemblies, campaigns and a range of activities.
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is at the heart of all that we do at Charles Darwin Primary, and we are proud to be a school that adopts these values and promotes them within our school community. Together young people and the school community learn about children’s rights, putting them into practice every day.
Inspiration Pathway
As a named feeder school for Jane Austen College, our pupils will have priority for admission when compared to non-feeder schools.
As part of Inspiration Trust we are able to benefit from a curriculum that is designed and shaped by subject-specialist curriculum leaders, both centrally by the Trust and independently by curriculum leaders in our school.
Through continuing study at an Inspiration Trust school you will be ensuring that your child has access to high-quality teachers, great pastoral support and aiding in making the transition from primary to secondary school (and beyond) a smoother process as they will have access to a curriculum that has
been designed to build on what has already been learnt at Charles Darwin Primary.
We are partnered with Jane Austen College, a secondary school that is also part of Inspiration Trust. The school specialises in the arts and humanities, which also extends to their sixth form. They teach a wide curriculum combined with exciting extracurricular electives. They also offer a range of enrichment activities available after school hours. If you need any other further information, please refer to the Jane Austen College website, contact the school directly, or pick up a copy of their prospectus.
By law, children must start full-time statutory education at the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday.
For first admission to school, the common application form will be sent to parents. The closing date for applications will be as per the published timetable. Children may start school full-time at the beginning of the autumn term before their fifth birthday. (Part-time admission will be considered on an individual basis.)
Our admission policy allows children to start school earlier than the law requires. However, the law also allows parents to ask for their child to be admitted but also delay the start date until later in the school year.
Your child must start school by the beginning of the term following their fifth birthday and the place must be taken up by the start of the summer term.
If you have any queries about an application for a place at Charles Darwin Primary or about the admissions process please contact the school office. A full overview of our admissions arrangements is available in our Admissions Policy and on our school website.
Admissions Team, County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich NR1 2DL
Telephone: 0344 800 8020
Email: admissions@norfolk.gov.uk
We are part of Inspiration Trust, twice ranked the country’s top family of comprehensive schools for pupil progress
