Berkley Church of England First School – School Development Plan 2017-2018

Ethos

We are dedicated to being a school where each child enjoys attending, each member of staff enjoys working and each parent feels justly proud of the school’s achievements. The expression ‘Each child is MY child’ summarises the school’s approach: We want each child to be cherished, supported, listened to, challenged, stimulated and indeed corrected, as we would for our own offspring.

Mission Statement

In our church school and with the love of God we care, enjoy, celebrate, aspire and learn together

AIMS

  • To involve all stakeholders in determining the key issues to be addressed
  • To produce an action-plan that will meet the school’s needs and is manageable and achievable
  • To impact on the development of each child, providing the necessary support and challenge
  • To ensure a stimulating learning environment for all pupils in order for them to succeed in their learning
  • For children to respect their environment, each other and all adults with whom they work
  • To develop the professional skills expertise of all staff
  • For all staff to be role models for the children in all areas of school life
  • To share the SDP with all stakeholders and to continually monitor progress

Procedure

The pupils, staff, parents and governors were asked to put in writing what they considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of the school in July 2017. The head teacher then assimilated all the information for staff and governors to read and discuss at a day’s inset on Monday 4 September 2017. The resulting, further exploration of the key issues led to the detail of the School development Plan. Thus, it is a collaborative document to drive the school forward

Data headlines from 2016-2017

Early Years - 76% achieved a good level of development, compared to 71.4% last year and compared to the national and local average for 2015 of 69%

Year One – 90% passed the Phonics test, where the county average for 2017 was 79%. 71% attained the expected level of attainment or above in Reading; 67% in Writing and 71% in Numeracy

Year Two– 74% attained the expected level in Reading, Writing and Numeracy combined, compared to the county average of 65%, placing Berkley in the top 22% of schools in the county. 89.5% were expected or above in Reading; 79% in Writing and 84% in Numeracy

Year Three – 84% in Reading; 74% in Writing and 84% in Numeracy

Year Four - 91% in Reading; 83% in Writing and 96% in Numeracy

Overview 2017-2018

Leadership and Management
  • Altered school day
  • Improved communication with parents
  • School monitoring – extra initiatives
  • Dyslexia-Friendly Status - reaccreditation
/ Quality of Teaching and Learning
  • Improve literacy
  • Improve numeracy
  • Stretch the more able
  • Embed good practices from last year (marking, differentiation)
  • Target-setting
  • Homework

Personal Development
  • Behaviour management
  • Year 2 Interventions
/ Outcomes for all
  • Continued case-studies of key pupils
  • Global learning development
  • Communication with other schools

Leadership and Management

Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success criteria
Altered school day
Five minutes taken off break and lunch to provide an extra 10 minutes per day for ‘Berkley Basics’ / All staff / From Sept 2017 onwards / Shortened breaks for staff / How are staff coping with the shortened breaks? Are our pupils benefiting from the extra slot? / Feedback from staff, ongoing data analysis, work scrutiny and observations
Improved communication with parents
Six contacts over the year: Drop-in session (new initiative), Parents Evening (share targets), Effort grades and targets (new initiative), Parents Evening, Drop-in session (new), Written report
Head teacher surgeries timetabled for the first Weds of each month / All teachers
SK / Oct = Drop-in. Nov = P.Eve. Dec = effort grades. Mar = P.Eve. May = Drop-in. July = report
Ist Weds of each month / Staff time
SK time / Are parents happy with the improved communication? Do they know their child’s strengths and targets?
How many parents turn up? What feedback do they provide? Evidence that we respond? / Parental feedback via surgeries and end-of-year evaluations
Relevant feedback from parents, shared with govs and staff by SK
Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success criteria
Diary dates circulated at the beginning of terms 1, 3 and 5 via the newsletter with reminders via ongoing newsletters
Maths and Phonics workshops to parents
Info to parents re-how they can help with reading/spelling etc / SK with staff consultation.
All staff, led by JM
All staff, led by SK / Sept, Jan and April with reminders in between
Phonics 26 Sept. Maths 8 Nov
Early in Autumn term / SK time
Staff time
SK and staff time / Do parents feel communication has improved?
Do parents feel more cognisant of how we teach phonics and numeracy? Are the pupils benefiting from parental involvement?
Is there evidence that parents are getting more involved with their child’s learning, such as through the use of the Reading Records? / Feedback via surgeries, ongoing evaluation and end of year evaluation
Parental feedback. Evidence in books. Data.
Evidence through the Reading Records, spelling tests
Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success criteria
School monitoring
Blink visit: School to receive an Ofsted-style visit from two FLP heads
Head to monitor three books per week in each class / MS (Leigh-on Mendip)
RT (St Louis)
SK and staff / Mon 16 Oct
One day a week before school / SK time to plan the day
Books to SK before school / Are staff happy with the feedback?
Do the books provide evidence of good/outstanding practice esp. progress and quality marking? / RT/MS feedback to SK and a governor. SK feedback to staff
Feedback from SK to staff; opportunity for praise to individual pupils
Dyslexia re-accreditation
LL meeting with staff prior to re-accreditation. LL gather evidence. LL meet with accreditor on the day and receive the feedback. Shared with staff / LL and staff / 11 September / LL time / Are we successful in being re-accredited? / Feedback from external accreditor

Quality of learning, teaching and assessment

Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success criteria
Improving Literacy: Writing competition open to all pupils in all Frome schools. Judged by local dignitaries. Prizes at each key stage. Magazine produced.
Author in residence: Author spending five half days with Year 4 in the Spring term (FLP initiative)
Bath festival: Years 1 and 2 to visit author in Bath / SK organising. Staff deliver in school. Judged by Frome dignitaries.
SK with the FLP. LL, TP and Year 4
Years 1 and 2 plus 6 staff / Deadline = 8 January 2018. Winners announced in February. SK produce magazine Feb/March
Five dates tbc in the Spring term.
4 October / SK time. Lesson time. Cost of magazine borne by FLP budget
Funded by FLP
£160 / Do schools feel the competition has inspired good writing from the FLP pupils?
Has the writing of the Year 4 class improved as a result of the author input?
Has the trip sparked their interest in reading and writing? / Feedback to SK via the FLP and via pupils, parents and staff at Berkley
Feedback from the pupils. Evidence in their written work. Data.
Feedback from pupils and staff. Evidence through their reading and writing
Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success criteria
Improving Numeracy:
Emphasis on APE (answer…prove…explain)
Maths workshop to parents. Consider twilight from Jo Cronin. Consider use of problem-solving books. Discussion at staff meeting / All staff, led by JM / Ongoing / Cost of Jo Cronin? Cost of exercise books? / Is there evidence of improved practice in the pupils’ books, especially problem-solving? / Observations. Data. Work scrutiny
Stretching the more-able:
Advisory-led workshops, leading to the production of a magazine / Sarah Cook – Somerset Literacy advisor / 3 half-days: 16 Nov. 15 March. 19 June / £600 / Do the more-able produce work commensurate with their potential? / Pupil feedback. SC feedback. Magazine
Embedding good practice:
Children responding to teacher marking. Differentiation (e.g. differentiated learning objectives to provide challenge/extension). Use of moderation files for Literacy and Numeracy. Cold/hot write in Literacy / All staff / Ongoing / Planning and marking time / Are the pupils learning from their corrected work? Does the work match their needs? / Observations. Data. Work scrutiny
Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success criteria
Target-setting:
Target page in Reading Record, flagged up via letter to parents. Discussed at Parents Evening. Next steps sent home end of Autumn term / All staff and pupils / Ongoing / Staff and pupil time in setting targets / Do the pupils (and parents) know their targets? Is there evidence that they are working on their targets? / Work scrutiny. Pupil interviews
Homework:
Review policy at staff meeting. Communicate any changes to parents / All staff / Staff meeting in the Autumn term / Staff meeting time / Are the pupils completing homework on time and to the best of their ability? Is the homework impacting positively on their learning? / Work scrutiny. Observations. Pupil and parent feedback.

Personal development

Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success criteria
Behaviour management:
Consider team-building activities. Consider house system. Extra rewards (incl. recognition of positive cards; good behaviour treats). Emphasise the Berkley expectations. Continue with the Buddy system. Share with parents. / All staff and pupils / Ongoing / Meeting time / Are the pupils responding positively to the behaviour systems? / Feedback from all stakeholders, verbally and in written evaluations
Year 2 intervention:
SK to hear pupils read as regularly as possible. Bespoke homeworks shared with parents. Structured use of drop-off time. Extra intervention during church occasional church services. Personal invite to the Writing Club in the Spring term / Year 2 staff, SK, parents. Voluntary helpers with reading? / Ongoing / Staff time / Are the pupils making at least expected progress? / Data tracking. Work scrutiny. Observations

Outcomes for all

Task / Personnel / Timescale / Resources / Monitoring / Success Criteria
Continue case studies for vulnerable or ‘stuck’ children. PP and SEN / LL and other staff / Compiled over the course of the year / Staff time / Do the case studies provide evidence of strategies and progress made? / Data analysis as year unfolds.
Global learning – through assemblies and in class, occasionally incorporating map of the world. Letter writing to Vianney in Burundi. Any replies shared with all staff and pupils / All staff, incl. head / Ongoing / Global resources e.g. map / Do the pupils increasingly demonstrate global understanding? / Feedback from pupils. Governor visits
Consider improving communication with pupils in other schools e.g. Selwood School Council. Radio Day? Pen-pal scheme? Cross-schools workshops? / Staff to consider at staff meeting / TBA / Staff time / How have our pupils benefited from any cross-schools communication? / Pupil and staff feedback on the success of any activities that have taken place

Long-term planning

  • Continue to embed the new curriculum and assessment procedures: monitoring, reviewing, evaluating and refining
  • Continue to monitor and develop teaching according to the criteria of an outstanding lesson
  • Receive a SIAMs mid-check at the end of December 2018 and continue to plan for an outstanding SIAMS inspection in Spring 2021
  • Explore the most appropriate avenue for Academy Status
  • Continue to explore options to enlarge the car-park area
  • Buildings – explore all options to further develop the school buildings especially for small group work and for storage
  • Consider home-school link books