At Norris Bank Primary, we place a strong emphasis on developing the core key skills within English, Mathematics and Computing, while at the same time providing children with opportunities to be involved in their own learning with plenty of real experiences – promoting a sense of purpose, motivation, enjoyment, enthusiasm and confidence through learning.
Every child is seen as a unique individual and we aim to help each child to develop their skills and abilities from the stage they have reached on entry to our school. To help support this further we liaise closely with our feeder nurseries, pre-schools and parent/carer prior to their September admission.
The National Curriculum from 2014 for children from Year 1 onwards, consists of nine subjects. The ‘core’ subjects are:
- English
- Mathematics
- Science
- Computing (formerly Information and Communication Technology (ICT))
- Religious Education
The other foundation subjects are: Art, Music, Geography, History, Design and Technology and Physical Education. Children also begin to learn Spanish from Year 3.
We teach through a topic-based approach whereby the skills the children learn can be applied to a range of contexts. The children are grouped across both key stages and these groupings are fluid depending on where children may need additional support or extension work with any given skill or unit of work.
Religious Education follows the Stockport Agreed Syllabus and involves exploring spiritual concepts through a range of faith traditions rather than teaching children about religious doctrine. There is an assembly with an act of collective worship every day. We hope that all children will take part in all religious education activities and attend assemblies. We do, however, recognise that some parents and carers might wish to withdraw their children. Any parent/carer who wishes to take this action should make a relevant, written request to the Head of School.
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) will be presented in the context of caring relationships and of respect for others and self. The process of reproduction in animals and plants will feature in Science work undertaken at all stages of children’s schooling. A full version of the RSE and PSHE policy is available from our policies page.
All subjects follow the relevant national curriculum programme of study. For more information please visit: www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum
GROW Values
Learning and Growing together
We aim to give our children the roots to GROW and the wings to fly.
In 2017, through contribution from children, staff and parents, we developed our core values, known as our GROW values. These underpin life at Norris Bank, where we aim to ensure all children are taking responsibility for their behaviour and learning, while equipping them with the skills to be happy, successful young adults.
Goals
We aim to develop a wide range of skills which allows children to demonstrate their strengths and address areas for development with confidence. Children are encouraged to set challenges, aim high and be the best they can be.
Respect
We strive to develop children who have a sense of identity, equality and responsibility within the school community, their country and globally. We foster an appreciation, understanding and respect for all cultures, races and religions.
Ownership
We aspire to develop reflective, independent learners, who can overcome obstacles and take responsibility for their learning and behaviour.
Working together
We encourage co-operation and the ability to work as a team in all spheres of school life and beyond. We aimed to build key skills such as listening, turn taking and sharing in order to allow children to collaborate with others, promote positive self-esteem and develop self-confidence.
How do we aim to achieve this?
Each week all children across the school participate in a circles lesson. This lesson allows the children to share their thoughts and feelings while working on developing a deep understanding of our GROW values or focusing on other important issues affecting the class.
Weekly certificates are given to children who have demonstrated an aspect of our GROW values, and the values are displayed around the school environment to help to remind our children.
Since September 2017, we have begun to cultivate a growth mindset with both staff and teachers. Children have developed an understanding of what a growth mindset is, how we can “grow” our brains and how such an approach links to our GROW values. Strategies within the classroom to promote our values include:
- Positive language
- Using talk partners
- Co-constructed success criteria
- Quality feedback (MAD time)
- Reflection questions linked to marking
- Peer/self-marking