Abbey prospectus 2020

Abbey prospectus 2020

Prospectus The Federation of Abbey Infant and Junior School.

BB6Y LENS October 2019 Vol 6: Issue No. Eleven Excellence Through Partnership

THE

Welcome

Guinness! World record holders.

At Abbey, children are at the heart of what we do. It’s the first line of our ‘mission statement’ and drives all of our work. We believe in learning that is real, purposeful and memorable. We strive for learning that connects, learning that impacts and learning that inspires our children and adults!

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Our ' Crea%ve Curriculum', the 'Abbey Bucket List' , 'Abbey So/ Skills' and ‘Abbey Life Skills’ are at the heart of all we do with the prime purpose of bringing our curriculum to life . We want to inspire and engage our pupils , providing exciAng teaching and learning opportuniAes throughout the school. In pracAce children are part of a curriculum with an engaging starAng point and a purposeful outcome. Through our 'Wow' and 'Finale' days, 'Be Brave Days' and 'Let's Do It Days', the children will experience a curriculum full of 'memorable learning' to consolidate their learning and essen%al life skills. In addiAon to a range of acAviAes in school we work hard to supplement the curriculum with purposeful educa%onal visits and visitors . Each year we run over 100 educaAonal visits, residenAal visits and memorable learning experiences to support all aspects of the curriculum.

Curriculumbelief

We believe that children should be part of their learning and take ownership of it . Therefore, the staff at Abbey work with the pupils to plan a curriculum based on their interests. We have developed an initiative called 'The Abbey Bucket List'. The purpose of this list is to develop a list of 100 experiences that your child will have at our school if you journey with us from Nursery to Year Six. These experiences are created with our children to provide a range of memorable learning opportunities. Our passion to make every child's %me at Abbey meaningful and purposeful has led to the crea%on of a 'soD skills' menu*. Working in partnership with parents they told us that they want their children to develop a range of essenAal life skills and experiences. The 'so/ skills' that parents viewed as the most important were: making decisions, leadership skills, creaAvity and problem solving, being a good team player, accepAng responsibility and communicaAon skills. The staff focus on these skills to embed them into the teaching experiences of all children at Abbey. *So$ skills is a term o*en associated with a person's "EQ" (Emo6onal Intelligence Quo6ent), the cluster of personality traits, social graces, communica6on, language, personal habits, interpersonal skills , managing people, leadership, etc. that characterise rela6onships with other people. We have con%nued to develop our curriculum to encompass a set of ‘life skills’ drawn from our community through survey, discussion and staff consultaAon. For example; catching a bus, making an emergency call to the emergency services, performing basic first aid, making a hot drink, cooking, folding and puOng away clothes, brushing your teeth, handwashing, road safety, wearing a seatbelt etc. We aspire to provide a broad and balanced curriculum that inspires, mo%vates and is bespoke to the community that we serve.

At Abbey we believe that; 'Children must have access to a rich learning environment which provides them with the opportuni%es and condi%ons to flourish in all aspects of their development. It should provide balance across the areas of learning. Integral to this is an ethos which respects each child as an individual and which values children's efforts, interests and purposes as instrumental to successful learning' (EYFS Handbook) Using a balance of teacher-led ac%vi%es and child-led/child-ini%ated ac%vi%es , which we refer to as 'child-iniAated learning' (CIL), we provide the children with opportuniAes that allow every child to reach their full potenAal. Our Early Years areas are a secure, enjoyable and caring educa%onal environment where each and every child feels valued. We use the EYFS profile to track the progress of every child, based on ongoing observaAon and assessment of learning and the three characterisAcs of effecAve learning. Our observaAons are stored in a 'learning journey' file and recorded on our 'To Build A Profile/2 Simple' online resource. Each and every child has their own personal learning journey and a 2 Simple Profile, which becomes a personal bank of evidence to show their development throughout the FoundaAon Stage. The areas that we observe and report on at the end of FS1 (nursery) and FS2 (recepAon) are the 'Prime Areas' and the 'Specific Areas’. The Prime areas of learning are; communicaAon and language, physical development and personal, social and emoAonal development. The Prime Areas are seen as key areas of development that are needed to ensure progress in the Specific Areas. The 'Specific areas' are ; literacy, mathemaAcs, understanding the world and expressive arts and design. We also make judgements about the children and how they present themselves as 'li[le learners'. NoAng and observing how a child learns is referred to as 'CharacterisAcs of learning', here we discover how a child plays and explores, parAcipates in acAve learning and how they develop their thinking. Using the DfE's non-statutory guidance; 'Development Ma[ers' and 'Early Years Outcomes' w e will work closely with every child and their family to ensure that they try and reach their full poten%al and their early learning goals at the end of FS2 (recep%on). Our Early Years Team works hard to ensure conAnuity between FS1 (Nursery) and FS2 (RecepAon) so that children can build on skills already developed and follow rouAnes that flow with their needs. We establish an environment for them to feel safe and confident throughout their Early Years, in preparaAon for their future years in our school. Our Early Years Department will: • Provide a happy, caring, secure environment where children feel valued; • Build on what our children already know and can do and provide new and exciAng experiences that challenge, develop and sAmulate their thinking; • Provide a rich and s%mula%ng and aestheAcally pleasing learning environment that is commi[ed to raising standards; • Develop parents as partners , parents are a child’s first educator we aim to ensure parents are involved in their child’s learning; • Promote s elf-esteem and independence through praise and celebraAon of achievements; Early Years - Nursery & Reception

• Ensure that no child is excluded or disadvantaged ; • Offer a structure for learning that has a range of starAng points, matches the needs of all children and provides opportunity for learning both indoors and outdoors; • Deliver a curriculum that is responsive to their interests and supports, fosters and promotes children’s: - social skills; -aXen%on skills, persistence and a posi%ve aYtude to learning; -language and communica%on; -mathema%cal skills; -knowledge and understanding of the world;

-physical development; -crea%ve development. Which encompass the Early Learning Goals set out by the DFE.

In the early years, physical educaAon is part of the daily early year’s curriculum and children take part in a range of fine and gross motor skills which are crucial to their development. There are planned PE sessions and children have access to a range of sports specialists.

Forest Schools in the Founda%on Stage

At Abbey our RecepAon (FS2) children experience Forest Schools as part of their curriculum. We are fortunate to have an area of land on the infant site, which we have developed into a great outside learning space. Forest school, is not what the name suggests, it is not a school in a forest. Rather it is the applica%on of a certain set of principles and way of working with people in an outdoor area. It is the ethos established by the pracAAoners and the use of the guiding principles which create a ‘forest school’. The principles of forest schools are: • Forest school is a long-term process of regular sessions rather than a one-off or infrequent visit; the cycle of planning, observaAon, adaptaAon and review links each session. • Forest school takes place in a woodland or natural environment to support the development of a rela%onship between the learner and the natural world. • Forest school uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for being, development and learning. • Forest school aims to promote holisAc development of all those involved, fostering resilient, confident, independent and creaAve learners. • Forest school offers learners the opportunity to t ake supported risks appropriate to the environment and to themselves. • Forest school is led by qualified Forest School pracAAoners who conAnuously maintain and develop their professional pracAce. Whilst we will teach various tool skills such as; using mallets, cuOng tools, using saws and fire lighAng, it is the behaviours and aOtudes that are developed through the learning process which we believe are the most important. Children are given the opportunity to working collaboraAvely as a team, make choices, become a leader, communicate with others, pracAse fine and gross motor skills and most important and perhaps the most important of all, we have fun and make memories!

English

Talk 4 Wri%ng:

Reading Scheme

At Abbey we use 'Talk for Wri%ng' as our approach to teaching wriAng. Developed by Pie Corbe[, this highly effecAve approach is based on the principles of how children learn to write. If a child cannot compose a piece of wriAng orally before they begin to write, then they will have a difficulty wriAng independently. So, the first stage of teaching children how to write is to ask children to imitate the key language they need for a parAcular topic orally before they try reading and analysing it. Over a three or four-week unit of 'Talk 4 WriAng' the children parAcipate in a range of acAviAes that help them rehearse the tune of the language they need , followed by shared wriAng to show them how to craD their wri%ng . Children are then supported to compose their own pieces. Children are given the opportunity to extend their wriAng and apply their knowledge and skills to cross curricular wriAng tasks. The 'Talk 4 WriAng' approach is combined with 'Alan Peat's Sentence Types' and other grammar type acAviAes to ensure that children are taught essenAal skills of grammar and punctuaAon. At Abbey we have created an agreed teaching schedule of these 'sentence types' which meet the needs of the English NaAonal Curriculum.

Our extensive reading scheme is fully book banded throughout the school and supports the way that we teach reading. In our early years phase, the 'Oxford Reading Tree' series is used to enable children to fully decode words and read 'tricky words' taught at their phonics phase/ level. This is supplemented by other publishers to provide a varied range of reading books. Our aim is that by the Ame the children reach the Junior School (Key Stage 2) children are confident, fluent and able readers. All children pracAce developing their reading skills through daily phonics lessons (Infants), Talk 4 wriAng, regular guided reading and individual reading scheme books (fully book banded). Each class room has developed a reading area to encourage access to quality reading material and to support a whole school approach to promote the 'love of reading'. We have an extensive school library which is regularly re-stocked and is used by confident readers in KS2. The process of borrowing books from the library, using an electronic record system will be updated through the 2020 – 2021 School Improvement Plan.

Phonics

At Abbey we use an effecAve approach to the teaching of phonics in our Early Years and Key Stage One children, using the phonic programme; ' LeXers and Sounds' with 'Phonics Play' resources. This syntheAc and systemaAc approach to teaching early reading results in our young children quickly becoming confident readers. Throughout our FoundaAon Stage (FS1 and FS2) and Key Stage One (year 1 and 2) children take part in daily phonic sessions across the school . This has proven highly successful with a high percentage of our children passing the Y1 phonic screening test. In our Nursery (FS1) children are taught Phase One of the 'Le[ers and Sounds' programme. Children will listen to and idenAfy a range of environmental and musical sounds and learn how to idenAfy individual sounds in words, using 'robot talk' (c-a-t, d-o-ll). In RecepAon (FS2) the children are taught phases two through to phase four, learning le[er sounds, names of le[ers, 'tricky words' and a set of tri-graphs and diagraphs to help them decode words in early reading books. More able pupils are taken on to phase five. In Year One, some children repeat phase four and most begin phase five, learning a range of spelling pa[erns, 'tricky words' and a range of high frequency words. In Year Two the children are taught phase six, where children work through various spelling pa[erns and pracAce and apply their previous phonic knowledge.

Mathematics

Our current federated mathemaAcs team, has worked hard to ensure that staff use an agreed approach to 'maths methods' and use crea%ve and prac%cal ways to deliver mathema%cs lessons. The use of a ‘Mastery’ approach where all children are expected to arAculate and explain their thinking runs through the whole federaAon. The introducAon of ‘Power Maths’ across the whole school (Y1-Y6) has developed the ‘Mastery’ approach further. The school has embraced 'Numicon' resources to provide a pracAcal and visual understanding of early number. The use of pracAcal resources throughout the whole school and using the NCTEM website have developed approaches to pracAcal maths across the school.

Founda%on Stage (Nursery and recep%on)

Early Years have a range of fun mathemaAcs acAviAes linked well to topic work. Through a balance of teacher-led and child-led learning, children experience a range of opportuni%es to learn about and play with numbers , ensuring that all children are on track to meet their Early Learning Goal' for number. Using the school’s strategies for transiAon, along with the recent publicaAon ‘Bold Beginnings’ a more formal structure is adopted in the second half of the summer term to support pupils in their ‘school readiness’ and move to year 1.

Key Stages 1 (infants) and 2 (juniors)

Our maths leader is also an NCETM accredited lead pracAAoner has worked to develop our approach to a ‘mastery’ style of lesson. Within the maths structure, pupils have the opportunity to draw upon prior learning to make links from and to the new learning; use the rich language of mathema%cs along with different representa%ons of the concepts being taught; discrete teaching of the mini-steps toward mastery and deepening reasoning opportuni%es within every lesson. OpportuniAes to explain, reason, jusAfy, prove are common elements across key-stages one and two. Pupils use, bar- model, dienes, part-part whole, Numicon all support mastery of the subject. Times-tables are supported through the teaching of arrays before standard recall to allow joined up processing of known facts. Abbey subscribes to ‘Times Table Rockstars’ an on-line games-based system to promote learning at home with healthy, sensible (anonymous) compeAAon. Alongside this is the powerful package ‘Conquer Maths’ that enables home-school learning.

Fluency sessions/Same Day Catch up

At Abbey we have fluency sessions across our schools whereby children pracAse recalling and using their number bonds and mulAplicaAon facts. Using a range of resources (Number Fun etc) children will play games and take part in engaging acAviAes to pracAse key skills and concepts. Children have opportunity to ensure they have understood the mathemaAcal concepts with further small group work during same day catch up.

The national curriculum at Abbey

opportunity to parAcipate in a range of physical acAviAes regardless of gender, ethnicity or ability. Targeted groups will have addiAonal Ame to 'close the gap' in their physical development. The Physical EducaAon Curriculum is developed at school and is designed to support the NaAonal Curriculum. Each year group has two hours of Ametabled PE each week where they engage in a broad range of physical acAvity. Assessment of progress in PE is determined by the age-related expectaAons as set out in the NaAonal Curriculum. In the early years, physical educa%on is part of the daily early year’s curriculum and children take part in a range of fine and gross motor skills which are crucial to their development. There are planned PE sessions and children have access to a range of sports specialists. In KS1 children have regular physical acAviAes sessions. Each week there are dance and games lessons, each contribuAng to the two hours of Ametabled PE provision. Year Four children also take part in swimming during the Autumn, Spring and Summer Term, with the aim that all children will be able to achieve their target of swimming 25 meters. The school has used a proporAon of the PE Premium to deliver addi%onal swimming so that more pupils meet the end of key-stage a[ainment target.

Science

Science is taught each term from FoundaAon Stage to Year Six. We have chosen to use the scheme 'Snap Science', alongside other programmes of work to deliver a progressive science curriculum across the Federa%on. First hand prac%cal experience is paramount as is the teaching of scienAfic key skills. Children are encouraged to be independent and collaboraAve scienAfic invesAgators by their involvement in exciAng pracAcal invesAgaAons. In KS2 children are encouraged to be creaAve and make learning to be more relevant to themselves by designing their own experiments.

Compu%ng

Children at Abbey have a range of compuAng experiences. We have been successful in a[aining the ICT Quality Mark which recognises the range of opportuniAes that the children have in our school. Our compuAng lessons are linked to the 'Rising Stars' scheme. This is a progressive compuAng curriculum which meets the requirements of the NaAonal Curriculum. Children are taught compu%ng skills that they can apply to other subjects across the curriculum. EssenAal updates to our hardware and so/ware are regularly completed in order for us to teach the naAonal curriculum. The children now have access to a dual booAng Apple Macs, a range of electronic equipment, I-Pads, educaAonal programmes and a wide range of apps and learning plakorms such as EducaAon City, Purple Mash, Charanga, 2 Simple etc. E-safety is systema%cally taught.

We ask that no jewellery is worn whilst remaining culturally sensiAve.

French in KS2 There are a number of opportuniAes that teaching a modern foreign language presents and these include: • Embedding languages into an innovaAve approach to the curriculum; relaAng to an outcome such as a Foreign Food market for instance, or connecAng languages to topics • Using language study to connect learning to other cultures, Geography and the SCMS agenda • Working with specialists and partners in the area of languages Religious Educa%on We follow the Sandwell Agreed Syllabus for R.E teaching across the school. This syllabus was published by The Local Authority and The Standing Advisory Council on Religious EducaAon (SACRE). All pupils on the school roll are enAtled to receive Religious EducaAon, this includes pupils in the recepAon year of the Early Years FoundaAon Stage to Year 6. At Abbey we believe that Religious EducaAon is an essenAal component of a broad and balanced educaAon and is a focal point in the curriculum for work on SMSC and BriAsh Values. It enables the growth of religious literacy, essenAal for life in modern Britain and the wider world.

Physical Educa%on

The school is commi[ed to promo%ng the health and well-being of its pupils and staff through physical ac%vity. Through the philosophy of 'head, heart and hands' we provide high quality physical educaAon which inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in compeAAve sport and other physically demanding acAviAes. PE at Abbey provides opportuni%es for pupils to become physically confident in a way that supports their health and fitness. OpportuniAes to compete in sport and other acAviAes build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect. Physical acAvity develops our children technically, physically, psychologically and socially. It also promotes posiAve aOtudes towards a healthy lifestyle enabling our children to make informed choices about physical acAvity throughout their life. All physical acAvity opportuniAes offered at Abbey Infant and Abbey Junior Schools are designed to be inclusive, and cater for different ability levels. All children will be given the

A creative curriculum Our ‘Crea%ve Curriculum’ encompasses a skills-based approach to learning through Geography, History, Art and Design Technology a whilst consolidaAng core areas. Underpinning the combinaAon of skills and knowledge is also the over-arching aims of each subject’s NaAonal Curricular aims, for example, in History: • know and understand the history of these islands as a coherent, chronological narraAve, from the earliest Ames to the present day: how people’s lives have shaped this naAon and how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world • know and understand significant aspects of the history of the wider world: the nature of ancient civilisaAons; the expansion and dissoluAon of empires; characterisAc features of past non- European socieAes; achievements and follies of mankind • gain and deploy a historically grounded understanding of abstract terms such as ‘empire’, ‘civilisaAon’, ‘parliament’ and ‘peasantry’ • understand historical concepts such as conAnuity and change, cause and consequence, similarity, difference and significance, and use them to make connecAons, draw contrasts, analyse trends, frame historically-valid quesAons and create their own structured accounts, including wri[en narraAves and analyses • understand the methods of historical enquiry, including how evidence is used rigorously to make historical claims, and discern how and why contrasAng arguments and interpretaAons of the past have been constructed • gain historical perspecAve by placing their growing knowledge into different contexts, understanding the connecAons between local, regional, naAonal and internaAonal history; between cultural, economic, military, poliAcal, religious and social history; and between short- and long-term Amescales. Each subject has an over-arching aim and through the taught curricular opportuni%es, pupils develop these skills over %me. Each year group plans a range of topics and projects across the academic year to ensure coverage and progression from EYFS to Year 6. Parents are given addiAonal informaAon about the topics covered, skills taught and learning experiences through a termly 'Curriculum Informa%on Leaflet'. This is also uploaded to the website and the class pages. Through the philosophy of the creaAve curriculum the topic begins with a 'hook', a key quesAon to iniAate the topic/project, which leads to a 'real and purposeful' outcome. Curriculum experiences are provided at the start of a topic to engage and inspire the children, we refer to these as our 'wow' events. This may be an in-school acAvity, visitors or an educaAonal visit. The hands on, crea%ve approach allows the children to engage, understand, ar%culate and absorb the knowledge and skills that are imparted to them. Throughout the theme children will build on this experience to work to the final outcome. This outcome is referred to as the 'Finale' event. This may involve an exhibiAon, school producAon, local theatre performance, class acAvity, or a product to be marketed, shared with parents, staff, governors and the wider community. The 'Finale' event is a purposeful event which demonstrates the learning that has taken place throughout the project.

Wellbeing; Spiritual, Moral, social and cultural learning; British Values At Abbey we recognise the 'golden thread' that links all of our learning comes in the form of values and respect for each other. EssenAal life skills, values and emoAon work is done through our half termly wellbeing themes, BriAsh Values work and Social, Spiritual, Moral and Cultural Learning. From looking at 'rela%onships', ‘managing emo%ons’, taking care of our physical and mental health, to dealing with 'bullying' the children have weekly wellbeing lessons and half termly assemblies which address these issues and importantly look at how we deal with the issues in a prac%cal way. We take the 'Let's Start STOP' approach to anA bullying; the analogy S.T.O.P helps us idenAfy what bullying is; Several Times on Purpose and it helps empower us to do something about it; Start Telling Other People. Abbey’s wellbeing curriculum includes important aspects of posiAve self-image and mental health/well-being. Children are taught essenAal life skills on how to manage their wellbeing and health through breathing techniques, yoga and mindfulness acAviAes. Our work on Bri%sh Values looks at how we can acAvely promote the 'values' of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs, through our everyday teaching and experiences with the children. We regularly promote these values through our own school values, curriculum and wide range of enrichment acAviAes. We focus on: • an understanding of how ciAzens can influence decision-making through the democraAc process; • an appreciaAon that living under the rule of law protects individual ciAzens and is essenAal for their wellbeing and safety; • an understanding that there is a separaAon of power between the execuAve and the judiciary, and that while some public bodies such as the police and the army can be held to account through Parliament, others such as the courts maintain independence; • an understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law; • an acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour; and • an understanding of the importance of idenAfying and combaAng discriminaAon.

T eaching about rela%onships is done through the wider curriculum, our wellbeing programme and assemblies. From EYFS up to Year 6 we consider; what is a friend? How can you be a good friend? What does a healthy relaAonship look like? How can we manage difficult relaAonships? How can we promote kindness, honesty, humility, generosity consideraAon and respect? • Each week we award a Kindness Cup in our praise assemblies to recognise children who show these qualiAes. • Wellbeing assemblies (PSHE and SMSC) across the school help children to make informed decisions about their wellbeing (physical health and mental health) and relaAonships. These provide essenAal life skills, develop resilience and know who to turn to for help. • Good RE teaching ensures that children have an understanding and respect for different faiths and develop a social, moral, cultural awareness. • On Line Safety educaAon provide children with about appropriate behaviour and conduct online, how to keep themselves and their personal informaAon safe. Children are made aware of CEOP and who they can turn to for help. • Gender equality teaching throughout the school (which challenges perceived limits on pupils based on their gender or any other characterisAc). Ensure that males and females are respeckul to each other and foster a health and respeckul peer to peer communicaAon and behaviour between girls and boys. Use the policy Sexual Violence and Harassment Between Children In Schools and Colleges for advice. • Staff play a role in modelling posi%ve behaviour. There is a culture where homophobia and gender stereotypes are not tolerated and any occurrences are idenAfied and tackled. • Through our assembly schedule we provide informa%on and educa%on about Stonewall (LGBT), An%-Bullying, Black History Month, Holocaust Memorial Day and Interna%onal Women’s Day etc). • Sensi%ve teaching about families and how families of many forms provide a nurturing environment for children. • UNICEF – ‘the rights of the child’ and NSPCC safeguarding assemblies to ensure that children reflect on their rights, consider the relaAonships around them and recognise abuse. Children are encouraged to speak to a trusted adult or Safeguarding Champion if things are difficult for them. • Transi%on from Year 6 to 7 to support pupils ongoing emoAonal and physical development (see RAISE programme, transiAon assemblies and meeAngs). Health Educa%on Each Year group across the school works in partnership with the School Nurse team to deliver lessons which promote health educaAon. • The topics covered range from lessons on hand washing, basic hygiene and dental hygiene, to puberty, sexual relaAonships and transiAon. Relationships education

• Science teaching covers, subject related content i.e. external body parts, the human body as it grows from birth to old age (including puberty) and reproducAon in some plants and animals. • Wellbeing assemblies provide informaAon on ‘healthy bodies’ with a focus on personal hygiene (using the toilet, washing hands, brushing hair, dental hygiene etc). Sex Educa%on Teachers and local health professionals (School Nurse Team) work together to plan a relaAonship an age appropriate sex educaAon programme. • Children in Year 4 consider the importance of consent (relaAonships) • Children in 5 receive a lesson on puberty (Health) • Children in Year 6 receive a lesson about sexual relaAonships. • Parents are provided with informaAon about the RSE sessions and have the right to withdraw pupils from sex educaAon but not relaAonships or health educaAon. Good pracAce would be the head teacher discussion with parents the benefits of receiving this important educaAon and any detrimental effects that the withdrawal may have on the child. • Brook Advisory and the NSPCC are used by the inclusion team to provide informaAon about ‘healthy sexual behaviour’. These links including NSPCC PANTS provide advice to children and parents. • The Brook Advisory have produced a Sexual Behaviours Traffic Light Tool which supports professionals working with children by helping them to idenAfy and respond appropriately to sexual behaviours. • We have worked to develop a programme will include informaAon about the following: 1. RelaAonships 2. Puberty 3. How babies are made and born 4. Growing up These sessions are to be delivered in single sex groups for year 6 pupils and content is age appropriate for pupils. Parents are provided with informaAon and leaflets about the sessions.

Educational visits

BB6Y LENS November 2019 Vol 6: Issue No. Nineteen Excellence Through Partnership

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The children are given the opportunity to experience a wide range of educational visits and have visitors in school throughout every school year, fromNursery (FS1) to Year 6. The staff work hard to select carefully chosen and purposeful experiences to supplement teaching and learning. T hese events support year group topics and teaching and most importantly provide the children with first-hand experiences that a child may not necessarily have had. Whether this be to visit the Severn Valley Railway, the beach, visit a farm or the Houses of Parliament or parAcipate in adventurous sports, there is lots on offer at Abbey. In addiAon to this the children are given three opportuniAes throughout their Ame at Abbey to parAcipate in a r esiden%al experience. In Year 2, the children can visit the Frank Chapman Outdoor EducaAon Centre, in Bewdley Worcestershire, parAcipaAng in outdoor acAviAes and staying for two nights. For many children this is their first stay away from home; they have so much fun and come back with so many memories. In Year 4 the children may like to go to the Edgmond Hall Centre for Outdoor Learning. Edgmond Hall is a converted Georgian farm in rural Shropshire, owned and run by Sandwell Council, where the children have the opportunity to stay for four nights. Finally, in Year 6, a visit to Plas Gwynant in Snowdonia, Wales, may be an opAon for children, where they will experience a range of outdoor pursuits including canoeing, kayaking, climbing, and hill walking.

Outdoor adventure! Year 6 residential trip.

CHALLENGE YOURSELF The first week of November saw Year 6 pupils away from home for the week, staying in North Wales. Plas Gwynant is at the heart of outdoor education and adventure in the Snowdonia National Park, North Wales. Based at the foot of the highest peak in Wales, the centre combines the power and magic of the natural env i ronmen t wi th the cha l l enge o f adventurous activities to inspire young people; helping them to recognise what they are capable of achieving.

Have you got a paragraph of good news to share? Write in under 100 words, attach a picture and your story may be published. All submissions to [email protected] or [email protected]

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BB6Y LENS March 2020 Vol 6: Issue No. Thirty nine Excellence Through Partnership

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Back at Edgmond! Residential

YEAR 4 AWAY The week after the holiday, some of Year 4 went on a really exciting trip to Edgmond Hall. It was both fantastic and fun. We had a mind-blowing week where we did a variety of activities including: team building games, archery, fencing, zip wire, blind sensory walk, fire breathing dragons and a night walk in the pitch black with our torches. Happily, we got to meet the cute and cuddly goats, rabbits and guinea pigs. We even got to feed the chickens (the brave ones fed the scary Big Bertha!). Whilst we were there, we were fed delicious food; amazing pizza and a fabulous roast dinner. We got to sleep with our friends in dormitories and that was so cool! We had a camp fire which was a blast! We sang loads of songs together, our favourite was Lady Gaga and her shiny bra! We had the best time ever! We wish we could go back again.

Thanks to Miss Stocking, Clara, Hannah, Alice and Jia (4S) for the story.

h t t p s : / / a b b e y - f e d e r a t i o n . s e c u r e - primarysite.net/edgmond-hall-2020/

Have you got a paragraph of good news to share? Write in under 100 words, attach a picture and your story may be published. All submissions to [email protected] or [email protected]

www.abbeyfederation.co.uk

After school clubs Extra-curricular acAviAes at Abbey Schools have excellent a[endance with most clubs selling out all of their available places and some having a long reserve list. This highlights the impact of PE and school sport as children are keen to conAnue engaging in physical acAvity in their own free Ame. This is a posiAve behavioural change as it contributes to the healthy acAve lifestyle that Abbey Schools promote. Abbey offers a broad and varied range of a/er school clubs, delivered by external providers, such as boys’ football, girls’ football, dance, mulA sports, archery, basketball, gymnasAcs, net ball, street dance, tennis, trampolining, karate, dodgeball, golf, fencing and choir. We encourage all pupils to take part in a range clubs and involve them in deciding the clubs we put on offer. Registers of clubs are kept to idenAfy those who do and do not take part in regular extra exercise. Music tuition We offer music lessons to pupils using a range of expert peripate6c staff. There is an addi6onal cost for these lessons as set out in our Charging and Remissions policy.

Instruments include : Ukulele, Guitar, Violin, Brass, Woodwind, Drums, Keyboard, Cello

Friends of Abbey PTA Our Parent/Teacher associaAon. Coming together for educa%on and fun, this is where our school builds a great partnership. There are regular opportuniAes for the school to be part of family life and the community and we hope that you will embrace this through a[ending; performances, presentaAons, inspire workshops, exhibiAons, sports day, educaAonal visits, sporAng events and compeAAons, links with the local community (Library and Warley Woods), events held in local buildings (the church, temple, mosque or theatre), Friends of Abbey events (Christmas Fayre, Easter Eggstravaganza and the Summer Fayre), Fashion Shows, Family Fun Days, Family Quiz Night, Discos, the Abbey School Musical Night and contribuAng to parent surveys which develop and shape our pracAce. There is so much going on and something for everyone so please check out our website calendar and diary with dates of all the event to keep you informed and engaged. h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/diary/grid/ 2017/06/

Excellence through partnership

Working together, communicating together

We work hard to build effec%ve rela%onships with all of our carers and parents and strongly believe that our children make good progress in all aspects of school life, if the school and home work in partnership together. The school moXo is 'excellence through partnership' and it is because of our commitment to our families that we work ever harder to strengthen our communicaAon with our parents and carers. Our weekly newsleXer; The Abbey Lens celebrates good news stories each week and every child is provided with an electronic copy and a paper copy to take home. Children and parents are encouraged to send in their news, photographs and stories to share with over 650 families. In addiAon to this our new and improved website h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/ is regularly updated with events and informaAon for each of the year groups. The popular diary page was visited 28000 Ames in the year to date 11/5/19 averaging 700 hits per week over the term-Ame. This helps our families to keep up to date with the many events on offer at the school. This diary can also be synced to a smart phone so parents and carers will never miss any of our school events. Our successful ' Schoolcomms' provides regular email and text correspondence to all registered parents. We now use an online registraAon programme to arrange our parents' evening and this was a huge success with parents choosing the slots that were suitable to them. During the year we ask the views of parents through regular on-line surveys . There is a high percentage of parents who take part in the surveys providing valuable feedback, correspondence and ideas which we develop and use in our ongoing development of the school. 2018-2019 has seen the introducAon of on-line payments through ParentPay and on-line noAficaAon of medicaAon and first aid, through Medical Tracker, both of which have been highly successful.

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We are now a completely ‘cashless’ school. More informaAon can be found at: h[ps://www.parentpay.com/schools/customer/primary

Find out about our school

BB6Y LENS September 2019 Vol 6: Issue No. One Excellence Through Partnership

THE

Our website is a key gateway for information about our school. There are some examples below.

Hello! 6th Year of our Abbey Lens

Abbey’s curriculum pages h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/parent-guide-to-the-naAonal-curriculum/

Abbey’s Phonics pages h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/phonics-for-parents/

MEET THE STAFF Fun, short videos that introduce some of our staff. http://www.abbeyfederation.co.uk/whos- who/ CALENDAR OF EVENTS Planned out for the year, including a link to add the dates to your smart device. http://www.abbeyfederation.co.uk/diary/ grid/2017/09/ OUR CURRICULUM A detailed guide to the national curriculum and how we tailor it for our children. http://www.abbeyfederation.co.uk/parent- guide-to-the-national-curriculum/ KIDS’ ZONE Educational based games that change every month supporting many areas of the curriculum http://www.abbeyfederation.co.uk/special/ kidszone/ CLASS PAGES Year group pages and lots of great events that our children have taken part in. http://www.abbeyfederation.co.uk/topic/ class-pages ON-LINE SAFETY Advice and guidance for parents on keeping our children safe in the ever growing technological world. http://www.abbeyfederation.co.uk/useful- links/

Abbey’s handwriAng (at the bo[om of the YR page) h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/recepAon/

Abbey’s Maths Methods h[ps://abbey-federaAon.primarysite.media

h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/maths-methods/

Abbey’s BriAsh values h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/briAsh-values/

Abbey’s home-school learning h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/home-school-e-learning/

Abbey’s School council h[p://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/school-council/

Commercial website that has many useful reference guides h[ps://www.theschoolrun.com

Abbey’s Class pages h[ps://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/topic/class-pages

Abbey’s Safeguarding informaAon h[ps://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/safeguarding/

Abbey’s On-line safety informaAon h[ps://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/on-line-safety-informaAon/

Abbey’s Special needs informaAon h[ps://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/sen-inclusion/

Abbey’s DFE Publishing requirements h[ps://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/how-is-the-abbey-website-compliant-with-dfe-requir/

Have you got a paragraph of good news to share? Write in under 100 words, attach a picture and your story may be published.

www.abbeyfederation.co.uk All submissions to office@abbey-

jun.sandwell.sch.uk or [email protected]

Times and uniform

Nursery morning 8.30-11.30 Nursery afternoon 12.20-3.20

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 (Infants) 8.50am - start of the school day

10.45am - playtime 12.00pm - lunchtime 1pm - start of the afternoon 3.15pm - end of school

Year 3-6 (Juniors) 8.50am - start of the school day 10.25am - playtime for Years 3 & 4 10.45am playtime for Years 5 & 6

11.45am- 12.45pm - Lunchtime for Years 3 & 4 12pm- 1pm Lunchtime for Years 5 & 6 3.25pm - end of school

The following is our school uniform. Most items are available from the school offices.

Grey or black trousers/skirt/shorts (summer); White polo shirts; Royal sweatshirt or cardigan; Blue and white gingham dress; Black school shoes; PE kit royal blue shorts and white round neck t-shirts.

Abbey Playden

Before and after school provision for families

Abbey Playden has been developed in order to provide the children and parents of Abbey Junior School, Abbey Infant School and Abbey Nursery with quality out of hours childcare provision. Based on the schools’ caring ethos of excellence and inclusion for all, Abbey Playden provides a safe, s%mula%ng environment for children to share, play and learn. By making use of the junior school’s wide range of faciliAes, including IT suites, dining hall, library, indoor and outdoor sports equipment and the ‘house’, children have the opportunity to explore numerous ac%vi%es. A team of fully qualified Playworkers and Early Years Workers are employed together with catering support from the school’s own superb kitchen, to provide peace of mind for parents and quality care and support for children.

Abbey Playden offers the type of all round quality childcare that only a school can provide.

Abbey Playden

Breakfast Club - 7.30am - 9.00am A/er School Club - 3.15pm - 6.00pm

£5.00 per session £8.50 per session

Abbey Junior School Barclay Road Smethwick B67 5LT Bookings are made electronically to: [email protected]

Payment can be made by childcare vouchers or on Parentpay. The applicaAon pack can be found on our website h[ps://www.abbeyfederaAon.co.uk/abbey-playden/

AddiAonally there is a holiday play-scheme service for most term breaks.

Parents can use the Government tax-free childcare account to pay fees.

Other useful information

ParentPay: We are a ‘Cashless’ school. All payments need to be made through ParentPay which is our e-payment method. This can be done using a very secure website or in cash at local stores where you see the PayPoint logo. We do not have the faciliAes to collect payments by cash or cheque. Approximately 97% of our parents have now registered with ParentPay and are successfully using this as their preferred method of payment. If you would like any assistance in acAvaAng your ParentPay account please contact either of the school offices. More informaAon about ParentPay can be found on their website: h[ps://www.parentpay.com/schools/customers/primary/ Term Time Leave of Absence: The Head Teacher will not grant any leave of absence during term Ame unless there are excepAonal circumstances. Therefore, should you decide to take your child out of school for holidays or any other reason during term-Ame, this will be recorded as an ‘Unauthorised Absence’ and your child’s overall a[endance figure will be affected. A list of school holidays and Inset days is available on the school website for your informaAon. If you sAll decide to take your child out of school during term Ame you will need to complete a ‘Leave of Absence Request Form’. This can be collected from the school offices and is also available on the school website. Please note that if you choose to print the form from the school website yourself, this has to be printed in colour. Child Absence: If your child is unable to a[end school you are requested to call the school office by 8.50am to noAfy us that your child will be absent. There is an opAon to leave a message on our pupil absence line before the office opens at 8.30am. A wri[en note is also required upon their return to record their reason for absence. If you do not inform the office of an absence, you will receive a courtesy call from us as part of our welfare checks. School Meals, free school meals in KS2, milk for under 5’s: Dinner money at the junior school is £2.40 per day – £12.00 per week. Please make sure you have added your child to your ParentPay account if your child has transferred from the infant school to the junior school. Children will be asked every morning their meal choice for that day. Please ensure you have sufficient funds on your dinner money account within ParentPay to enable them to choose a school meal. Dinners have to be paid for in advance, before any meals are taken. A menu is available on the school website to give you an idea of the food available to your child at lunchAmes. There is no cost for dinners for the infant children due to the introducAon of the universal free school meals scheme which started on 1st September 2014. h[p : / /www. s a ndwe l l . go v. u k / i n f o / 2 0 0 1 5 1 /edu c aAon_benefi t s / 2 1 7 6 / free_school_meals Your child will be automaAcally registered for free milk, if under 5 years old. Once your child is 5 then parents must register themselves at the link below h[ps://www.coolmilk.com/parents/

Schoolcomms. Please remember to ensure that we have your most up to date email address and contact numbers as all correspondence is sent via Schoolcomms, our electronic mailing system. This will also ensure that we will be able to contact you in the event of an emergency. We endeavour to be a ‘Paperless school’ where possible with all communicaAon being sent via email. If you do not have an email address you will receive hard copies of correspondence. Collec%on of children. The junior school children are told by their teachers and in assembly that if their parent / carer or the person who they know is picking them up is not waiAng for them, they are to come straight back into school and inform the office staff. They will then sit on the blue chairs near the office / recepAon area whilst we endeavour to locate their parents / carers. Please re-iterate this to your child, so they are aware of what to do if they go out of school at the end of the day and there is no one there to collect them. The infant school children will not be released to anyone different coming to collect them unless the teacher or the school office has been informed beforehand and this informaAon can then be passed on to the teacher. Any infant children who have not been collected from the infant site by 3.30pm or junior children who have not been collected from the junior site by 3.40pm (15 minutes a/er the bell) will automaAcally be taken to Abbey Playden. This is our before and a/er school provision which is based on the junior school site, you will then incur the normal £8.50 session charge plus a £2.00 ‘Late Booking Fee’ irrespecAve of how long they are there before being collected. Site. We would like to remind you that the whole of our site, inside school, the playground and surrounding grounds, is a ‘chewing gum free zone’ and a ‘no smoking / vaping zone’. Junior Break-Time. Children at the junior school have the opAon to buy food at morning break from the dining hall. A price list is available on the school website which should give you an idea of how much money your child may require. All children in YR, Y1 and Y2 receive free fruit at break Ame as part of a Government scheme. PE Kits / Earrings. Children are allowed to wear one set of stud earrings. These should be removed for PE and any other physical acAvity, if your child cannot take out their own earrings please make sure that you remove them on the day they have PE etc. Please note that staff are not allowed to remove earrings and children are not allowed to do PE with them in. Please ensure your child has their full PE Kit with them in school at all Ames as we are unable to loan spare PE Kits due to Health and Safety. This should comprise of a white t-shirt, royal blue shorts and black pumps all labelled in a PE bag. Full PE kits can be purchased using your ParentPay account at a cost of £12.00. Other useful information