Cobholm Primary Academy Prospectus

An Inspiration Trust Academy

We care, we share, we dare to do more

Welcome

Welcome to Cobholm Primary Academy, a place where children run into school with excitement and leave the school gates happy and smiling.

We have created a culture where our pupils are passionate and enthusiastic learners; they work hard to achieve success and our staff work hard to ensure we provide an excellent, exciting education for all. Thus ensuring that pupils leave us fully prepared for the next stage in their educational journey.

Here at Cobholm Primary Academy we believe that all children regardless of their background are provided with the same opportunities to enable them to thrive and succeed, to be given the knowledge and skills they need to make informed decisions to better their lives and ultimately to have their voice heard and shape the future and become well rounded responsible citizens.

Our academy is proud to be at the heart of the Cobholm community, and we trace our roots back for more than 100 years. We encourage a strong partnership between families and the academy. Parents, grandparents and other family members play an important role in fundraising and shaping academy activities, with regular events that help us share our passion for learning with the whole community.

As part of the Inspiration Trust, one of the country’s leading academy families, we are well supported in developing our teaching and our facilities.

Danielle Sargeant Principal

Our Core Values

We embrace challenges

Staff and pupils look to challenge themselves in every aspect of their lives. This can range from learning to tie shoelaces to solving algebraic problems. Every member of the school community will embrace challenges and be supported to learn from their mistakes.

We have the highest expectations

We strive for excellence and support all members of our community to have the highest expectations of themselves and others. We truly believe that everyone can achieve more than they thought possible regardless of their starting point or perceived barriers. Every pupil will have the highest aspirations and be supported by all adults to achieve these goals.

We celebrate progress

Pupils and staff are celebrated for their progress both academically and in extracurricular exploits. We do not praise academic performance but the effort and progress one makes on their individual journey.

We value diversity

All cultures are embraced, and the school community talks about its diversity and similarities. We actively celebrate different cultures through the school year and draw upon the expertise of our pupils to share their positive experiences.

Our Mission

We: deliver high-quality, rounded education have a progress-driven environment learn from mistakes encourage our pupils to take risks experience competition through sports and other subjects expose our children to different cultures enrich our pupils’ lives through a wide range of experiences ensure our pupils’ wellbeing is supported are a Rights Respecting school ensure all children pass their Phonics Test give all pupils the opportunity to perform.

Supporting Pupils at Every Stage

Here at Cobholm Primary Academy we recognise that each stage of school life comes to support our pupils each stage of the transition process is carefully thought out and children we want to ensure that all children are prepared for their next stage of education.

Joining Cobholm Primary

Starting school for the first time is extremely exciting, however, we also appreciate that for some it can also be a little bit daunting. In order to ensure all our new pupils and their families feel supported, we have a robust transition programme in place to support you every step of the way. This includes...

Our friendly teachers visiting local nurseries to meet the children

Offering our new parents a range of meetings and visits

Inviting pre-school children into Cobholm Academy for a number of sessions in the Summer Term

Conducting home visits for all children in the first week of the Autumn Term

Helping your child build up to full time over the first four weeks of their school life

Holding a Parents Evening in the first six weeks of your child’s school life to discuss how they have settled in.

Moving into KS1 (Years 1-2)

We understand that for some, moving from Reception into Year 1 can be a big leap. Therefore, to support your child through this transition we ensure our classrooms are within a familiar space - located right next to their previous Reception classroom, while also giving our pupils plenty of opportunities to visit their new classroom in the Summer Term ahead of the move. Alongside this we create a bespoke plan for your child which we update yearly. This plan includes...

Assessing against the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) in the Autumn Term

Introducing a gradual change in the ratio of time that pupils spend in childled continuous provision and wholeclass learning

Building up the number of wider curriculum subjects

Having access to the EYFS outdoors environment

Providing an environment that supports your child’s developmental learning needs.

with its own set of changes and challenges. In order children are well prepared for this. As part of our vision

Moving into KS2 (Years 3-6)

Moving into a new Key Stage does also come with change. Our pupils are expected to start taking on more responsibility and to have ownership of their actions. As always, we are here to support your child through this change, helping them to learn and ensure they feel as though they belong. To help your child navigate these changes, and learn how to take more responsibility, we

Take the time to talk to your children about these changes and address issues in PSHE lessons

Communicate with parents about these changes and discuss how you can further support at home

Increase your child’s responsibility by giving them their own pencil case to look after

Encourage pupils to begin taking part in after-school enrichment.

Please note, by this point, most children will have completed their RWI lessons. In KS2 pupils will no longer be eligible for free school meals or free fruit at play time.

Moving to secondary School

We know that moving onto secondary school is a big step for pupils; they have spent a lot of time at primary school and the thought of change can sometimes be daunting. As always, we understand this and support your child every step of the way, helping them navigate the next stage in their educational life. In order to prepare your child for leaving primary school, we have a well-planned transition programme in place, this includes...

Taking our pupils on planned visits to the local high schools throughout the year

Inviting teachers from the local high schools into our school to speak with our pupils

Ensuring 100% of pupils attend high school transition days

Giving our pupils leadership roles to prepare them for having more responsibility in secondary school.

Please note, we also arrange bespoke transition packages for those who may need extra support.

SEND Support

At Cobholm Primary Academy, 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 Cobholm Primary Academy, to ensure that they can access the curriculum and enrichment opportunities.

Once your child’s place at Cobholm Primary Academy 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 our Academy does to support learners with SEND, please read our SEND Information Report on our website.

Communicating with Parents

The school parent partnership is a vital element in a child being successful in their educational journey. There are a number of different ways in which the school will communicate with parents in relation to learning, personal development, attendance as well as a wide range of other information.

This consists of;

- 2 x parents meeting

- 1 x full report

- Additional meetings for children

- Weekly newsletters

- A range of Parent Workshops and Story Cafes throughout the year.

Pastoral Care and Safeguarding

Safeguarding is our highest priority here at Cobholm Primary Academy and it is everyone’s responsibility within our school to ensure our pupils are happy and safe.

The emotional wellbeing of our pupils is always at the front of our minds and we know how important it is to nurture our pupils’ mental health in order to help them achieve academically. Therefore, we help our pupils learn how to identify and name their emotions as well as ensure we check in regularly with them.

At our academy, we promote a culture that encourages children to talk to the adults in our school and to let them know if they are upset or have any worries so that we can support them and help to make things better.

Each and every one of our staff knows how important it is to listen and to give our pupils the time and space to talk.

We take the time to understand the needs of our students and our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) has wellestablished working relationships with a number of organisations such as, Norfolk County Council Children’s Services, mental health services and local food banks. We are extremely proud of these partnerships that enable us to provide all-round support for our pupils and their families when they need it the most.

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 skills and knowledge they require to be successful in the wider world, providing a broad range of subjects with a focus on developing the whole child.

Reading

Not only do we want our pupils to develop a lifelong love of learning, but we motivate our young people to achieve their full potential through exposure to powerful subject knowledge and a range of tier 2 and tier 3 vocabulary.

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and we are passionate about ensuring every child develops the skills and knowledge they need. With a focus on reading both in class and at home we inspire 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. Our pupils are regularly assessed to ensure they are in the right group for their stage of reading development and when needed, our pupils are also supported with Phonics teaching in Key Stage 1.

Alongside Phonics, our pupils get to learn about and enjoy literature and poetry, with our curriculum being focused on high-quality literary texts.

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’.

We are very proud to be able to give our pupils access to our amazing library where they can borrow high-quality fiction and nonfiction books, helping to keep their love of reading alive.

Progress and Attainment

At Cobholm Primary Academy we ensure that our pupils achieve the best possible progress in all areas of their education and personal development. Pupils at the end of both KS1 and KS2 consistently achieve above national averages, the percentage of which is increasing year-on-year since 2019, bucking the national trend.

In 2022, pupils attained the best results yet, achieving above the national average in reading, writing and maths! 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.

Music Matters at Cobholm Primary Academy

The 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 peripatetic lessons with our highlyskilled 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 and Inspiration Trust has made a pledge to have a full orchestra or musical ensemble in every one of its schools by 2027.

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.

Cobholm Passport

Here at Cobholm Primary Academy we strongly believe in the value of experiences, which is why we set up our ‘Cobholm Passport’. This ‘passport’ gives each of our pupils access to a range of trips, events, curriculum days and visitors, all carefully planned to help them understand and enjoy the wider world around them.

Our pupils are encouraged to record these experiences in their passport and they will keep this as a record of achievement that

spans their school life, providing a collection of memories they can treasure forever.

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 and expand their cultural capital.

Extra-Curricular Activities

As ever, we aim to provide as many opportunities as possible for our pupils. We do this both within school and within our Extended Day Enrichment - an offer which takes place weekly for all our Key Stage 2 pupils and covers activities such as:

- Choir

- Music Lessons

- DT Club

- Cookery

- Computing.

Breakfast Club

We also offer a range of after-school sports clubs which include:

- Netball

- Football

- Dodgeball

- Rugby

- Multisports.

As an academy, we are proud to be able to offer a free breakfast club every day of the week. The club is supported by the Greggs Foundation and we thank them for enabling us to offer a healthy and nutritious start to the day for all our pupils.

School Trips Our Partnerships

All the fantastic opportunities and experiences we are able to provide our pupils wouldn’t be possible without the brilliant partners that we work with. We are exceptionally proud of the excellent working relationships we have with a range of charities, organisations and local community groups including, the Out There Festival, the Great Yarmouth Carnival, and Freshly Greated.

We are pleased to be able to offer pupils across all year groups the opportunities to go on school trips to enhance the curriculum offer throughout the year. Children get to experience a wide range of trips and external events during their time at Cobholm including visiting places such as: The Time and Tide Museum, Wroxham Barns, Hall Farm, local theatres and the UEA.

Learning Languages at Primary School

We are very proud of the diverse and inclusive nature of our community, evidenced by the wide range of nationalities and languages represented amongst our families. ‘We Value Diversity’ is one of our core values and is instilled as part of our school culture, encouraging our pupils to celebrate their diversity and share their culture with the rest of the school. Our pupils also begin their own exploration into learning an additional language in Key Stage 2.

Our House System

When children arrive at Cobholm Primary Academy they are placed into a house along with any siblings they may have. We currently have 4 houses:

Barn Owls

Swallowtails

Hedgehogs

Badgers.

Each house has its own colour and represents one of our core values. Pupils wear PE shirts that link to their house and have a badge to wear on their jumper.

Children collect house points throughout the week, and during the year we run a number of ‘Cobholm Game’ events. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the Cobholm House Shield.

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 Cobholm Primary Academy 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.

School Meals

At Cobholm Primary Academy, all pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are entitled to a free school lunch.

We ask that parents complete the free school meals application form if in receipt of benefits as this adds several thousand pounds funding per child to the money we have to spend on your child’s education.

Our school canteen provides a healthy, balanced menu, or you can send your child with a balanced, healthy packed lunch.

Children may also bring fruit or vegetables to school for a breaktime snack. Please do not send your child with crisps or chocolate bars for breaktime.

For those in need, we offer a food bank of household classics for your use.

Cobholm Primary Academy is a welcoming and friendly environment. Everyone is valued and well cared for. Pupils speak with great enthusiasm about the staff and about their learning

OFSTED 2022

Impressed with the staff and effort put towards my child’s learning and wellbeing. Thank You!

PARENT

Our Uniform

We believe that school uniform promotes the ethos of our school, and helps set an appropriate tone for education.

We want pupils at Cobholm Primary Academy to take immense pride in their dress, behaviour and learning. We believe wearing a school uniform;

Promotes a sense of pride in our academy

Creates a strong sense and feeling of belonging

Is distinctive, but part of the wider Inspiration Trust federation

Identifies children within our academy

Reflects our core values and incredibly high expectations

Helps prepare children for secondary school and beyond.

You can order your uniform from our supplier, Harrisons Schoolwear. Our uniform includes:

A white polo shirt (no tie) (Reception and Year 1 only)

A white collared buttoned shirt (long or short-sleeved)

Dark blue blazer with Cobholm logo (Years 5 and 6 only)

Dark blue V-necked jumper or cardigan with Cobholm logo

Cobholm Primary Academy tie (Year 2 and above)

Grey trousers or grey skirt with black or grey socks or tights (no leggings)

Black shoes/black boots (below the shin) (trainers are not allowed).

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 and to be responsible, active citizens.

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 Cobholm Primary Academy we work very hard to support our children to understand, appreciate and uphold their own rights and that of other children, through discussions, assemblies, use of class charters, campaigns for change and a wide range of activities.

Pupil Leadership Team

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is at the heart of all that we do at Cobholm, 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.

There are four key areas of impact for children at a Rights Respecting school; wellbeing, participation, relationships and self-esteem. The difference that a Rights Respecting School makes goes beyond the school gates, making a positive impact on the whole community. Children;

- Are healthier and happier

- Feel safe

- Have better relationships

- Become active and involved in school life and the wider world.

As part of our Rights Respecting offer, our school has a Pupil Leadership Team led by our head pupils and consists of members from across each year group.

The leadership team also takes on the duties of the Rights Respecting Steering Group. Members are chosen through the powers of democracy, with head pupils having to run an election campaign including an application and a speech to the school community as to why they best represent the school. The team meets regularly to discuss a wide range of school-based issues.

At the meetings the children have the opportunity to express the opinions and voice of their classmates and can give feedback to the senior leadership team on their viewpoints. They are an integral part of the recruitment process and help to shape and design special events such as Children In Need.

The Admissions Process

By law children must start statutory education full-time 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 Cobholm Primary Academy 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 webpage.

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

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