6New to Our School/ Enrolment Information
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INDEX
3Welcome to Battlefield
4School Information
5School Uniform
6New to our school/ Enrolment information
7/12Curriculum Language, Mathematics, Social Studies/Science/Technologies, Expressive Arts
Health and Wellbeing, Primary Modern Languages and Religious and Moral Education
12-14 Assessment
14-15Nurture Class
15-16VALUES Support for pupils
17-18Home/ School/ Community
18Attendance at School
19-20Additional Activities
20Discipline
21Playground security
22Parent /Teacher communication
23Meals / Transport
24School Improvement
24-25Standards and Quality / Health checks
25-26 Transition to Secondary School
27Partnership with parents
28After School Care Data Protection
29Complaints and comments
30Appendix 1 Improvement Plan Summary
Dear Parent,
May I take this opportunity to welcome you and your children to BattlefieldPrimary School. I hope your association with this school will be a long and happy one.
At Battlefield Primary, we aim to provide a friendly, safe place where each child can grow in confidence and understanding, developing skills for life through a stimulating learning environment. We foster academic, artistic, dramatic and musical development, sporting ability and loyalty to both the school and our community.
We want you to work in partnership with the staff and help us to provide a happy learning environment. We want you to encourage your child to work hard and behave well. If at anytime you are concerned about your child please come and tell us.
We hope you will see the school as an integral part of the community and that you will become involved in activities and events within the school. We want you to take an interest in what your child is doing at school.
As teachers, we aim to offer the highest standard of teaching and learning by providing planned learning experiences matched to the needs of our pupils. We hope to encourage all pupils to do their best in everything they do.
This handbook will hopefully help you to understand more about our school and how we organise learning. However since it may not answer all your questions, please feel free at any time to contact the school for an appointment to discuss matters with myself or any other member of staff.
Yours sincerely,
Claire Curry
HEAD TEACHER
SCHOOL INFORMATION
Name of school:BATTLEFIELDPRIMARY SCHOOL
Address:44 CARMICHAEL PLACE
GLASGOW, G42 9SY
Telephone0141 632 2162 E Mail:
Website:
GCC Going to School website:
New Learning Community SHAWLANDSACADEMY
Capacity of school:437 children Present School Roll: 337 children
The working capacity of the school may vary, dependent upon the number of pupils at each stage, and the way in which the classes are organised. Recent regulations issued by Central Government limits the number of pupils in the infant classes:
P1 – 25, P2 & P3 – 30, P4-7 -33. Composite classes -25
Battlefield Primary is a non-denominational school. Boys and girls attend this school from Primary 1 to Primary 7.
School hours
Opening9.00 am
Interval11.00 am – 11.15 am
Lunch Primaries 1-312.00 pm - 12.45 pm
Lunch Primaries 4-712.15 pm - 1.00 pm
Dismissal3.00 pm for whole school
NB: For the first few weeks of term, pupils in Primary One are dismissed at 12.15pm daily until the start of September. Thereafter, P1 pupils return in the afternoon and are dismissed at 3pm.
We have a breakfast club in our cafeteria which offers breakfast to allpupilsat a cost of £1 per day or free if you are entitled to free meals,between 8.00 am and 8.45 am.
School staff details
Please see our school website to see our school staff and find out a bit more about us through comments from pupils.
Holiday list
A list of all school holidays for 2014/2015is available on our website.
School Uniform
Our school uniform is –
- White shirt
- School tie
- School polo shirt either navy blue or gold
- School jumper / cardigan (navy blue)
- Grey trousers
- Grey skirt / pinafore
Sweatshirts, cardigans, polo shirts and ties with the school logo are available for purchase at the school office. Our uniform was agreed in consultation with pupils and parents. It is expected that all children attending Glasgow primary school will adhere to this dress code.
Clothing & Footwear Grants
Parents/Carers receiving Income Support, Job Seekers Allowance (Income Based), Working Tax Credit (with a total annual income of less than £15,050*), Housing Benefit, or Council Tax Benefit will normally be entitled to monetary grants for footwear and clothing for their children. Information and application forms may be obtained from schools and at
Registration
Pupils should be registered in only one school for their catchment area. A catchment area is a list of dedicated streets to an associated school. To find out if you live in our catchment area please access the following link ;
Please put in your address details and then tick the Education box at the bottom of the link.
Parents who want to send their child to a school other than their catchment school must make a placing request. If you have moved into the catchment area or, who wish their child to transfer to the school, should contact the school office for more information.
ENROLMENT –
Parents who wish to enrol their child Battlefield Primary should call at the school personally or telephone to make an appointment with the school management team. If a prospective pupil lives in the school’s catchment area then the child will be enrolled in the school provided there is room at that stage. If the pupil lives outside the catchment area then parents are asked to make a placing request through our School Business Manager, Mrs Louise Hart. Placing Request forms are available from our school office or online at
If your child is ready to begin school for the first time, you will be asked to bring them to school for registration during the week beginning 10th November 2014. You will also need your child’s birth certificate and proof of address in the form ofchild benefit book/letter andcouncil tax bill or utility bill. Glasgow City Council will make announcements in the press alerting you to these dates. Also look out for posters from the school advertising times to register in your child’s nursery or playgroup and in the local library.
Where possible, we arrange for class teachers visit all their new pupils in their nurseries in May or June. Your child will have two induction days in our school during the summer term. This ensures the children have the opportunity to meet their new classmates and become familiar with their classroom and class teacher.
All Primary 1 pupils are “buddied” with an older child (who will be in Primary 7 when your child starts school). Your child will meet their buddy at their inductions days and will be supported by their buddy within the first few weeks of starting school. We will organise a meal experience in the dining hall for all new P1 pupils before they are in school for the full day.
On the second induction day, while the children are spending time with their teacher and classmates, parents are invited to hear presentations from our Depute Head Teacher, and our Parent Council. We have a healthy home school partnership and some of our parents will speak about the ways in which we foster this. As Battlefield prides itself on being a whole school community you will learn about and meet our Learning Support Workers, known as the ‘Ladies in the Yellow Jackets’. You will also meet Mr Peter McGirr, our school janitor. Various other outside agencies that support us in school will be present on this afternoon and will be happy to answer any questions you may have. The DHT will aim to answer many of your questions during her presentation but will also be available for discussions with individual parents on this afternoon if need be. Each child will be given a gym bag, with the BattlefieldSchool badge, for storing their PE kit. For your convenience you will also receive written information detailing start dates and times for your child’s first week at school and lists of things they may need for starting school.
CURRICULUM
At Battlefield, we involve pupils in reviewing the curriculum we offer. Our aim is to ensure balance and breadth and to provide an education for all pupils which is appropriate to age, aptitude and ability. In all subjects, we try to offer a range of activities which is suited to children’s interests and needs. We offer all our pupils equal opportunities. At Battlefield we aim that our pupils become:
successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.
It is therefore important that our curriculum helps our pupils to see the links between various curricular areas. Pupils are encouraged to appreciate how learning in school links to real life and to their future as active citizens. Our aim is to assist and encourage our pupils to become lifelong learners. We want our pupils to achieve on a broad front, not just in terms of examinations.
The school continues to develop our curricular programmes in line with advice from the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council (GCC), Education Scotland and the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA). Our curriculum includes study of Literacy, Mathematics, Expressive Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Religious and Moral Education, Science, Social Studies and Technologies. We continue in this session to look at each of these areas and reviewing how we organise learning so that we maximise connections between subjects in order to make learning as meaningful and relevant for our pupils as we can.
For more information on Curriculum for Excellence please access national websites
and
Specifically in Battlefield Primary, throughout 2012-13, teachers have been working on developing our assessment procedures through moderation with colleagues from ShawlandsPrimary School.
MATHEMATICS/NUMERACY
- Number, money and measure
- Shape, position and movement
- Information handling
We plan experiences for children that will stimulate and promote their enjoyment of numeracy. Teachers ,in all classes, plan active learning activities which provide opportunities for children to observe, explore, investigate, experiment, play, discuss and reflect. Children have the opportunity to develop mental agility and are encouraged to make links across the curriculum to show how mathematical concepts are applied within a wide range of contexts.
Teacher’s planning and assessment is directly linked to pupils’ Learning Stories targets. Formative assessment strategies are built into class lessons to maximise pupil participation and engagement.
LITERACY and LANGUAGE
- Listening and talking
- Reading
- Writing
All areas of literacy are given equal status. We use a variety of relevant resources and teaching strategies to develop in all pupils, competences, confidence and enjoyment in listening, talking, reading and writing. Children are encouraged to take part in and lead discussions with others through the use of pictures, stories, technologies, film, ICT software and textbooks. All children are helped and encouraged to express themselves clearly and fluently. Throughout the school we use a skilful mix of approaches to ensure that all children encounter a wide range of different types of text in a variety of media.
Literacy and Language are at the heart of pupils’ learning. Through literacy, the pupils receive much of their knowledge and acquire many of their skills. We aim to provide structured and stimulating opportunities to use language in contexts appropriate to the needs of individuals and the world in which they live.
Imaginative, functional and personal writing are systematically taught, monitored and recorded. The development of these types of writing is enhanced by programmes of study in spelling, punctuation, structure and handwriting. Pupils are encouraged to present their work attractively and examples of written work can be seen throughout the school. We use GCC resources are used for reading and writing intervention strategies. Pupils are encouraged to write and read poetry. Spelling bags are used successfully in Battlefield. These are bags full of popular resources to allow ‘active’ spelling tasks to be carried out at home to reinforce their weekly spelling words.
The school is currently developing in house routines for planning and assessment which in turn is prompting improved reporting of progress for parents and carers. In addition a variety of standardised and diagnostic tests are used as part of on-going assessment. Pupil progress is recorded systematically and shared with parents and other teachers as is appropriate.
SETTING
Depending on year group organisation and thelearning needs of pupils, learners in Primaries 2-7 can be “set” for the teaching of Maths and/or Literacy. This is simply a method of organising pupils into groups which allows pupils to work at an appropriate pace and on appropriately challenging tasks.
SOCIAL STUDIES/ SCIENCE/ TECHNOLOGIES
It is important for children to understand the place where they live and the heritage of their family and community- through Social Studies, children develop their understanding of the world by learning about their own people and what has shaped them, other people and their values, in different times, places and circumstances. Children learn through units called topics. Where possible, our topics are enhanced by external visits to places of interest such as The Science Centre, ArtGalleries,/Museums/ theatres etc. Great importance is attached to giving our pupils first hand experience of the immediate environment of the school and the community in which they live. Many parents help out by sharing their talents and knowledge are often ‘hot seated’ as experts and questioned by pupils.
Last session we were delighted to yet again gain an Education partnership award – Platinumfor our Enterprise Education and believe we have very good practice in this area of the curriculum.
Wehave4GREEN FLAGS, awarded to us as further recognitionthat we are an ECO school. Our children and staff continuouslywork very hard on initiatives to improve our school and its surroundings.
The school was acknowledged as Glasgow’s Biodiversity School of the year in June 2010.
Very attractive displays of topic work can be seen throughout the school. Our school is awash with photographs of pupils involved in fun activities and events. For instance we created specific colourful displays to record how we celebrated our centenary. We are also a GET SET school and some of our pupils took part in the Olympic Games by escorting football teams on to the pitch at Hampden.
Multimedia is utilised as much as possible to broaden pupil knowledge and to stimulate interest. All pupils participate in programmes of work for Science and Technology. Pupils have ready access to PCs, laptops and Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs) in classrooms. The school recognises that in order to help pupils become effective contributors, pupils have to have progressive lesson on promoting computing skills. Weekly lessons are held in the school’s computer suite. The school has invested considerable funds, time and effort in ensuring that our pupils have access to appropriate resources eg digital cameras, video cameras, scanners etc which will allow realistic skills development in computing and an appreciation of the impact of technologies on society. Our gym hall has a super sound system, projector and large screen- allowing us much greater scope for interactive presentations for and from pupils.
EXPRESSIVE ARTS
Art and design, Dance, Music and Drama are often incorporated into topic work as well as being taught as experiences and outcomes in their own right. Children are proactively encouraged to develop any talent they show in these aesthetic areas. Children regularly “perform” in class / weekly assemblies throughout the year. Pupils’ personal achievements within and outwith the school are publicly acknowledged on our school’s aspiration tree and in classrooms through achievement walls.Teachers continue to capitalise on the potential for the Expressive Arts to allow creativity and self expression. Our emphasis remains on learning but also having fun.Our school is often complimented on our displays of pupil work and photographs and much of this is from our talented artists who, over the session develop skills in observation, drawing, painting, collage etc.Our teachers have devised succinct and meaningful assessment procedures for all aspects of Expressive Arts however we continue to seek ways to improve and update our approaches .
HEALTH AND WELLBEING
All pupils take part in two hours of quality PE lessons each week. Children experience and develop skills in gymnastics, athletics, fitness and games such as football, volleyball and tennis. Primary 7 pupils are offered swimming sessions.
Although teaching in this curricular area has always been seen as a school strength, we continually develop and extend our programmes to incorporate new resources and research recommendations. Battlefield Primary has been formally recognised as a health promoting school and we strive to ensure that our pupils experience on a daily basis what it feels like to develop, enjoy and live a healthy lifestyle. In this current session we are striving to more fully utilise our playground and local green spaces as learning spaces. In term 3 all pupils are taught lessons from GCC’s Sexual Health and Relationships programme. Many teachers from the school have participated in recent training and lead theselessons. Parents are prompted before these series of lessons begin and have access to the resources used as part of lessons.