Form FourHandbook
2015 - 2016
Introduction
At Connaught House School we greatly value the close relationship that develops between school and home as we jointly work towards achieving the best for your child.
This handbook is designed to inform you about the school, the curriculum, and our policies and procedures. I hope it will be of use to you. From time to time, we may need to make changes and will endeavour to keep you informed of these.
The form teacher and senior members of staff are always available should you have any questions or require further information.
Contact Details
Connaught House School
47 Connaught Square
London W2 2HL
Telephone: 020 7262 8830
The School office is staffed from 8.00 – 4pm Monday to Friday term-time only. The answerphone is on out of these hours.
Email:
Secretary:
Miss Burke:
The school website:
CONNAUGHT HOUSE SCHOOL STAFF LIST
Principals
Mrs J A Hampton & Mr F Hampton, MA RCA
Assistant Principal
Mrs Victoria Hampton, Early Years Foundation Degree, Montessori Diploma, Hornsby Diploma (Dyslexia).
Form Teachers
Miss Victoria Hayward, BA (Hons), Birmingham. Reception & Head of Early Years
Miss Rebecca Pack, BA (Hons), Sussex, PGCE, Brighton. Reception
Miss Alexandra Steel, BA (Hons), Roehampton. Form One, KS1 Science Coordinator
Miss Sophie Rollins, BA (Hons), St Mary’s College. Form Two, IT Coordinator
Miss Lauren Mayer, BA (Hons), PGCE, Kingston. Form Three, Junior School Coordinator
Miss Louisa Burke, B Ed (Hons), Sussex, MA Education, Open University. Form Four, KS2 Science Coordinator, Safeguarding Officer
Mrs Anne-Marie Walsh, B Ed (Hons), N.U.I. Form Five, Gifted & Talented Coordinator
Mr Brian Westerman, MMath, York. Form Six
Teaching Assistants
Miss Christine Arthur, NNEB, LSBU, Level 4 CELTA. Junior One
Miss Amber Bowrey, BA (Hons), Warwick. Form One
Miss KlaraPluskowska, BA (Hons), UCL. Form Two
Visiting Staff
Miss Joanna Urbanek, BA (Hons), Roehampton, PGCE (KCL), Specific Learning Difficulties OCR Programme, UCL, Diploma in French, Redbridge. French, Pupil Support, SENDCO
Head of Music
Mrs Christine Hopkins, Graduate GSM, PGCE Reading. Singing & Piano
Music Staff
Mrs Ayako Yoshida Alvanis, B Mus, Curtis Institute of Music, USA. Violin
Miss Bethany Brooke, B Mus, Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Guitar
Miss Helen Rogers, LRAM Prof Cert, Dip Advanced. Piano
Miss Rosie Land, Royal College of Music. Woodwind
Peripatetic Staff
Miss Sheila Jackson, International Grandmaster. Chess
Miss Deborah Jayne, BA (Hons). Dance & Performing Arts
Visiting Consultants
Ms Valarie Savage. Speech and Language Therapist
Dr Jeremy Monsen. Educational Psychologist
School Manager
Mrs Susan Larke, C & G Learning Support, FA Teaching Cert, ASA Teachers Cert, Level 4 Child Protection
Administration
Ms Jackie White, SIMS. School Secretary
Ms Dorothy Morgan, AAT. Bursar
Proprietor
Connaught House School Ltd., 47 Connaught Square, London W2 2HL
Form Organization
There are usually places for eight girls in Form 4 although this may alter from year to year depending on changes to family circumstances.
Girls may be asked to work individually or in pairs or small groups depending on the subject and task.
Although the class will work on similar areas of a subject, work is set to challenge each individual and so girls may be given different books or tasks to meet their particular needs.
This is particularly the case in maths and English.
Each week the girls take turns to be responsible for particular tasks for the class such as organizing snack, returning the register, collecting homework.
The Curriculum
The curriculum in Form 4 is based on the National Curriculum for England 2014 with adaptations to meet the needs of the Common Entrance 11+ syllabus.
The Taught Subjects
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Maths
English
Science
History
Geography
French
Computing
Art and Design
Music
Physical Education
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Personal and Social Education is addressed through a mix of assembly, discussions in other subjects as well as dedicated lesson time.
Most subjects are taught by the form teacher with specialist teaching of Music and French.
Maths
In Form 4 the aim is to ensure that pupils become fluent with whole numbers and the four operations and develop a thorough understanding of the concept of place value. They will continue to practise the speedy recall of number facts such as multiplication and division facts and addition complements. They will develop efficient written and mental methods and perform calculations accurately with increasingly large whole numbers and begin to work with decimal numbers. They will develop their mathematical reasoning, being encouraged to look for patterns, and will be encouraged to use mathematical language when giving explanations. They will develop their ability to solve a range of problems, including those involving shape and measures.
They will learn to interpret data as it is represented in different charts and graphs.
English
There are three main strands to the curriculum – Speaking and listening, reading and writing which are inter-related.
Speaking and Listening
Girls are encouraged to increase their vocabulary across the curriculum. In speaking to one another and to adults they are taught to be precise and think about the listeners’ needs. They take part in discussions and have the opportunity to take part in more formal activities such as debates and presentations. They will be encouraged to speak at a suitable pace, and with appropriate clarity, volume and tone. They will learn how to respond to what others have said as well as giving their own point of view.
Reading
The main focus is to encourage the girls to read widely across both fiction and non-fiction to develop their knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live and to establish an appreciation and love of reading. This helps increase their vocabulary because they encounter words they would rarely hear or use in everyday speech. It also feeds their imagination and helps them to develop as better writers.
We have a number of novels and poems that we read as a class in Form 4 and spend time discussing the plot and the characters. We also learn about the language and structure of the writing in fiction and non – fiction titles. Much of these are taken from books that we use for science, history and geography topics.
We use textbooks with story extracts to practise written comprehension skills.
The girls read independently in school as well as at home. There is a good choice of books in the classroom as well as being able to choose from the library. Many girls also read books from home.
I help guide the girls’ choices to ensure a good mix of authors and genre. There is a list of suggested titles available for families wanting some guidance.
Writing
The teaching here can be seen as splitting into two – the secretarial aspects and the composition aspect.
Handwriting
Girls will continue to be taught handwriting so as to ensure a neat, fluent and joined style that they can produce at a reasonable pace. It is often linked to the learning of spelling and vocabulary words.
Spelling and Vocabulary
Girls are given approximately 20 spellings each week to learn that are usually linked by a spelling pattern or rule. They are asked to learn not only how to spell them but also what they mean.
They are tested on these a week later.
It is best if they learn these by physically writing them down repeatedly as it assists in making the link between the physical act of writing the word and visually ‘seeing’ it.
This method is often called Look Say Cover Write Check.
In their general writing, words which they should know how to spell are underlined and corrections need to be made. They may sometimes be asked to do this as additional homework.
Grammar
Girls will continue to learn about language and will be taught to identify the different parts of speech and some of the grammatical structures. They will learn how to add detail to sentences by adding phrases and clauses and to make use of their wider vocabulary by using precise words.
Composition
They will have opportunities across the curriculum as well as in specific creative writing lessons to put all their ‘secretarial skills’ to work in creating interesting pieces of writing. These may be stories, letters, poems or non –fiction pieces linked to work in other subjects. Sometimes these will be completely independent, time limited and other times may be as a result of guidance and can extend over a number of days as they refine the piece of work.
Science
The focus in lessons is in gaining practical experience in investigating and observing while at the same time developing a body of knowledge about the topic area.
The topic areas covered in Form 4 include:
Humans [Moving and Growing] looking at the human digestive system and the different types of teeth.
Circuits and conductors constructing simple circuits, understanding how a switch works and testing which materials will and which will not conduct electricity.
States of Matter – link to volcanoes topic
Compare and group materials into solids, liquids or gases
Observe how some materials change state when heated or cooled,
Sound
Identify how sounds are made and what the difference is between pitch and volume
All Living Things – link to rainforest topic
Identify and name a variety of plants & animals in the local and wider environment. Construct and interpret a variety of food chains,
Recognize that environments can change
History
The topics covered include:
The Normans
Ancient Egypt
Explorers
Geography
The topics covered include:
Europe
Volcanoes
Tropical Rainforests
French
The focus of study will be on practical communication.
La Jolie Ronde is the course followedwhich istaught by a specialist teacher.
Computing
Girls are taught to use technology safely, respectfully and responsibly.
They use a variety of software programs and internet search engines to research and combineinformation. They can design, write and debug programs using the scratch coding program.
Art and Design
The girls will be practising a number of skills and working with a variety of materials during the year. Some of their work will be linked to topics in other subject areas. We will also take the opportunity to explore ideas and themes that may arise unexpectedly and that spark the girls’ interest.
We will be studying some of the work of Matisse and create pictures using paper cutouts.
We will learn some embroidery stitches and link that with our work in history on The Bayeux Tapestry.
In the Spring term we will look at Ancient Egypt art and will use papier mache to make masks. We will also cover a unit of work on drawing and painting.
In the summer we will be looking at the work of some sculptors and doing some modelling using clay as well as creating work for our rainforest and animals topics.
Music
Music is taught by Mrs Hopkins
Form 4 has a class lesson in which girls are taught to appreciate different types of music as well as about how music is structured whilst learning a number of pieces for voice and recorder. In addition to this Form 4 has a choir lesson with Forms 3 to 6 and attends orchestra with Forms 5 and 6.
Individualinstrumental tuition
Parents may request individual instrumental tuitionthrough the office either in writing or by email to:
Physical Education
This subject provides opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness.
During the autumn and spring term Forms 4, 5 and 6 have a lesson each week at Little Venice Sports Hall. They spend part of the lesson with a fencing tutor and the remaining time playing games. These include: badminton, hockey and benchball.
In the summer term, they spend a lesson at Paddington Green Recreation ground where they play tennis and netball.
They also have a swimming lesson at Kensington Leisure Centre during the summer term
On two or three other days they go to Hyde Park for their games lessons. They will cover a range of ball skills learning to throw, catch and bowl a ball as well as understanding how to work as a team. They will also work on athletic skills and develop their fitness. Activities include football, rounders, running etc
Girls need to make sure they have the correct games kit for each day.
Assessment
Assessment of pupils is part of an ongoing process of teaching and learning and as teachers mark work on a daily basis they give feedback to children about what has been achieved and what could be improved.
Tests and exams are also used to provide a snapshot of what a child can achieve independently usually in a limited amount of time.
In Form 4 there are a number of tests that take place weekly.
Some of these test recall of facts such as the spelling test or a tables facts test or the I minute maths challenge. These test something that the children have been told to learn. If they have not done very well I may ask them to make a greater effort to learn them and re-test them.
Other tests may assess their ability to deal with the unknown in a certain amount of time. These include the written English test where they are asked to complete a reading comprehension and apply their knowledge of grammar and punctuation rules. Or, the written maths test which can cover questions from a range of areas not necessarily ones that they have just been practising. This helps to keep their skills sharp and serves to identify areas of learning that may need to be re-visited. We also may do tests of vocabulary and reasoning. The children record the results of these tests so you can see how they have done.
We always spend some time looking at areas of common misunderstanding so if your child did not do very well on these tests do not worry as we will look at it. I encourage the girls to see mistakes as a necessary part of the learning process.
At other times there may be assessments at the end of a unit of work such as in science or in geography.
During the summer term there are exams in the academic subjects and these are reported on the end of year reports.
Children will be given some guidance to allow them to revise work covered during the year.
Reports and Meetings
Written reports are issued three times a year:
In the autumn half term in the form of a brief progress report
At the end of the autumn term which covers progress in English and maths
At the end of the summer term which details progress in all subject areas.
Termly Parents meetings are arranged and parents will be allotted a 20minute meeting with Miss Burke to discuss progress.
Form teachers are available to meet with parents after school at a mutually convenient time to discuss progress or any concerns. It is suggested a meeting takes place two or three times a year.
To aid transition from one class to the next, a Form meeting is held in the summer term so all parents can meet with the teacher of the following form. Any changes in daily routine and expectations are outlined.
Homework
Homework is given every day; some of it will be due the following day although sometimes more than one day may be given. Learning how to manage their time is one of the aims of homework.
Homework given is recorded by your daughter in her homework diary. These are checked by the Form teacher on a weekly basis. It is useful if you could sign this at least once each week.
The purpose of homework can differ from task to task. Sometimes it is to give children additional practice in work covered in school, at other times it may be to carry out some independent research on a topic and at other times to complete a piece of work.
It is expected that your daughter will spend at least 15 minutes each day reading. She should spend 10 minutes or so each day practising spellings and number facts.
She will then have a longer piece of work. The time this takes does depend on the task, your daughter, the time she is doing the homework etc. However, I expect it should not take more than 30 minutes, occasionally it will be much less than this. While it is useful for an adult to be available the point is that the child should try to complete the work independently.
I judge what homework to give from day to day and I find that towards the end of term or sometimes the middle of the week some children are tired. In these circumstances I will give a little less homework.
Children can sometimes find the process of sitting down to work at the end of the day daunting. Establishing a quiet place and routine can help. Encourage her to think back to the lesson and read the instructions. If you find your daughter is struggling with a piece of work, do not let her continue for a long period of time. Doing the work in a set amount of time is as much a skill as completing the work so learning that there is a set time for homework is also a useful lesson. If it cannot be done or is taking too long write me a note in the diary. If it is because they have not understood that can be re –taught if it is time management then lunch break is always an option for completing a task.