Our Vision
Our vision is to ensure that every child in our school leads a happy, successful and purposeful life. By the time they leave Eatock, we want them to have acquired all the necessary personal and academic skills that will be needed throughout their lives, so that they can become well rounded people who aim to be better than their best.
Our Curriculum
At Eatock, the school’s mission statement, vision and aims are the key drivers in our curriculum design. We believe that children should experience excellent teaching and develop a deep love of learning. Our school curriculum is bespoke and tailored to meet the needs of all of our children. We want our children to be confident, articulate and effective communicators and able to read at an age-appropriate level by the time they leave our school. We want our children to have a secure understanding of Fundamental British Values, gain an understanding of equal opportunity and be able to celebrate the richness and diversity of the society in which they live so they are fully prepared for life as a global citizen. Through the curriculum, we want our children to be able to make positive choices in terms of their social interactions, health and personal wellbeing. We want our children to acquire knowledge, skills and understanding that they will be able to draw upon throughout their lives. We believe our children should have a wealth of experiences beyond the classroom. We take a Growth Mind set approach to delivering the Eatock curriculum and we want all our children to develop an ‘I can’ attitude towards their learning and a strong resilience to challenge (GRIT) by understanding the importance of the ‘Power of Yet’ and the value of making mistakes. In delivering our curriculum, we aim to remove any barriers to learning so that ALL children are able to make progress across the whole school curriculum. A key approach to achieving our curriculum intent is for our curriculum to utilise technology and be filled with rich first-hand experiences, both within and outside of the classroom.
Developing your child’s basic skills in English and maths
Throughout their time at Eatock, your child will be encouraged and supported to apply their English and maths skills to real and practical situations. Although some of the time they will experience skills learning in English and maths lessons, much of this will be integrated into cross-curricular themes and topics.
These will be directly linked to the National Curriculum Programmes of Study and the children will be encouraged to develop good understanding of subject elements within this format. For some areas of the curriculum, the children will sometimes be set into age or ability groups. This ensures that all children are given work that is suitable and challenges them. Teaching methods are flexible in order to accommodate the variety of situations that occur in Primary Education. Throughout a typical week your child is likely to experience individual, small group and whole class teaching.
Class teachers will teach the whole curriculum to their class, with a focus on developing the children’s basic skills of English and maths via application across the whole curriculum.
English and Speaking and Listening
Developing the children’s oracy skills is a key element of the curriculum. Opportunities are planned in school for children to discuss, explain and describe, so that they may develop confidence and coherence. Listening attentively is a vital skill to language development and children are encouraged to understand that listening is both necessary and courteous.
Reading
Ensuring the children are able to read at an age appropriate level is a high priority in our curriculum. We aim to equip children with the skills and the desire to read. Children are well supported to be able to read accurately with fluency and to make efficient use of the well stocked class libraries, computers and the school library. As a parent it is extremely important that you offer your child a quiet time when they can read with you on a regular basis. It is our
wish to present reading in such a way as to instill a love and respect for books and reading that will provide a rich sources of pleasure for life.
Writing
Children need to write as a means of communication and recording. Our aim at Eatock is to help children write fluently for a wide variety of audiences and purposes. The children at Eatock will develop their skills in writing creatively and informatively across all areas of the curriculum. We also have a high focus on children developing a clear handwriting style, which reflects pride in the presentation of the written word.
Mathematics
Our aim in the teaching of mathematics is to ensure that children show breadth and depth in their understanding of mathematical and numerical concepts. We want them to be able to do this confidently in both their mental and written work. Children will learn the basic mathematical skills and concepts and then be given many opportunities to apply these skills both within maths lessons and across the curriculum.
Religious Education and Assemblies
Eatock Primary School is a non-denominational community school. Children are taught RE according to Bolton’s Agreed Syllabus (S.A.C.R.E). This covers Christianity and other world religions. Our daily assemblies have a weekly theme and an act of collective worship (Reflection). Children do not have to pray to God or sing if it is not
appropriate to them. If you would like to withdraw your child from the daily assembly, please see the Headteacher.
Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship
The health and well-being of our pupils is a priority for us at Eatock. Personal, social and health education and citizenship is taught both directly and sensitively through a cross curricular approach.
Learning Outside the Classroom
First hand, experiential and practical learning opportunities underpin our school’s Curriculum Intent. Learning Outside the Classroom is a key element of the Eatock curriculum. Out of school visits for children are organised regularly and visitors of interest are invited into school to enhance children’s learning experiences. The school holds the Learning Outside The Classroom GOLD national award.
Each school trip is carefully planned and risk assessed by the staff. Details of the visit, including safety aspects, are scrutinised in advance by a senior teacher, who has designated responsibility for the co-ordination of all educational visits or the Headteacher. Particular attention is paid to the care of each child during such visits and therefore a generous number of adult supervisors (usually parents) accompany the school staff on such educational trips.
Generally speaking, younger pupils receive more supervision than older ones and, depending on the visit, the ratio can be as high as 1 supervisor to 2 children. The school always seeks written parental consent before taking children out of school on visits or to games matches.
When the cost of educational trips causes any difficulty, parents are encouraged to contact the class teacher or Headteacher in strictest confidence. Our charging policy is available for you to see.
Assessment of Learning (Standards and Progress)
Assessments of children’s abilities begin as soon as they arrive in our Early Years. This includes The National Reception Baseline Assessment, as well as teacher baseline assessment in-line with the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.
Assessments are carried out continually throughout the children’s school life, in order to inform planning for teaching and learning. Assessments of learning are both summative (testing, quizzes etc.) and formative (on-going via questioning and verbal feedback). The school uses a range of formative (on going) assessment techniques, which encourage the children to become independent learners.
Within EYFS, pupils have portfolios of evidence of their learning experiences and progress, which are shared with parents /carers. In addition, parents / carers are invited in to take part in a variety of curriculum workshops. Across KS1 and KS2, parents / carers are invited into school to attend ‘showcase’ assemblies, which provide the opportunity for the children to share their learning and examples of their work with their parents / carers.
Parents are also invited into school to discuss their child’s attainment and progress at Parents’ Evenings and Target Setting evenings during the autumn and spring term. A written report is produced at the end of each year, which informs parents of their child’s attainment and progress at the end of the summer term.
A National KS2 Assessment is administered to Year 6 pupils during May – these are known as End of KS2 SATS. The results of these assessments are shared with parents /carers once they are released to school and within in their child’s End of Year Report.