Parents

We encourage parents and carers to support learning further by visiting places of interest, researching and investigating ideas and topics as suggested through the termly homework letters.

We provide a series of “How to help your child” sessions at the school for parents including using computers, managing behaviour, mathematics, reading and writing.

Please click here to see the National Curriculum.

Please contact Mrs S Cary, Headteacher, if you would like further information concerning our curriculum via admin@orchard.surrey.sch.uk

What do we do to maintain consistency and success in our school?

1. Relationships

Staff take time and care to get to know every child and use their name when we address them. We greet children with a smile at the door each day and endeavour to notice things like a new haircut or a new gap in their teeth.

We listen to the children and deal with any upsets fairly. We notice if there is a change in their demeanour or behaviour. We look after the children if they are hurt or upset or unwell, making sure the right course of action is taken. We model politeness and respect so that children are polite and show respect to one another.

2. Teaching and Modelling good behaviour

Staff are explicit about how to share, how to take turns, how to resolve disagreements and explain that others have needs too. We use the UNICEF Rights respecting framework in each class to demonstrate that everyone has rights but everyone has responsibility too.

We use the 5 Rs to praise and reinforce positive learning behaviours. We set up tasks, games and tell stories which develop social skills and we talk about which skills make those activities successful. We intervene when we see children are not behaving appropriately and give guidance and support to improve their behaviour.

We provide paired and collaborative tasks to practice and develop social skills. We reinforce good behaviour through qualified praise and through a consistent use of language.

3. Managing behaviour in a positive and consistent way

We have whole school behaviour, anti bullying and equality policies and ensure that practice is consistent in every class, playtimes, lunchtimes and corridor times.

We use the same reward and sanction systems throughout the school and always ensure we deal with poor behaviour in a way which respects each individual: using language carefully, keeping calm, never shouting and being fair through listening to all involved.

We use qualified praise as much as possible and always try to emphasise , notice and reward the good behaviour rather than dwelling on or over emphasising the behaviour we do not want to see.

4. Using a shared language.

We use the 5 Rs to support learning behaviour and social and emotional development, teaching the children the meaning of responsibility, resilience,reasoning, reflection,and resourcefulness through practical examples and through qualified praise.

We also use the language of the UNICEF Rights respecting agenda. We use language such a s good looking, good manners, good listening supported by visual symbols where appropriate. We qualify feedback: " I like the way you.....shared your puzzle pieces....looked after your friend". We also use the “Fun Friends” programme which develops a vocabulary for talking about feelings.

5. Independent Learning and Individual Responsibility

In every lesson and activity every day we encourage the children to do things by themselves and praise them for this independence. We set up the classrooms and resources so that children can find things and put them away independently. We plan challenging tasks for the children and teach them strategies to achieve them independently.

We praise them for trying things independently and reinforce that it is ok to make mistakes. we encourage the children to evaluate their own learning and contribute ideas about what makes it successful.

We aim that the children understand that effort is the most important factor in successful learning and so praise their effort rather than ability. We explain and reward responsible learning so that children feel empowered and proud of their own success.. and want to repeat it.

6. Securing success for every child

Staff assess each child and their progress very carefully so that they can differentiate the learning for them. Each task will take the child on the next step in their learning so that they are challenged and make progress.

Support throughout the lesson is given through marking, feedback, praise and guidance to ensure success. Each child , whatever their experience or prior attainment, is also given the opportunity to achieve at least part of a task independently so that they learn "I can do this by myself"

7. Support for children with additional needs

Some children find it more challenging to manage their emotions or to conform with social expectations. They may not yet have developed the language skills or the experience to interact positively with others or there may be underlying social and communication difficulties or attention difficulties.

We organise "Time to talk" groups to teach social skills and practice speaking and listening to others. We use small world role play, intervene in role play and use social stories to teach effective social skills.

We reinforce teaching with visual symbols and reward systems. We use reward to promote socially effective behaviours and pair or group children with good role model peers. We make use of a School Counsellor and follow advice from outside agencies where there are particular issues to support, providing individualised programmes as required.

8. PSHCE curriculum

All year groups use the SEAL resources, timetable circle time, and use opportunities across the curriculum and throughout the school day to teach children how to deal with different situations which arise at school.

We have a whole school policy and aim to maintain a healthy school through continuous evaluation of the healthy school standards. This curriculum is also supported and enriched through assemblies, careful selection of stories, our Philosophy for Children discussions and the “Fun Friends” programme.

9. Speaking and Listening

Staff provide a rich language environment and varied opportunities for speaking and listening every day. Our commitment to ensuring a high quality of language use is demonstrated by the 5 Rs, Rights respecting curriculum, Philosophy for Children and our own Talk to Learn Action Research Project.Where there are specific additional speech and language needs we implement SALT programmes for individual children.

10. Evaluation

We evaluate children's social and emotional needs , assess progress and analyse the impact of our work.

This is carried out through:

  1. Classroom observations
  2. Discussion with colleagues and line managers about individual children and our observations.
  3. Equality incident log
  4. Meetings with parents notes
  5. Parent questionnaires
  6. Children's surveys
  7. School council feedback
  8. Governor learning walks
  9. Visitor feedback
  10. Provision mapping analysis
  11. IEPs
  12. Staff feedback

Other areas of learning

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Parents and carers are invited to a talk with the class teacher in September to explain our expectations for the children and the routines for each day.



Data Protection

Please click here to visit our Policies section for Data Protection documents