Fairfields Primary School

School Development Priorities

The last few years have been challenging in a number of ways due to the impact of the pandemic on both pupils' wellbeing and outcomes. It was also a time to review and reflect the school’s vision, mission and aims.

Vision Statement: Preparing the children of today to thrive and meet the challenges of tomorrow, by developing independence and resilience through a forward thinking and evolving curriculum, proudly reflecting our diverse community, inspiring and celebrating all achievements.

Mission Statement: We are a vibrant, diverse and inclusive community, fostering a culture of learning and resilience, through a creative and pupil centred curriculum where children are encouraged to take risks and learn from their mistakes, all within a supportive environment.

Last year's focus was on bringing our community back together as well as a focus on returning to school. Here is a short summary of the impact of our work against the priorities last year:

SDP FOCUS 1 2021-2022: to focus on securing age related expectations (ARE), in all curriculum areas, for children who are at risk of falling behind.

EYFS, Year 1 phonics and KS1 are above national and local authority averages.
Progress indicators have improved for all subjects at KS2.
Deployment of support staff has been reviewed to prioritise interventions.
School-led tutoring has been used to target 41 pupils, in writing, in the school. Internal data shows that they have made expected progress as a result.
Expectations for age related are more clear for parents and pupils through the use of parents evenings.
The teaching and assessment sequence is embedded in the school in years 1 -6 and learning webs have been introduced in some year groups to look at recall opportunities.
Teachers and leaders have an overview of pupil attainment in all areas due to the change of report to Governors.
Targets are met for KS1 and KS2 where mobility is not a factor.

Next Steps

Review the use of the website for parents to access information to support their children.
Launch learning webs across the school for more regular recall of key concepts.
Disseminate the scrutiny of outcomes to Assistant Headteachers to review data more regularly with teams to secure moderation.
Review of the writing cycle to increase opportunities for enriched writing so that more pupils achieve the higher standard of writing.

SDP FOCUS 2 2021-2022: to Increase engagement in reading, including vocabulary enhancement.

Internal data shows that 5 of the 6 year groups have achieved the targets at greater depth.
Mobility has affected the proportion of pupils achieving age-related expectations. A further restructure of guided reading in key stage two will take place to address this.
Work on increasing vocabulary has been completed and as a result, more children are experimenting with this within their writing. This has also been shared with parents each week.
Use of test style questions have been introduced into guided reading to help pupils perform better in tests.

Next Steps

A further restructure of guided reading in key stage two to look at whole-class teaching of key skills.
Closer use of reading tests as a measure for age-related teacher assessment.

SDP FOCUS 3 2021 -2022: To celebrate our community and diversity, including increasing engagement as part of our community.

The school has been represented in Football, Netball and Rugby leagues this year.
Events have brought our community together which include the Harvest Festival, Winter Fair, Spring Carnival, Jubilee Big Lunch and Diversity Festival.
Friday Prayer has helped to engage our Muslim community and children now feel more represented than in previous years.
As a result of this work the school has been asked to showcase some of the work at the Diversity Conference in October/November.

Next Steps

More work needs to continue to look at the wider community and local businesses to make links with the school.

SDP FOCUS 4 2021- 2022: To improve pupils’ mental and physical health and well being through enrichment, collaboration and raised aspirations.

Forest Schools activities have been introduced across the school which has supported pupils’ wellbeing and helped with whole-class Thrive delivery.
Regular staff training has taken place with Primary Behaviour Support to increase understanding of self-regulation. As a result, there have been less exclusions this year.
Thrive profiles have shown that where sessions are given regularly, pupils are able to regulate and engage better in learning.
ELSA continues to be needed in the school to support pupils who are struggling. We have also facilitated Relax Kids sessions for parents and pupils.

Next Steps

Make better use of whole-class Thrive profiles to track impact from weekly sessions.
Ensure that leaders understand how the catch up and recovery premium has been used to support pupils after returning from lockdown.

This year we will focus on the following:
SDP 1: To refine and improve the teaching of writing through the writing cycle so that more children achieve the higher standard in writing.
Writing outcomes are below National but are improving over time. The writing journey has been in place for a number of years and this now needs to be refined so that more pupils achieve age related expectations. Some of the key areas which are to be addressed are spelling and also pupils being able to verbalise their knowledge before writing it. The approach taken will be different in Key Stage One and Key Stage Two.

SDP 2: Restructure the teaching of guided reading in the school to include a focus on VIPERS skills and vocabulary.
Historically our pupils have not performed as well in the tests as they do within teaching sessions. The use of the standardised testing does not currently feed into teaching practice as closely as it could. The use of whole class teaching of the VIPERS skills will help pupils answer questions in the tests. The work on vocabulary ninjas can be built on within the guided reading sessions as opposed to it being outside of the lesson.

SDP 3: To improve outcomes in mathematics so that more pupils achieve the higher standard by the end of Key Stage 2.
The school has made improvements over time but further work needs to be done to secure pupils' learning at the higher standard. The use of standardised tests are not connected to the learning in the classroom and pupils are not always aware of their next steps. The Multiplication Check in Year 4 need to be worked on through the end of Year 2 and in Year 3 so that more children achieve the full marks when screened in Year 4.

SDP 4: Improve communication of the school's strategy and build on the good reputation of the school within the wider community.
The school has developed a good reputation within the immediate community. Communication is however an area of improvement. A clear strategy for communication will help to celebrate the work of the school and harness any external links which will ensure that the school is sustainable in the future.

For more information, download a copy of our School Development Plan for this year. The plan has been written and agreed with Staff and Governors as well taking into account feedback from the Parents' Survey.

School Development Priorities

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Fairfields Primary School

School Development Priorities

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