AiredaleInfant School

School Brochure

I need to look and listen

I need to touch and try

I want to smell and sample

And ask the question why?

Give me time to wonder

To imagine and pretend

Space to run and bend and stretch

Share secrets with a friend

I want to hold and handle

I must play to understand

For I need to know so many things

To find out who I am.

Your support for your child’s education is crucial to their progress. Please tell us if there are any adjustments we need to make in school to help you support your child. Does your child have any learning difficulty, medical condition or disability.

Our School Values

At AiredaleInfant School we have high expectations of behaviour and standards of achievement.

We constantly strive to promote tolerance, respect for others and good manners.

We value creativity, individuality and the potential of the whole child.

Our Vision Statement

For all our children to know they are clever and believe they can be successful.

Through our teaching, to inspire each and every child to develop their individual talents, through rich and positive learning experiences.

Our Mission Statement

Our primary purpose is to create a happy, secure and stimulating learning environment in which all members of our school community can grow in self esteem and fully develop their potential as human beings.

Airedale Infant School Aims

The headteacher, staff and governors of AiredaleInfant School aim to :-

  • provide high quality learning and teaching experiences which motivate our pupils to achieve individual high standards.
  • give every child access to a broad and rich curriculum with opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
  • ensure every child makes progress whatever their age, attainment, gender, background, ethnicity or special educational needs.
  • provide opportunities for our children to develop the skills and understanding to make important life and health choices.
  • maintain a stimulating, secure and safe environment with resources to meet the needs of the curriculum.
  • involve parents and carers in the work of the school and keep them fully informed of their children’s progress.
  • develop links with the wider community and promote a positive image of the school as part of the community.
  • build quality, positive relationships which foster life-long learning.
  • manage the school finances efficiently and effectively to meet the needs of the schools continuous improvement and achieve high standards.

Historical Information

The school was built in the late 1920’s as a Junior and Senior school around a quadrangle garden. Airedale Infant School was founded in 1993, when all schools in the area were re-organised to fit in with the National Curriculum.

Airedale Infant School 2016

The school educates children from three to seven years. Pupils aged three and four are educated in Lower Foundation and we have places for 78 children.

Children move into Upper Foundation Stage – reception, in the September of the school year in which they are five.

Airedale Infants became an Academy on November 1st 2014. We form part of a Multi Academy Trust, together with Airedale Academy, Airedale Juniors and Oyster Park Primary. Our building is shared with Airedale Junior School.

Bright Sparks Child Care

Wrap around care/alternate sessions are available for our children from the Bright Sparks Unit.

Breakfast clubs and after school clubs are also available. Please contact school for details.

Admissions

As an Academy we chose to participate in the Wakefield School Admission process. If you wish to apply for a place at our school for a child in years Reception – Year 2 all admissions are dealt with on our behalf by Wakefield Council – Please tel 01924 305617 or visit

Airedale Infant School

Academy Council 2017/2018

Chair of Governors (Acting) Mrs L Smith

Headteacher – ex officio Mrs N Manley

Trust Governors Mr J Dakin

Miss C Arnold

Parent GovernorsMrs L Smith

Staff Governors

Mrs M Dakin

Associate GovernorMrs L Buttle

Committees

All committees are now held at trust level

The Academy Council is a combination of appointed, elected and trust governors who serve a four year term of office. The full Academy Council meet on five occasions during the academic year.

As well as their legal responsibilities and formal governors’ meetings, governors support the school in a variety of ways.

  • Completing monitoring tours of the school.
  • Supporting learning and teaching – curriculum link governors.
  • Reviewing and monitoring policies.
  • Supporting school concerts.

This informs their views on the success of the aims of the school and its achievement and provision.

Staffing Structure 2017-2018

Headteacher
Mrs N Manley
Deputy Headteacher
Miss J Varley
School Business Manager
Mrs L Buttle / Senior Administrator
Mrs L Bleasby
Lower Foundation Stage
Nursery Teacher
Mrs H Brazel
Nursery Nurses
Miss R’ODonnell
– full time
Mrs G Batty –part time
Miss S Machen – part time
Teaching Assistant/Hygienist – Mrs K Norton – full time
Upper Foundation Stage – Year 1
Teachers
Miss J VarleyFoundation Stage Manager
Mrs A Alonso
Teaching Assistants
Mrs M Dakin
Miss J Tomlinson
Mrs J Jones
Teaching Assistant/Hygienist
Mrs V Bosworth
Year 1
Teacher
Mrs E Kerry
Mrs R Hepworth
Teaching Assistants
Mrs T Jones
Mrs N Chambers
Special Needs Assistant Mrs C Walshaw
Year 1 / 2
Teacher
Miss R GoznikSENCO
Teaching Assistants
Mrs Y Armitage
Mrs S Colbeck – Group support
Mrs L Duncan – Individual support – part time
Year 2
Teacher
Mrs J Wakefield
Teaching Assistants
Mrs S Colbeck
Mrs L Duncan – Individual support – part time
Premises Staff
Caretakers
Mr R Fellows - Senior Caretaker
Mr D Nicolson - Site Technician
Cleaners
Mrs S Watson, Mrs C Bourne
Lunchtime Staff
Class 1 – Miss P Holmes
Class 2 – Mrs A Formby
Class 3 – Mrs J Welford
Class 4 – Ms L Milnthorp
Class 5 – Miss J Charlesworth
Lunchtime cover Special Needs – Mrs L Gill & Mrs J Morton

The School Day

Doors are open for pupils at 8.50 am.

Electronic registers are taken at 9 am and lessons begin. – Children enter through the entrance designated for their year group. Parents are welcome to bring their child into school and teachers/staff will greet them. Any child arriving after 9am will need to enter through the main entrance and be signed in.

9 am – 9.25 Phonics in each class

10.20 am to 10.35 am – Playtime. The children have fresh fruit each day.

10.35 am to 10.40 am – Snack time

10.40 am to 10.55 am – Whole school assembly.

10.55 – 12 noon – Lessons

12 – 1 pm – Lunchtime

1pm – 3pm - Lessons

3 pm – children collected from school. – Any child who is required to leave school early will need to be collected at the main reception and be signed out.

Lower Foundation Stage (Nursery)

Session times

8.45 – 11.45 am

12.15 pm – 3.15pm

Lunchtime Arrangements

There are three options for lunchtime:

Going home – Your child may go home for lunch if you wish to collect them at 12.00 and return for 1.00 pm.

School Dinner – A healthy two course meal with fresh vegetables or salad is served each day. Hot puddings are served and fruit is always available. Water is provided for children to drink with their meal.

All children in Upper Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1 are entitled to a free school meal. We would ask all parents to fill in a free school meal form if your child is entitled, even if they choose to bring a packed lunch. This enables us to claim very important funding for the school

Packed Lunch – Children may bring a packed lunch in a suitable named container. Children are encouraged to eat healthily in school. We ask parents to carefully consider the contents of a healthy lunch box and not to include chocolate and sweets. No refrigeration facilities are available so caution is needed especially during hot weather. Children must not bring their own drinks.

Children are well supervised at lunchtime, with every class having their own supervisor and an additional supervisor for cover.

School Fund

We ask for a voluntary contribution of 50p per week for school fund, which supports every child in school.

We use the money to provide a daily snack and drink of juice as well as baking ingredients, Christmas parties and presents, Easter eggs, theatre and drama companies.

Classroom Organisation

Children are organised into classes of no more than 30 children with one teacher and a full time teaching assistant. Currently we have additional teaching assistant hours which enable us to provide additional group support for phonics, literacy and mathematics. Where possible children are educated in single-aged classes, but where there is an imbalance of numbers in a year group, mixed aged classes operate. There are never more than two year-groups in a class and we plan the curriculum carefully to take account of the individual needs and abilities of the children.

The Curriculum

The curriculum is organised into Key stages, in line with national policy. Lower and Upper Foundation Stage children follow curriculum guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage, and Year 1 and Year 2 children follow the National Curriculum programmes for Key Stage one (KS1).

The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum covers seven areas of learning:

3 prime areas :-

  • Personal, social and emotional development.
  • Communication and language.
  • Physical development.

4 specific areas:-

  • Literacy.
  • Mathematics.
  • Understanding the world.
  • Expressive arts and design.

The National Curriculum at Key Stage One is divided into core and foundation subjects.

Core Subjects

English, Maths, Science.

Foundation Subjects

History, Geography, Art, Music, PE, Design Technology and computing.

Religious Education is compulsory and follows the Local Authority’s Agreed Syllabus. We have a daily act of collective worship which is non-denominational. Any parent who wishes to withdraw their child from daily assembly or Religious Education may do so by arrangement with the headteacher. Alternative provision will be made.

We carefully plan the learning and teaching in every subject, and assess it with equal care. We organise the work to meet the range of abilities in the class and to ensure that every child achieves their full potential.

Pupils have a daily literacy and maths lesson unless they are out on a school visit or in other unusual circumstances. The National Strategy for teaching phonics is called Letters and Sounds. Children have a daily 25 minutes phonic lesson each morning. At the same time we teach a broad, balanced and rich curriculum.

The social, moral, spiritual and cultural education of our pupils is developed through all aspects of the curriculum.

Children with Special Educational Needs

Provision for children with special educational needs at AiredaleInfant School follows the National Code of Practice for identifying and assessing special educational needs.

Our policy is to closely monitor the progress of all children working below the level expected for their age, or experiencing emotional or behavioural difficulties. We organise support for those children in their classroom. Lower Foundation Stage and Infant children usually catch up quickly if they are given extra support in the classroom and at home.

We also seek specialist help from the Authority’s Special Educational Needs Support Service and the Educational Psychologist.

We will always inform you if your child’s work is being monitored by the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO). The SENCO for Airedale Infant School is Miss R Goznik.

The school is accessible to wheelchair users and the individual needs of any child with a physical disability will be met upon admission to the school.

Homework

We urge you to help your children with their homework. Our experience shows that the individual attention this provides will greatly enhance your child’s learning. Wherever possible, please give praise and encouragement so that the experience of working together is positive and enjoyable. Please ask us at any time for help and advice about supporting your child with their learning.

Guidance from the DFE states that, from the age of five, children should have 10 to 15 minutes of reading with a parent or carer at home each day.

We encourage all children to do homework. This may take the form of reading, spelling, handwriting, mathematics or researching a particular topic they are doing in school. This sometimes involves children bringing things from home to share with others – historical artefacts, items of interest, etc.

We give all children an exercise book to use for homework and we ask parents to buy a homework bag. These are available from school at £4.15 or a shoulder bag at £5.65.

Attendance

It is very important that your child attends school regularly and arrives on time. If your child is late it causes disruption to a settled class and will cause your child to miss important work. If they are late, they will miss the daily focussed phonic lessons.Children who miss this session regularly, can fall behind with their work.

If your child is absent from school we request that you inform school on the first day by a telephone call or a message from another adult. If your child has a medical appointment, please show the appointment card at the school office. If you need to take your child out of school during the school day you must report to the office and sign them out.

We ask you to keep absences to a minimum, and to avoid holidays in school time. Holidays in term time are no longer authorised in line with Government guidelines, and may result in a fine being issued.

When parents neglect to give the school a reason for their child’s absence, or their reason for absence cannot be authorised, this is recorded in the school registers as unauthorised absence. The Education Welfare Officer (EWO) follows up all attendance closely. Regular non attendance may lead to prosecution. Our EWO visits school fortnightly.

Any child with an attendance of 90% or below are classed as persistent absence and fixed penalty notices may be issued.

We are required to send detailed information about attendance to the Local Authority and DFE, it is used to compare our attendance with other schools nationally.

Attendance

School attendance is a major priority. We monitor attendance closely for all pupils.

Attendance July 2016 95.1%

New target for 2016/2017 is 96%

School Uniform

We require all children to wear school uniform. This is very important as it promotes a sense of ‘belonging’ to our school, and a pride in wearing our uniform.

The uniform provides sensible, appropriate clothing to wear in school. There are a wide range of items to choose from.

Parents should choose from;

  • Royal blue school sweatshirt/cardigan with school logo.
  • White or gold polo shirt.
  • Navy blue school trousers.
  • Navy blue shorts (warm weather)
  • Navy blue pinafore or skirt.
  • Pale blue/white striped or checked dress.
  • Navy blue or royal blue tights.
  • Black or navy blue school shoes/brightly coloured shoes or trainers are not allowed.

It is essential for health and safety reasons that children wear sensible, comfortable shoes for school. Please do not send children in flip flop type sandals in the Summer, they are not suitable for activities in school.

Additional school uniform items;

Shower proof fleece jacket.

Fleece and wool hats.

Sun hats for Summer.

Uniform is available in school and also to order.

Pupils wear uniform in both Nursery and Main School.

PE Kit

For hygiene and health and safety reasons all children are required to wear a PE kit comprising:

  • Navy shorts and white T shirt
  • Black pumps.

PE kit should be named and brought to school in a pump bag. We encourage children to bring PE kit every Monday and leave it in school all week, taking it home to wash on Friday. This means they always have something to change into should their clothes or shoes get wet or their PE day be changed. PE bags can be ordered from school.

Jewellery

For health and safety reasons, jewellery must not be worn apart from one pair of studs in pierced ears. We require these to be removed or covered for PE. Children may wear watches in school, though large ‘toy type’ and noisy watches are clearly unsuitable.

The school cannot take responsibility for watches being lost or broken whilst children are at school.

Parental Involvement

We greatly appreciate help from parents in school. The staff are pleased to welcome adults who can help in any way.

We offer a variety of opportunities for parents to come into school. These include:

  • Formal consultations (two evenings, 3 times per year) when teachers can discuss a child’s progress and attainment with parents.
  • Voluntary work in school to support the children’s learning.
  • Supporting your child in their class activity morning.
  • Meetings for new parents of children starting nursery and main school.
  • Social and fund raising events.
  • Class Assemblies

Our aim is that parents understand and support the work of the school and contribute to their children’s learning.