To ensure that all children are safe, secure,
happy and healthy
To raise the self-esteem of all members of
the school community
To encourage children to enjoy learning,
understand how to learn and develop an enquiring mind
To value and respect every member of
the school community
Through a framework of Christian values, to help
children to develop as responsible and caring adults
To help all members of the school community to
achieve personal success and reach their full potential
To provide a wide range of quality
learning experiences
To develop the ability to live and work
both co-operatively and independently
1
About the School
THE MINSTER C.E. VOLUNTARY CONTROLLED PRIMARY SCHOOL
Emwell Street, Warminster, Wilts. BA12 8JA
Tel: 01985 213265
Fax: 01985 847187
Email:
Website: www.minster.wilts.sch.uk
The Minster School is in Emwell Street, at the western end of the town, with a catchment area that includes the village of Upton Scudamore. At present an average of about 219 children attend the school, coming from all areas of Warminster.
The school stands in a lovely garden setting in an elevated position looking over the town. The main building, dating from 1882, contains four classrooms for the younger children, staff accommodation, the music room, school library and a cookery area. Years 4, 5, 6 classrooms are in a Pratten block at the top of the playqround with Year 3 very close by in a purpose-built classroom. The Pratten block includes a dining hall and a kitchen. We also have a stand-alone superb activities hall which provides fantastic opportunities for physical education and drama, and is also used by the community.
The grounds comprise three playing fields with many well-established trees, ornamental gardens, a school pond and a very old weeping ash which forms the backdrop to the playground. There is a Foundation Stage play area with equipment designed to develop young children’s physical and imaginative abilities.
The school is a voluntary-controlled Church of England school, with close links with
the Minster Church. There is a strong ethos of caring and children are taught to respect
and care for each other and to follow an agreed code of values and behaviour. The Minster School is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and has robust child protection procedures. The school was recognised as a ‘good’ school by Ofsted in 2010.
A Letter from the Children
Dear Parents/Carers
We are writing this letter as Year 6 pupils who have spent roughly seven years in The Minster School. This school is an excellent environment for your child and we are going to give you some reasons why. We hope you enjoy reading this letter.
All parents would like their child to learn and grow in a structured environment and a good atmosphere needs a supportive teacher. Our teachers and teaching assistants are always ready to help, and if your child has a problem they will always be there. They find great ways to raise pupils’ self-esteem and unlock their full learning potential. As a school, we try to take good care of our pupils and make sure they are happy. We make sure your children are safe in school and that they learn about safety.
Our grounds are stunning. Our new hall is very large, more than enough for the whole school. It is cool in summer and it is great for sports. We saved for a long time to build our Foundation Stage play area, created to be fun, exciting, safe and educational. It has its own shed filled with footballs, toys and even five or six bikes, some of them made for two so that your children can learn to work in pairs. Last year, the school council planned improvements to the main playground to provide a quiet area and a ball area, and we are now raising money so that we can turn this dream into a reality.
Our school has a fantastic range of after-school clubs, everything from choir to football. We also have music teaching to get our children more involved in music, and there are a wide variety of educational visits, including a Year 6 residential visit to St Ives.
Each year we have a range of fun events, such as discos, cake days, school fete, advent bazaar, drama productions and class assemblies. he children from our school also have the opportunity to compete against other schools in events like Area Sports, swimming gala, gym competitions and tournaments.
We hope we have convinced you that we are a fun school, where your child will enjoy themselves and learn a lot. This school really is the perfect place for any child!
If you have any questions or would like to know more about the school, visit our website, www.minster.wilts.sch.uk.
Thank you
Year 6
Learning and Teaching
The school follows the National Curriculum. Over a school year, children will follow a planned curriculum which includes:
English
Mathematics
Science
Computing
Art & Design
Geography
History
Design & Technology (DT)
Physical Education (PE)
Music
Religious Education (RE)
Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE, including Citizenship and Sex Education)
French is introduced into the curriculum in Year 3
You will find that the teacher will base the class work on a central topic each term to incorporate most aspects of the curriculum. This allows the children to make links across subjects and apply their skills they have learnt, especially in English and Mathematics.
There will be a variety of teaching methods used – sometimes the children will be working individually, sometimes in groups and sometimes as a class. Care is taken to adjust the work to cater for the more able children and to be aware of children who may have special educational needs.
The Curriculum
The 1988 Education Act requires the National Curriculum to be introduced into all state maintained schools. It also requires all schools to teach religious education and hold a daily act of worship. The 2014 Curriculum will be taught from September 2014.
The school's curriculum is developed with regard to the National Curriculum,
the chart below illustrates how the year groups are divided into National
Curriculum Key Stages:
______
Key Stage Year Age of majority of pupils
at end of academic year
______
Reception 5
______
1 / Year 1 / 6Year 2 / 7
______
2 / Year 3 / 8Year 4 / 9
Year 5 / 10
Year 6 / 11
______
The Foundation Stage
At the Minster we follow the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Our curriculum planning focuses on the Early Learning Goals and on developing children’s skills and experiences, as set out in this document.
We teach children by ensuring challenging, playful opportunities across the ‘Prime’ and ‘Specific’ areas of learning and development. Prime areas are fundamental; they work together to support development in all other areas. These are:
· Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Communication and Language
· Physical Development
Specific areas include essential skills and knowledge. They grow out of the prime areas and provide important contexts for learning. These are:
· Literacy
· Mathematics
· Understanding the World
· Expressive Arts and Design
We believe every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. We strive to provide an environment which responds to children’s individual needs, based on a strong relationship between practitioners and parents and carers. We use a range of stimulating resources, relevant to all the children’s cultures and communities, alongside rich learning opportunities through play and playful teaching. We also support children to be independent, take risks and build positive relationships in a safe and secure environment.
The ways in which children engage with other people and their environment – playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically – underpin learning and development across all areas and support children to remain effective and motivated learners. We understand and observe each child’s development and learning, assess progress and plan for next steps.
We support that children develop in the contexts of relationships and the environment around them. This is unique to each family, and reflects individual communities and cultures.
English
At The Minster Primary School we believe that English provides the cornerstone for pupils' achievement throughout the curriculum.
We recognise that English is unique among the subjects of the National Curriculum, as it is a subject in its own right, but also the medium for communication and learning in all other subjects.
We believe that our pupils learn best when they are provided with a range of opportunities and skills for Speaking and Listening, Reading and Writing across the curriculum.
We want all of our children to become confident speakers and listeners and independent readers and writers.
We aim for a child to be able to:
• Read and write with confidence, fluency and understanding, orchestrating a range of independent strategies to self-monitor and correct.
• Have an interest in books and read for enjoyment.
• Have an interest in words and their meanings; developing a growing vocabulary in spoken and written forms.
• Discuss reading and writing comprehensively, expressing opinions, explaining techniques and justifying preferences, about a wide range of fictions and non-fiction texts, using suitable technical vocabulary.
• Understand a range of text types and genres.
• Write in a variety of styles and forms appropriate to the situation.
Mathematics
At The Minster Primary School, Mathematics is taught discretely in a daily lesson as well as forming part of a lesson in other subject areas. Emphasis is placed on oracy, mental calculations and problem solving. This encourages a practical application to learned mathematical rules. We also use a wide range of resources to reinforce the children's mathematical learning which match their age and ability.
We want to develop a confident approach to learning and applying understanding, to foster an interest in mathematics and an enjoyment of the subject.
We aim for a child to be able to:
· Become fluent in the fundamentals of mathematics through frequent and varied practice, and show the ability to recall knowledge
· Reason mathematically using appropriate language
· Solve problems by applying their skills in a range of contexts
Science
At The Minster Primary we hope to provide the foundations for understanding the world through the teaching of science, and the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. We believe that science is central to many aspects of life and that children should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation, and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about the natural world.
The children will develop their scientific talents through:
· Describing and observing key scientific processes
· Using scientific vocabulary accurately
· Measuring, collecting, presenting and analysing data
· Following scientific enquiries
Our main aim is to foster an interest and enjoyment of science!
We believe that a ‘hands –on’ approach to Science is the best way to encourage and develop learning. Cross curricular links are made wherever possible so children can apply their skills. Scientific enquiry is embedded within each unit. These are the statutory units covered in each Year group, more units may be covered as well to maximise cross curricular links:
· Year 1 – Plants, Animals including human, Everyday Materials, Seasonal Changes
· Year 2 – Living Things and their habitats, Plants, Animals including humans, Uses of Everyday materials,
· Year 3 – Plants, Animals including humans, Rocks, Light, Forces and Magnets
· Year 4 – Living Things and their habitats, Animals including humans, States of matter, Sound, Electricity
· Year 5 – Living things and their habitats, Animals including humans, Properties and changes of materials, Earth and Space, Forces
· Year 6 – Animals including humans, Evolution and Inheritance, Light, Electricity.
Art & Design
We aim to engage, inspire and challenge pupils through Art and Design, developing their skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art. We also aim to teach children to think critically about their work, and reflect on how art and design has contributed to the culture and creativity of our world.
We believe that it is preferable to work from first-hand experience and have built up a resource area where interesting objects and materials are collected together for use in the classroom. We ensure children are exposed to a variety of mediums including drawing, painting, sculpture using clay, Mod Roc or junk, weaving, printing and dying techniques including batik. The children are also given opportunities to lead their own artwork, make decisions about their art, be imaginative, consider improvements as well as actually being given the opportunity to improve a piece of art. We spend time discussing shape, colour, texture, light and shadow, smell and origin of the object with the children. They explore ideas and meanings in the work of artists, craftspeople and designers and learn about their different roles and about the functions of art, craft and design in their own lives and in different times and cultures. It is vital to show the children that their work is valued and this is done by displaying around the school as well as in the classroom.
Design Technology
At The Minster Primary we aim to develop children’s creativity and imagination to design and make a range of products that solve real and relevant problems in today’s world. We teach them to evaluate and reflect on their designs and products to meet their specific needs.
Design Technology is a ‘hands-on’ subject and a variety of materials and methods are used, including construction equipment, wood, plastics, food, fabrics and mechanical components. We believe that nutrition and healthy eating is essential for children, and we aim to instil a love of cooking in pupils and develop their understanding of how to eat a balanced diet.
In this subject the children go on a journey of designing, making, modifying and evaluating. It provides unique opportunities for the children to work independently and with others to solve problems set by themselves or the teacher. In this way children gain an understanding of what technology is and how it can be used in their world. It also helps the children to use the rapidly changing technologies of today and prepare them for the new technologies of tomorrow.