School Prospectus 2023-2024

Johnston community primary school

Mentra Ddysgu

Prospectus 2023 -2024

Johnstoncommunityprimaryschool.co.uk 01437 890280

Welcome to Johnston Community Primary School, a forward looking school that provides a nurturing environment for all. We have a creative and engaging curriculum steeped in learning opportunities and experiences linked to real world matters, encouraging all pupils to achieve their potential in everything they do.

Forward from the headteacher

A very warm welcome to the updated Johnston Community Primary School prospectus. Johnston is a confident and creative community school, where students and staff work exceptionally well together. Visitors to the school never fail to mention how happy our children are and how welcoming the staff are. This is important to us. I am very proud to be leading this school. At Johnston our vision is to equip children for life by providing them with the academic, social and personal skills they need to succeed in education, to relate well to others and to pursue their dreams. We strive to achieve this through a rigorous and exciting curriculum. A key word to life at Johnston is ‘purpose’. We believe that children need to understand what they are learning, why they need to know it and to have the opportunity to apply their learning in meaningful ways. Recently, our pupils have organised a climate summit, developed a wild meadow to improve biodiversity and led a community litter pick. It is commonly said that education should prepare children for real life. We believe that our children are living ‘real life’ already and we are proud to give our children opportunities to live this life to the fullest. Johnston's community is very special to us. We have a strong sense of community; committed staff and pupils, a supportive governing body and active PTA. If you would like your child(ren) to join Johnston Community School we would advise you to come and visit the school first, ideally with your child(ren). Please telephone the school office: 01437 890280 or email: admin.Johnston@pembrokeshire.gov.uk to arrange an appointment. Ross Williams

It is a pleasure to be able to present our school prospectus with the aim of providing prosepctive pupils and parents/carers with important imformation and guidance about the school.

We have developed a rigorous curriculum and we have high expectations for what pupils can achieve.

Welcome to the Johnston community

We have excellent teachers who develop positive relationship with pupils, supporting them to feel safe. There is a respectful ethos in all classes.

Curriculum design is a strength of ours and our project connecting with community care homes in 2023 is one example of this.

The new school opened in 2017 and since then we have developed into a thriving community school.

Johnston is a modern and extremely well-resourced school, fully equipped inside and outside, for teaching and learning in the 21st century. We are an English medium primary school catering for children, their families and the wider community in Johnston. We are a growing school with around 260 pupils on roll. We are committed to providing the highest standard of education and pastoral care to our children. They deserve the very best start in life and we aim to ensure that they are supported and nurtured from the moment that they enter the school.

Mission Statement A forward looking school that provides a nurturing environment for all. We have a creative and engaging curriculum steeped in learning opportunities and experiences linked to real world matters, encouraging all pupils to achieve their potential in everything they do.

Curriculum for wales

We have focused on developing a curriculum that will prepare children from the world of work and to be responsible citizens, who will contribute confidently to the economic, digital, social and cultural life of Wales and the world in the 21st Century.6 Areas of Learning and Experience1. Language, Literacy and Communication2. Mathematics and Numeracy 3. Science and Technology 4. Humanities 5. Expressive Arts6. Health and Wellbeing

High quality teaching

• Ambitious, capable learners who are ready to learn throughout their lives.
• Ethical, informed citizens who are ready to be citizens of Wales and the World.
• Enterprising, creative contributors who are ready to play a full part in life and work.
• Healthy confident individuals who are ready to lead fulfilling lives as valued members of society.

Our School Motto says, 'Mentra Ddysgu'. It means Dare to Know. We encourage a growth mindset in all that we do with pupils.

Our Aspiration for every child

Outdoor Learning

The quality of outdoor learning provision is recognised nationally and teachers visit our school from as far as Cardiff.

We have made a long term commitment to develop this area so that it provides rich and exciting learning opportunities for pupils. Maes Meithrin already includes: - A vegetable garden, an orchard, a poly tunnel.-Chickens, loose parts play, a stream, a wild meadow, a roundhouse, a pizza oven.

Outdoor Learning Environment

Outdoor learning is fundamental to life at Johnston School. We have an active learning approach and use our wonderful grounds very effectively to enhance curriculum experiences

Maes Meithrin The school has a large field, which we are developing as a fantastic resource for environmental studies and personal and social education. Pupils have named the field 'Maes Meithrin'.

Sporting Accademy

Sport has been central to the Johnston curriculum for some time. We provide organised sport on during after school clubs and on Friday afternoons. The sports programme is designed to encourage a rich and diverse experience for pupils. Opportunity is key: children play for school teams and in House competitions for major sports teams including rugby, football, netball and cricket, as well as a broad array of other sports such as tennis, squash, surfing and water swimming. Most teachers enjoy coaching sports teams.

Developing confidence and inclusion

95% of pupils in years five and six have represented the school in extra-curricular sport.

Recent Achievements

Welsh Finalists - Girls Football.Welsh Finalists - Boys RugbyPembrokeshire Finalists - Netball 2022 Pembrokeshire School of the Year

2022-2023

The four purposes

Teachers plan accordingly and ensure that the 4 Purposes are given due consideration and reflection. Pupils are encouraged to reflect on their progress in relation to the 4 Purposes.

The Four Purposes are at the heart of our Vision and our daily work.

To help pupils understand and appreciate the relevance and importance of the 4 purposes, we have created characters for each purpose.

Characters

Ambitious

We ensure that pupils are able to apply learning in literacy, numeracy and digital skills across relevant areas of the curriculum.

We have developed a curriculum which encourages pupils to evaluate and analyse information.

We have a strong focus on knowledge. We often talk about our 'knowledge rich curriculum' which allows pupils to develop an appreciate of their culture, community, society and the world now and in the past.

We have created a comprehensive whole school knowledge map which we use to guide our planning. This is bespoke for Johnston School.

We have structured our pupil voice groups so that every pupil in the school is able to join a Senedd Committee. Pupils work in mixed age groups to plan and lead projects linked to their committee ambitions.

Capable

We have worked hard to develop a learning environment which promotes independence.

We care committed to providing a safe, creative and engaging learning environment which allows pupils to develop their skills.

We believe that it is important that pupils are provided with opportunities to become enthusiastic problem solvers and critical thinking.

We are an English Medium School but we have worked hard to support pupils to communicate bilingually. We are proud that are pupils develop as confident and enthusiastic speakers.

Preparing pupils for the world of work is a key aspiration of the Curriculum for Wales 2022. As well as linking our curriculum to real-world learning, we have a special visitors program where pupils are introduced to a range of people from various backgrounds. We also introduce digital resources in reception and we support pupils to interpret and evaluate qualitative and quantitative data.

Healthy

In March 2023, we were awarded the Healthy Schools Quality mark.

We believe that it is important that we promote positive emotional and mental wellbeing. We aim to encourage interest and enjoyment of the pupils in Health and Wellbeing and to emphasise the benefits of health and fitness.

We promote health eating and drinking and explain to pupils that it will have a positive impact on their health and wellbeing. Pupils and staff have access to fresh water throughout the day and we run a school fruit shop during break times. Since the introduction of universal free school meals, nearly all pupils enjoy a healthy lunch provided by our excellent catering team.

Our breakfast club is free to all pupils and begins at 8:00 every morning. This provision is very popular with almost 70% of the school population attending.

We work closely with numerous support services and the support that we receive from the Education Wellbeing Teams, School Nurse, CAMHS, Speech and Language Therapy Service, School Counselling Service and the Education Psychology Service ensures that pupils gain access to the right support when needed.

Confident

We are a caring and supportive school and we aim to cater for the needs of all pupils.

We help pupils to become confident and creative contributors. We have promoted different strategies, including 'terrific talkers' to help raise the levels of oracy.

When visitors walk around school they often comment on the positive atmosphere that we have established. We want all pupils to feel safe and to feel that their viewpoint is respected.

As part of our curriculum mapping we have a system utilised in each class. Pupils are encouraged to guide learning and generate three key questions. We have develop our R.E.A.L. (Rigorous, Engaging and Authentic Learning) curriculum during afternoon sessions.

Our carefully planned learning continuum ensures that pupils have the opportunity to confidently develop independent learning skills and also to be confident when working with others.

Ethical

Nearly all pupils behave exceptionally well in the classroom and around school.

All members of the school have a responsibility to encourage others to maintain high levels of appropriate behaviour. Pupils are encouraged to take responsibility for their own behaviour and they are expected to comply with acceptable standards of behaviour. The overall responsibility at school rests with the Headteacher.

Any form of bullying will be acted upon immediately and, if necessary, parents will be informed.

Pupils take pride in opportunities to support younger pupils. Our year six pupils visit classes to share stories and lead learning.

Restorative Practice (RP) is a whole school philosophy. It is the ethos that underpins all aspects of school life. RP is closely aligned to the United Nations Rights of the Child and supports well-being and positive behaviour management. R.P. also links directly with our Values Education and Habits of Mind. Our emphasis is on the promotion of positive behaviour. We share examples of exemplary behaviour with parents and encourage them to offer praise and reward to their children for such behaviour.

Creative

Our end of summer term performances are a big deal at Johnston! Our year six performances have been a highlight of recent years.

Every pupils is provided with the opportunity to express and develop their creative talent. The Expressive Arts area of learning and Experience spans five disciplines: art, dance, film and digital media, and music. Creativity is enhanced through the knowledge shared and the practical experiences introduced within each of these discrete areas.

Peripatetic staff attend school to teach percussion, brass, string and woodwind instruments to children in Year 4 and above. All children have access to music lessons within the curriculum.

Many of our school performances are available on our school website.

Cultural capital is important and we believe it is important that children study Shakespeare and other world renown playwrights.

Enterprising

Each year we design a special visitor program which allows children to meet people from a range of different backgrounds.

We realise that in an ever-changing world, being flexible and haivng the ability to develop ideas will be essential. Our learners will be entering a world of work where employees will be required to consider a range of alternative solutions to deal with the pace of change.

Our educational visits and enrichment opportunities help to enhance pupils' understanding of the evolving world of careers and work. The visits help to promote the idea that changing local, national and global contexts result in new challenges and opportunities for success.

During the summer term, pupils run businesses and we hold a celebration afternoon in school.

Our curriculum is focused on helping pupils to meet the demands of working in uncertain situations. We introduce enterprise challenges across progression steps one and two and these learning opportunities encourage pupils to collaborate.

Curriculum design

• We follow a curriculum designed around key questions.
• We have developed 100 experiences that pupils will egage with before they leave school.
• We have created a continuum in outdoor learning.
• We have spent a considerable amount of time creating high quality mapping documents to support planning and progression.
• We aim to balance progressive and tranditional teaching methods.

School plANNING

Teachers plan work thematically and use pupil voice to influence content and the focus of learning plans. The focus is on developing independent and inquisitive learners utillising a variety of activities inside and outside the classroom. Within the continuous provision, there are a number of different learner's areas that are adapted and enriched according to the topic under discussion.

Curriculum planning

Our broad curriculum promotes academic excellence, the best habits of independent thought and a lifelong habit of intellectual curiosity and love of learning.

Our Curriculum is planned around key questions and higher level concepts.

The Academic Curriculum & High Standards

Cymraeg

Welsh is popular with pupils and we support pupils to develop an understanding of the importance of bilingualism.

Much of the teaching is through activities and games, as well as reading and weekly diary writing sessions in Welsh in Progression Step Three. Children are encouraged to be proud of their Welsh heritage and to respect the cultural identity of all children in school. We focus on our similarities and shared beliefs.

Promoting two languages

We are very ambitious for our pupils and as an English medium school, we have worked hard to develop systems which support pupils to develop bilignually. We have spent time developing our welsh curriculum and all teachers have been provided with training to improve their language skils.

We celebrate our Cynefin and the fact that our pupils are proud to live in Wales. We are determined to ignite learners' curiosity and enthusiasm and provide them with a firm foundation for a lifelong interest in the languages of Wales and the World.

sAFEGUARDING

We have robust arrangements for safeguarding pupils. We have developed an ethos which promotes pupils well-being.

Every possible care is taken to ensure children’s safety whilst they are at school. No child is allowed to leave early without permission. If there is a change to normal arrangements, please let the class teacher know. The school regularly reviews health and safety arrangements for pupils and staff. Every visitor must visit the main entrance before gaining access to the school. Visitors MUST sign in and wear an identification badge. If a visitor acts inappropriately towards a pupil or member of staff then they will be asked to leave the school grounds immediately and the police will be informed. Fire drills are held each term.

Safeguarding Arrangemetns

The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. The school follows Pembrokeshire County Council’s Child Protection Policy and Procedures. This important policy document is available on the school website.

If you have any concerns that a child is being harmed or is at risk of harm, or if you receive a disclosure you must contact the following staff immediately: Mr. Ross Williams (Acting Headteacher), in his absence Mrs. Caroline Wood (Assistant Headteacher) or Mrs. Linda Greenish (Family Liaison Officer) or call the Duty Social Worker on 01437 776322/25

rELATIONSHIPS AND sEXUALITY eDUCATION

We follow the Pembrokeshrie Country Council scheme of work for RSE. This is published on our school website. Governors support the Senior Leadership Team to monitor RSE.

Relationships and sexuality education has a positive and empowering role to play in the education of learners and is essential in supporting them to achieve the four purposes. Helping learners to form and maintain a range of relationships, all based on mutual trust and respect, is at the core of relationship and sexuality education. These relationships are critical to developing emotional well-being, resilience and empathy. Developmentally appropriate RSEIs is a requirement that the RSE provided must be developmentally appropriate for learners. Therefore in accordance with the aims of the school's RSE policy we will take account of a range of factors such as the learners' age, knowledge and maturity and any additional learning needs to ensure that our provision is developmentally appropriate for each learner.

rELIGION, VALUES AND ETHICS

Following statutory requirements, all pupils attend a daily act of worship. Assembly is also a time for us to acknowledge children's successes in and out of school and children are encouraged to share these with their class teachers in order that they can be included in the assemblies. Parents have a right to withdraw their child from Collective Worship. Please discuss with the Headteacher your individual needs.

Religion, Valies and Ethics are part of the Humanities Area of Learning and Experience and are compulsory for all pupils in Wales. RVE guidance is located within the Humanities Area and incorporates a range of disciplinary approaches that can be used by learners to engage critically with a broad range of religious and non-religious concepts. For example, disciplinary approaches relevant to RVE may include religious studies, philosophy, theology, sociology, psychology, and anthropology. There are also strong relationships between RVE and the other disciplines within Humanities as well as with other Areas of Learning and Experience.Concepts are important in RVE because they are central ideas that help learners to make sense of and interpret human experience, the natural world and their own place within it. Learners will have opportunities to explore RVE concepts through a variety of sub lenses which make up the RVE disciplinary lens. These concepts and sub lenses are set out in this RVE guidance. In the Curriculum for Wales, RVE is objective, critical and pluralistic, both in content and pedagogy; it is not about making learners ‘religious’ or ‘non-religious’. The expression ‘objective, critical and pluralistic’ comes from European Convention on Human Rights case law. The Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021 ensures that all learners must be offered opportunities through RVE to engage with different religions and non-religious philosophical convictions in their own locality and in Wales, as well as in the wider world.

aDDITIONAL lEARNING nEEDS

The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal Act (2018) – the ALNET ACT- says a child or young person aged 3 to 16 years has Additional Learning Needs if he or she:has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age orhas a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities for education or training of a kind generally provided for others of the same age.

Children and young people with Additional Learning Needs may need more support to learn than the majority of children and young people of the same age. Some may have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities provided for learners. About one in four children and young people may have Additional Learning Needs at some time. All children and young people learn at different rates and will have different events going on in their lives that can also affect their rate of learning. All schools, settings, colleges and Local Authorities must support all children and young people, including those who have ALN or who may have ALN. For some children and young people, these difficulties are short–term; others may have Additional Learning Needs throughout their school or college life. Some will have Additional Learning Needs in particular areas of their education, whilst others may need help with all or most aspects of their education. One of the principles of the ALN Code (see below) is inclusive education where children and young people are supported to participate fully in mainstream education, wherever feasible, and a whole setting approach is taken to meet the needs of learners with ALN.

aTTENDAnCE

We expect the following from our learners: 1. That all learners attend school regularly. 2. That all learners arrive on time and are suitably prepared for the day. 3. That all learners inform a member of staff if any problem that may prevent them from attending school.

rEGULAR ATTENDANCE IS VITALLY INMPORTANT TO ENSURE THAT LEARNERS CONTINUE TO MAKE PROGRESS IN THEIR LEARNING AND THAT THEY DEVELOP THE SKILLS REQUIRED TO THRIVE.

The school has robust processes in place to support every single learners to achieve an attendance rate of 95%. Our staff work very closely with Local Authority Inclusion Officers. Our Attendnace Policy outlines strategies and arrangements in order to maintain a high level of attendance for all pupils. In addition, the school Nurse, ELSA team and our family support officer are all ready to support pupils as required. We ask parents to:1. Encourage their children to attend regularlly. 2. Ensure that they contact the school when their child is unable to attend. 3. Ensure that their child arrives at school on time. 4. Contact the school when any problem arises that could keep their child from school.

ADMISSIONS POLICY

https://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/school-admissions

The Pembrokeshire cOUNTY cOUNCIL ADMISSIONS POLICY INCLUDES A RANGE OF SPECIFIC CRITERIA REGARDING THE ALLOCATION OF A PLACE AT jOHNSTON c.p. sCHOOL.

Any request must be made directly to the Local Authority as it is the admitting authority. Early registrations help the school to play accordingly for future year groups. Pupils are admitted to the nursery class at the beginning of the term which follows their third birthday. Term starting dates are deemed to be September 1st, January 1st and April 1st. Pupils will receive a period of part time education before transferring to full-time education at the beginning of the term following their fourth birthday. Parents and carers are invited to visit Johnston C.P. School prior to admission so that they can familiarise themselves with the school.

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