The Heritage Private School has grown tremendously since its humble beginnings in 1987.

Throughout the School's history and despite its growth, I am pleased to report that we continue to retain the very personal touch that is such an important element in the School's philosophy. In addition, everyone within our school places great emphasis on creating and maintaining a positive learning environment for all children.

The key aims of our school are to:

• create a warm, stimulating, enriched environment through which all of the children, regardless of gender, social or ethnic grouping, are able to achieve their full potential and enjoy their learning;
• care for and value the children;
• provide security and stability for all children through a disciplined environment based on consistency and fairness;
• encourage in the children a sense of responsibility towards themselves and their surroundings, encouraging courtesy and consideration for others;
• provide a broad, balanced, relevant, challenging and practical curriculum for all children;
• involve all members of the School and the wider community in a common enterprise to benefit from the past, learn in our present and strive for our future.
• All of the Kindergarten and Primary School staff would like to extend a very warm welcome to prospective new students and parents.

Mr Gary Butcher Bed, CertEd, DipMaths

Kindergarten and Primary School Headteacher

At the Primary School our teaching is aims to serve the needs of all students. We consider that it is important to teach both respect for all individuals and property, and an understanding of the feelings and cultures of others.

The Primary School extends a welcome to all students. We encourage success, and we teach support and forgiveness of each other if mistakes are made. We promote positive relationships and the development of personal growth. All members of the school community should be empowered to learn, and feel secure and happy.

At the Primary School we aim for everyone to:

• Be respected and valued.
• Take responsibility for and pride in our work and behaviour.
• Become independent learners.
• Celebrate different cultures within school and the wider world.
• Be prepared for the opportunities that the future holds.

Admissions

The Primary School includes Years 1 to 6 (Key Stages 1 and 2). A student may join the Primary School in the relevant year group during any term, providing places are available and that the student passes entrance tests in English and Mathematics. A satisfactory report from the previous school is also required if appropriate. Students whose level of English may not be up to standard may be accepted into the Primary School if they show ability and attend our intensive English Institute Lessons. This will enable them to be immersed in the language so they can be quickly integrated into classroom learning. Parents/guardians and students are welcome to look around the School prior to applying for admission. It would be helpful if parents/guardians telephoned to make an appointment.

Once you have accepted the offer of a place at the School, your child is expected to commence school on the first day of Term 1, unless a definite prior arrangement is agreed in writing for a subsequent start date. If for some unforeseeable reason your child does not commence school on the first day of Term 1, the place will be held for one week only. Please be aware that there is vigorous competition for places at the School and applications for admission exceed places available. Offers are made according to stringent entry criteria and a rigorous selection process, and so places offered but not taken up need to be quickly reallocated to other children on our waiting list. Similarly, once your child takes up the place at the School, you must inform us regarding any absences during term time. Absence of your child from school for more than two weeks without notification will forfeit the school place without refund, and your child’s place will be offered to other children on our waiting list.

Induction

Our Induction Policy is aimed at all members of the school community, including students joining our school at times other than the statutory school age. Moving to a new school can be stressful for some individuals and it is our aim to reduce the anxieties associated with change and moving on. We aim to help newcomers feel at ease in their new surroundings and to make friends rapidly, and with ease.

Primary School Times

The school times are 7:50 a.m. – 1:20 p.m. Secondary School lessons finish at 2:00 p.m.

The School is currently operating a bus service to and from various locations, in conjunction with a local company.

Snacks

We expect our students to have healthy snacks at all times, e.g. fruit instead of sugary sweets or chocolate.

Hot Meals

We are pleased to be able to offer hot meals in the School Cafeteria. Details of the menu can be found on our website or by visiting the School Office.

Our class teachers are well-qualified, highly motivated, and committed to keeping up-to-date with educational developments through appropriate educational organisations, and liaison with UK and International schools. ‘Life Long Learning’ is encouraged amongst the staff.

Our aim is to make our school welcoming and open, but at the same time a safe and secure place for everyone. Students should arrive at school no earlier than 7:40 a.m. and deposit bags in classrooms before waiting in the playground until the bell rings at 7:50 a.m., except on wet mornings when they will be able to come into school at 7:40 a.m. The School does not accept any responsibility for students arriving before these times. If a parent/guardian wishes to speak with their child’s class teacher first thing in the morning it is usually possible, but if not, please make your request through the Primary School Office. It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to ensure that their children arrive at school on time. Frequent lateness can be upsetting for the child and can disrupt the teaching sessions for other students. If children do arrive after registration they will need to visit the Primary School Office in order to be signed in. Similarly, if children need to leave the premises before the end of sessions they must be signed out in the office before leaving.

Lateness and absence rates are subject to regular monitoring, and excessive incidents will be discussed with parents/guardians.

We ask all visitors to the Primary School to report to the Primary School Office. It is our aim to keep the students and staff as safe as is possible.

If your child is unwell, they should stay at home. It is imperative that you contact us on the first morning of your child’s absence (by telephone or in person). This will ensure that we are alerted instantly if your child fails to arrive at school when expected. Absences will be recorded as unauthorised unless you have provided an explanation.

The school curriculum aims to meet the requirements of the UK National Curriculum (http://www.qcda.gov.uk/). The following criteria are used in framing the aims, objectives and content of the curriculum:

• The curriculum is planned and developed as part of a continuum for all children from 2 - 18 years, including as far as practicable, for those with special educational needs.
• The curriculum is developed to match the stages of development of individual students rather than their chronological ages.
• The curriculum is essentially practical, to enable students to adopt a multi-sensory approach to learning.
• We believe that if children are to gain maximum benefit from their educational experiences, they need to work in a happy caring environment where they may grow in confidence, where they may be helped to develop a concern for others, and where they can achieve daily success in a wide range of enjoyable activities.

We aim to provide a broad range of worthwhile curricular opportunities that cater for the interests, aptitudes and particular needs of students, and to ensure progression in students’ learning.

The curriculum aims to provide a greater awareness and understanding of different races, cultures and creeds, and to provide equal opportunity for all, regardless of race, gender, religion or social or economic differences.

We seek to build learning opportunities around the rich and stimulating activities we have always believed to be essential to a rich primary school experience.

We follow the content of the UK Department for Education (DfE)’s‘Literacy Framework’ (http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/), and students are given many opportunities to use language skills in a variety of ways.

These include:

Speaking and Listening

• Class/group discussions.
• Listening to tapes and radio.
• Role play/drama.
• Collaborative work.
• Stories and poems.
• Following instructions.

Reading

• Structured reading programme.
• Reading extension materials.
• Quiet reading times.
• Shared and guided reading activities.
• Study skills.
• Reading for pleasure.

Writing

• Writing for a variety of purposes.
• Usage of punctuation/grammar.
• Writing for a variety of audiences.
• Development of drafting/editing skills.
• Use of literacy software.
  

Spelling

• Use of dictionaries and word banks.
• Structured spelling programme.
  

Handwriting

• Study of letter formation and joining.
• Attention to presentation.

We follow the content of the UK Department for Education (DfE)’s ‘Mathematics Framework’ (http://nationalstrategies.standards.dcsf.gov.uk/), and students are given many opportunities to acquire mathematical concepts and skills and apply these in practical situations, e.g.:

• Number work including calculations.
• Problem solving.
• Shape and space.
• Using and applying maths.
• Measures.
• Data handling.

A variety of published schemes are used, and these are supplemented with enrichment materials which aim to extend the child’s understanding throughout areas of the curriculum.

Science is an integral part of our curriculum. It stimulates and excites students’ curiosity about phenomena and events in the world around them. Emphasis is placed on developing and evaluating explanations through experimental evidence and modelling. The School has a wide range of resources to enable Science to be delivered through practical activities and the use of the outdoor environment. The range of science topics covers the many aspects of natural and physical science as promoted by the National Curriculum.

In the Reception classes, Greek is introduced through activities. Formal lessons in Greek commence in Year 1. In Year 3, students are also introduced formally to French. Our aims in teaching children a modern foreign language include:

• Increasing linguistic competence through regular timetabled sessions.
• Exploiting cultural links and experiences when opportunities arise.
• Promoting positive attitudes towards language learning through a range of learning activities.
• Developing listening skills and phonological awareness.

The development of Design and Technology capability is important in preparing all students for citizenship in an ever-increasing technological world. The ability to use technological skills is a vital life skill in modern society. Using these skills in a purposeful way provides the opportunity to extend and enhance teaching and learning experiences in the National Curriculum as a whole.

At each Key Stage a programme of study sets out what students should be taught. Lesson content is based upon the QCDA Scheme of Work, but may be adapted to meet the needs of individual classes, or to make links with other subject areas.

In Design and Technology, students acquire and apply knowledge and understanding of materials and components, including food, textiles, resistant and mouldable materials, mechanisms and control systems, structures, quality issues and factors relating to health and safety. The students will:

• Develop their designing and making skills.
• Develop knowledge and understanding.
• Develop their capability to create products through combining their designing and making

skills with knowledge and understanding.

• Nurture creativity and innovation through designing and making.
• Explore values about and attitudes to the made world and how we live and work within it.
• Develop an understanding of technological processes, products and their manufacture and

their contribution to our society.

ICT is one of the core subjects in the National Curriculum and is given a high profile in the Primary School. The students have access to a suite of computers in the ICT Room, where the internet can be accessed in a safe environment. The interactive whiteboard and projector facilitate whole class interaction with a wide range of software. In classrooms, students have access to PCs, the internet and the curriculum network, and teachers are able to access lesson resources using interactive whiteboards in all Primary School year groups.

All students will be given the opportunity to:

• Develop a positive attitude to Geography.
• Learn to use geographical skills and knowledge confidently through a process of enquiry and pleasurable creative activity.
• Develop interest in their surroundings and in the variety of physical and human conditions on the Earth's surface.
• Foster their sense of wonder at the beauty of the world around them.
• Develop an informed concern about the quality of the environment and the future of the human habitat, in order to enhance their sense of responsibility for care of the earth, and its peoples.
  

History fires students’ curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world. Within our curriculum it plays an important role in helping students to:

• Develop a framework of chronology.
• Interpret past events and attitudes.
• Find evidence, evaluate it, and reach their own conclusions.
• Undertake research, sift through evidence and argue their point.

Our work in this area of the curriculum encourages students to enjoy music through:

• Performing.
• Listening.
• Composing.
• Developing musical knowledge and understanding.

Students with musical ability have the opportunity of learning to play instruments after school hours. There is a charge for these lessons, which are paid for on a termly basis.

We aim to provide opportunities for students to learn skills and express themselves in a variety of media and forms, such as:

• Painting
• Model making
• Printing
• Drawing and sketching
• Use of fabric

Artistic creativity is included in most aspects of the curriculum, and visual displays throughout the Primary School stimulate interest and enjoyment. Students investigate a range of media and the work of particular artists.

A variety of physical activities are offered to students throughout the Primary School, and we aim to give a balance of experience.

This includes:

• Gymnastics
• Movement and Dance
• Athletics
• Games

 All students are expected to take part in these activities unless excluded for medical reasons.

We aim to give all the students the opportunity to take part in sporting activities within the school day and through extracurricular activities. In lessons, our youngest students are taught basic skills such as catching, throwing and kicking. These and other skills are developed throughout the Primary School so that all students can participate to the best of their ability in our sporting programme. Students play football, netball, rugby, rounders, hockey and cricket. After-school sporting clubs are encouraged and are run by staff and coaches. These include football, cricket and basketball.

Sporting teams represent our school in cricket, football, rugby, and netball. Fixtures are arranged against other local schools and our teams have scored many notable successes.

We also aim to give the students awareness of their own bodies and of the gradual physical changes of growth towards puberty. It is school policy to teach sex education in a sensitive manner to students in Year 6. Parents/guardians have the right to withdraw their children from the non-compulsory elements of this unit of work and parents/guardians are consulted prior to the sessions.

As part of the National Curriculum science work undertaken in school, all students are required to study human development, growth and reproduction.

We believe it is essential for the Primary School to celebrate the achievements of individuals groups and the whole school community. Through such celebration, endeavour is recognised and those gaining recognition can feel valued and successful. This helps the development of confidence, which prepares us to take new risks and face further challenges.

Educational Visits

The Primary School arranges a programme of visits to places of interest on a regular basis. We hire coaches for transportation to and from such activities.

There is always an educational aspect to such visits, although we also try to make them an enjoyable and social experience as well. We try to maximise the curriculum links and use every opportunity to cross between different parts of the curriculum in one experience.

We try to provide a range of out-of-school activities. There are opportunities for many clubs which do involve some extra cost. A list of activities for each term can be found at the Primary School Office. Any offers from parents/guardians who can give extra help in school or with an out-of-school activity would be very welcome.

In caring for our students, we aim to support them sympathetically and encourage positive attitudes to learning, school and life. Personal, social and moral education is seen as an integral part of each student’s education. The range of topics covered throughout the Primary School help to meet the student’s social and emotional development. To achieve this, students will participate in:

• Group work to foster positive relationships with friends and peers.
• Decision-making to help create independence of thought.
• Health education to promote self-awareness, nutritional needs and the importance of creative leisure activities.
• Safety education to apply this knowledge and skill to situations in the home, at school, on the roads and in the water.
• Community awareness to help develop a caring attitude socially and environmentally.
• Economic and industrial awareness.

At the Primary School we ensure equality of opportunity for all students including those who are identified as having Special Educational Needs. Teachers are always alert to the possibility of a student having emotional, behavioural or learning difficulties, and early identification enables appropriate provision to be made for them. Special Educational Needs also encompasses those students perceived as ‘Gifted and Talented’. The Primary School may suggest to parents/guardians that formal assessment and testing is sought from a qualified Educational Psychologist and/or other relevant professionals, in order to identify precise educational needs. Once particular needs are identified, the Primary School staff will plan strategies and programmes of work for individual students to follow as part of their Individual Education Plan (IEP). Parents/guardians are an integral part of the consultation and supporting process and are consulted and informed about the success of the student’s progress towards targets on a regular basis.

The main Primary School building is accessible to wheelchair users, and adaptations have been made to toilet facilities. We support the policy of integration of students with disabilities and believe that all children will develop a greater awareness much earlier of the needs of others if this is the case. Risk assessments are carried out before all educational visits, and adaptations are made to programmes to enable all students to participate.

If your child requires medicine during the school day, please arrange to come to school to administer the medicine. In exceptional circumstances and when students are on educational visits, staff may be permitted to administer medicines, but prior permission must be sought from the Headteacher, and must be requested in writing by the parent/guardian. Children with asthma should keep their inhalers with them in classrooms, but parents/guardians should inform the School in writing about the type and dosage required. Please ensure that we are provided with new inhalers when they expire. Similarly, if children have allergies (e.g. nut allergy) the School should be informed, and any medication (e.g. epi-pens) should be sent to school with clear instructions for use. It is the responsibility of parents/guardians to inform the School of any changes to medication of this sort. Parents/guardians of children who have particular medical needs must inform the School so that all adults can be made aware of action required, should the need arise.

We ask parents/guardians to provide us with daytime and emergency contact details. It is imperative that these are kept up to date, and that we are informed of any temporary contact numbers. We need to be able to contact a parent or guardian in the event of an accident.

If parents/guardians wish their children to accompany them on their annual holiday, they should complete a leave of absence form, available from the Primary School Office. We would ask that parents/guardians avoid taking holidays during exam weeks. Leave of absence can be granted for other reasons in exceptional circumstances, e.g. music exams.

A high standard of behaviour is insisted upon: mutual respect, good manners and co-operation are expected from all. We therefore have a Positive Behaviour Policy setting out our expectations regarding acceptable behaviour in school. Positive encouragement is provided through House Points, the display of students’ work, the recognition of individual and team successes in Assemblies, and Headteacher’s commendations. The Policy is based on the three principles of Rules, Rewards and Consequences. Our rules are kept to a minimum and they emphasise: respect for other students and all adults; respect for property; the expectation that students try to do their best at all times; and that we speak to and treat others as we would like to be spoken to and treated ourselves.

If any student does not conform to these expectations, the matter is dealt with initially by staff and, if necessary, parents/guardians will be notified. Close liaison and co-operation between home and school is sought in order to resolve disciplinary issues.

Code of Behaviour

Students should:

• Be honest at all times.
• Be polite and show consideration towards each other and to all adults at all times – bad language is never respectful.
• Be prepared to take responsibility for their actions.
• Be responsible for looking after their own belongings brought to school – watches, pens, pencil cases, calculators etc.
• Only play on the playground, and not on the fences, trees, flowerbeds, etc.
• Walk and not run, in the interests of safety and not getting hurt – you never know who or what is around the corner!

 Students should not:

• Play fighting games or piggy-back games.
• Play swinging, tripping or kicking games, because these activities are too dangerous and someone is likely to get hurt.
• Use physical or verbal abuse or any form of bullying – students should think how they would feel if it happened to them.

Anti-Bullying Policy

Bullying incidents are taken seriously, and all incidents are investigated and recorded. We would ask that parents/guardians inform the School immediately if they suspect their child to be a victim or a perpetrator of bullying at school.

Our school uniform is compulsory and all items are available at the school uniform shop. PE uniform is also available and should be worn to school on the day that the class has a PE lesson. Our uniform is smart and practical and gives the students a sense of belonging. It also sets a standard of dress which is compatible with good work, speech, manners and behaviour.

A lost property box is situated outside the Primary School Office.

The Heritage Summer School runs for five weeks, and this is open to both Heritage and non-Heritage students. It is often useful for those joining the Primary School in the following September in order to feel more comfortable within a new environment by starting in a slightly less formal way. Uniform is not worn at this time, and emphasis is placed more on fun, musical, artistic and sporting activities than on academic pursuits. However, extra lessons are available for those wishing to improve levels of English.

The ‘Friends of the Heritage’ is an energetic committee of parents and teachers which organises social and fund-raising events for the benefit of The Heritage Private School and/or local charities.

Events have included the annual Christmas Fair, quiz nights, and discos for the students. Money raised is used to purchase equipment that just could not be accommodated within the school budget.

Our school grounds have been greatly enhanced recently through funds raised by the FOTH.

The Kindergarten at our school is designed to be a warm and friendly place with a homelike environment. We are conscious of the importance of a happy, smooth transition from home to school and close liaison between parents/guardians and teachers is encouraged at all times.

Your contribution to your child’s education is invaluable, and by working in partnership with you we can provide all our children with the best possible start to their education.

Talking about the things that your child brings home from school, and displaying their work at home, will help to reinforce what has been taught, and will also show them that you value what they have done. Encouraging them to ask questions, to listen to others and to try out new skills, all help support the learning process. Reading stories to your child and helping them to learn nursery rhymes is particularly helpful.

Your interest and encouragement will help them to adopt a positive attitude towards school as well as good learning habits for the future.