Information About The School (Prospectus)

Applying for a Place

Aims

Assessment

Attendance

Admissions

Extra Curricular Activities

Homework

Links with the Community

Location

Information About The School (Prospectus)

Type of School : Church of England Primary School

Type of Control: LEA Voluntary Controlled

Age Range of Pupils: 5 to 11 years (co-educational)
Number on roll: 120-140 (increases during academic year)
School Address: South Street
Great Waltham,
Essex, CM3 1DF

Telephone: 01245 360395
Fax: 01245 362890
E-Mail: admin@greatwaltham.essex.sch.uk

Appropriate Authority: Governing Body

Headteacher: Mrs Diane Wilson

Chair of Governors: Mr David Moncaster

Local Education Authority: Essex County Council
Education Department
County Hall
Chelmsford, Essex Back to top

Applying for a Place

· Parents are invited to register their child at the school between the ages of three and four.
· Parents considering registering are encouraged to make an appointment to visit the school when in session.
. The academic year for your child?s admission commences in the September before their 5th birthday. Applications for admission must be made to Essex County Council by the February preceding that September.
· All applications for admission must be made through Essex County Council including those for children living in the catchment area. The relevant form, which can be obtained from the school office, should be completed and returned to:

Planning and Admissions Department
P O Box 4261, County Hall
Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1GS TEL: 01245 492211 Back to top

Aims

To ensure a safe and secure environment where all will feel happy and confident to learn and experience success by providing:
 
* provide a broad, balanced curriculum which enables every individual to achieve his/her highest possible standard;

* deliver a curriculum which is well planned, challenging and creative;

* promote the partnership between the school and home for its positive impact on the children's learning;

* provide pupils with the skills to work independently and take responsibility for themselves and others;

* promote strong links with the local church and vibrant community;

* continue building on our academic successes which have been recognised by the Department for Education and Skills;

* develop pupils? appreciation of human achievements through the curriculum and encourage them to be confident about their own potential;

* provide a safe and exciting environment in which the children can learn and experience success;

* develop pupils? self-respect and respect for others whatever their ability, race, religion or culture;

* provide equal opportunities for all, and measure success in individual terms. Back to top

Assessment

As well as regular teacher assessments and classroom tests, standardised tests are also used. In Key Stage 1 standardised reading tests are used termly. In addition to this, at Key Stage 2, standardised spelling, mathematics, and English tests are administered annually. These guide decisions regarding any additional support that may be needed and allow the development of appropriate challenging targets.

Good behaviour, attitude and academic work are all regularly recognised and celebrated. Each child belongs to a school team, Lions, Tigers or Leopards. Team points are awarded for effort and personal achievement, acts of particular kindness etc. At the end of each week the points are totalled and the house cup is presented to the winning team captains during Celebration assembly. Trophies are given for sporting achievement at the end of the year.

At the Celebration assembly children are invited to share good news of their achievements outside school. Back to top

Attendance

Pupils attendance at school is carefully monitored. The following figures relate to pupils of compulsory school age during the academic year: 2005/2006

Number of pupil sessions 380 (1 day = 2 sessions - a.m. / p.m.)
% Of authorised absences 4.1%
% Of unauthorised absences* 0.1%

*Includes all unexplained or unjustified absences including lateness or holidays above ten working school days (unless approved by the Governing Body.)

As a minimum requirement you should:-

* Inform the school between 8.30 and 9.30 a.m. on the first day of absence and if possible give the expected day of return. The school office will contact parents if this notification has not been received on the first day of the child's absence.
* Keep school informed especially if the return day alters.
* Send a note with the child when he or she goes back to school giving full details of the reason for absence.

If your child has a medical appointment, requests for your child to be allowed out of school should be sent prior to the date. He or she will be released from school in sufficient time to attend the appointment and should return to school if the time allows. If your child will be arriving late because of a medical appointment or any other reason, the office staff should be advised of meal requirements beforehand. However every attempt should be made to arrange such appointments outside of school hours, where possible. A child arriving after the 9.00 a.m. registration should go to the school office so that the registers can be up dated and the child signed in for security and safety reasons.

Other absences may be authorised in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the Headteacher:

· Acceptable medical reasons or an unavoidable cause
· Religious observances
· With permission (e.g. holidays)*
· Entitled transport not provided

*Note: Parents can request permission to take their children on annual holiday in term time for up to 10 days in any one academic year. Requests should be made in advance of the holiday. Permission may be given by the Headteacher, but consideration will be given to the effect such absence might have on the child's education, taking into account the child's attendance record to date.

No parent can demand the right for their child to have leave of absence for the purposes of a holiday of any length. This means that if you want to take a short break away in term time - even for just two or three days - you must receive approval beforehand from the school.

It is generally not acceptable for your child to be absent for reasons such as:-

* Minding the house
* Looking after younger children
* Going shopping during school hours
* Celebrating his or her birthday

A child's late arrival and holidays during term time cause disruption to their education and that of the whole class. Back to top

Admissions

Policy

Our published number intended to admit (NIA) is 20. Fiften pupils are expected during the academic year 2005/2006. Priority for admission to the school is based on the following criteria:
. Looked after children
· Living in the catchment area a place is guaranteed regardless of the NIA for the year group.
· Siblings in the school
· Proximity to the school

School Arrangements

Children are legally entitled to a place in school at the beginning of the term after their fifth birthday. At Great Waltham the governing body has improved on this basic entitlement and admits children as follows:
· children born between 1st September and 31st December are admitted in the September
· those born between 1st January and 30th April are admitted in January
· those born between 1st May and 31st August are admitted in January, for mornings only until after the Easter break.

Any requests for earlier admissions because of exceptional social or medical reasons are dealt with by the Planning and Admissions Department. Back to top

Extra Curricular Activities

Many clubs are offered according to the expertise of staff, parents and friends who run activities out of school hours, i.e. before school, at lunchtime and after school.

Music

Children are offered violin, keyboard, guitar and woodwind tuition. Recorder lessons are given, free of charge, by the school staff. The school choir performs at Chelmsford Cathedral, The Royal Albert Hall, and other venues throughout the year. Choirs from the school also take part in the Chelmsford Schools' Music Festivals each year. The school holds a musical soiree every summer to celebrate the musical achievements of our pupils.


Sport

Competition is encouraged within and beyond the school curriculum. The sports available for extra curricular activity rely on community and local initiatives and the interest shown by the children. Recently these have been netball, tennis, rounders, cross-country, hockey, cricket and football. Back to top

Homework

We believe that playing games and helping with activities at home are some of the best ways to learn and parents can be the best teachers.

Ideas for guided activities with parents:-
· cooking
· planning a trip
· organising a cupboard or a room
· writing a shopping list
· checking the bills
· puzzles and board games

Beginning in Reception, children bring reading and number tasks home to share with parents, including their ERR word strings to practise daily. As they progress through the years and gain in ability, spellings and tables are added. They may also be asked to complete simple topic related activities that can be done at home with parental support.

Homework for Foundation pupils and years 1 and 2 is given each week via a reading record book and the weekly newsletter. From year 3 the children use a reading diary and a homework diary to record their own more formalised homework. This involves considerable effort by children, parents and teachers and the school appreciates the vital role that parents take in the education of the children.

The homework policy is available from the school office and specific information for each class is given at the beginning of the academic year. Back to top

Links with the Community

The school plays an active part in the village community and friends of the school help in many ways.

· A regular programme of activities is arranged with the local pre-school.
· There is a comprehensive liaison programme with Chelmer Valley High School, to which most of our Year 6 pupils transfer.
· Children who wish to sit the exam for the selective schools in the area (11+) receive information from The Consortium for Selective Schools at the beginning of year 6.
· The major Christian festivals are celebrated in the village church.
· There are regular visitors to the school, including assembly leaders, the school nurse, governors and parents.
· Our Rural Community Police Office visits the school on a regular basis to chat informally to the children and staff
· Community road safety officers have regular contact with the school to give talks and advice. They also do a road safety walk with Reception pupils and their parents and a follow up walk with pupils in years 3 and 6.
· To add breadth to the children?s learning experiences they are often taken to places of interest and perform at village and county functions. Back to top

Location

Great Waltham School has provided a Christian-based education for over 150 years. We serve the villages of Great Waltham and Pleshey and their surrounding communities. Children from Pleshey are transported to and from school by contract bus paid for by the Local Education Authority. However children from a wider area, whose parents wish them to be educated in a church school, are welcomed.

The school occupies a spacious site in the attractive village of Great Waltham, near Chelmsford. The building, part of which dates back to 1847, has excellent modern facilities. In 1981, a large multipurpose hall was built. The remaining accommodation comprises five classrooms, a music room, two libraries, administrative rooms and a kitchen. Adjacent to the school is a large landscaped playing field with adventure trail, play equipment, an all weather pathway to learning and hard play areas. As part of our continuous building and facilities improvement plan, we have recently completed a major extension to one classroom, enlarged a cloakroom and completed work from our rolling programme of maintenance and redecoration.

The school can be reached:
By publicTransport The nearest railway station is in the centre of Chelmsford. Eastern National buses.33, 351 and 52 serve Great Waltham.

By car From the centre of Chelmsford travel north along the B1008 for about 3.5 miles. Turn left at Ash Tree Corner for 1 mile. Turn left into South Street. The school is about 200 yards on the right. There is no on-site parking. There are parking spaces available opposite in the village hall car park.

All who visit are requested to observe the 'NO PARKING' zone in front of the school.

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