Information for Prospective Parents

Head Teacher’s Welcome

A very warm welcome to Orchard Primary School.

Orchard Primary School is a special place where the staff are dedicated to providing a stimulating, exciting environment where everyone feels valued and safe, ideas can flourish and pupils can realise their full potential.

We are passionate about delivering an education to our pupils that is well rounded, informative, challenging, stimulating and, most of all, fun. We want our pupils to leave school ready for their future – whilst being able to look back with fond memories. Every child should be encouraged to reach their full potential and ready themselves for adulthood. This school enables pupils to explore education and become creative thinkers and well-rounded learners. We do this by offering a wide range of learning techniques with an exciting curriculum to match.

We are all proud of what we achieve here at Orchard Primary School. We hope that you will enjoy looking through this information and learning how we are going to ensure that your child gets the most out of their education.

Location

Orchard Primary School is located five minutes' walk from the centre of Pershore and enjoys an open outlook over the wetlands and the River Avon. The well-maintained school grounds are extensive and offer opportunities for a variety of first-hand learning experiences through guided study and safe play.

Admissions

Children are able to attend our Pre School from the age of 2 years, subject to availability of places. Please contact the school office for more information.

Our school welcomes pupils from the beginning of the September following their fourth birthday. Our Admissions Policy is implemented in line with the ‘School Admissions Code’ to ensure fairness and transparency with regards to admissions. We also address, within the policy, issues of over-subscription criteria, admission appeals and pupil registration. A copy of our Admissions Policy is available on the school website, alternatively you can request a copy from our school office by emailing office@orchardprimary.org.uk.

Curriculum

We are committed to providing a curriculum that excites children about learning. Our challenging and diverse curriculum provides the children with a wide range of experiences to apply the necessary skills of reading, writing and mathematics. As children have many talents and interests, we are committed to providing a wide variety of opportunities to inspire and motivate them, making learning fun. Wherever possible, our curriculum is brought alive through first hand experiences, including Forest School, music lessons, school trips, visiting artists and sports specialists.

We respect diversity and will provide equal opportunities to all pupils.

We want you to be as involved as possible with what your child is are learning, so, as well as the brief description of the subjects below, parents will be sent termly knowledge organisers which ensure you know what your is learning and how you can help.

Maths

The children learn Maths using Maths Makes Sense (MMS), a carefully designed learning system that uses special vocabulary, physical actions and concrete objects like cups to help them become confident mathematicians.

Literacy

At Orchard Primary School we use the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their literacy. RWI is a method of learning centred round letter sounds and phonics, and we use it to aid children in their reading and writing.  To maximise the effect of this, children are grouped according to ability across the school.

Topic

We want our children to be hooked into learning and to be left with memorable experiences that will shape them for life.

We endeavour to design a curriculum for each class that fits the exact needs of our learners and our community.  Each class starts a new phase theme (topic) of curriculum that is either chosen by them or is carefully chosen by the teacher. Where possible we aim for it to come from the children, because one of the greatest motivators to learning is where the children have ownership. 

Each term we will send home key questions that you can discuss with your child that will deepen their understanding and enable them to contribute to class discussions.

RE

Orchard Primary School follows the Worcestershire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education.  Parents can find out specific themes by looking at their child’s class web page.

PE (Physical Education)

PE is part of the National Curriculum and is very important for the development of health, fitness and wider skills for learning, such as resilience and collaboration.  Across the year children learn a range of sports, including dance, gymnastics and athletics.

Music

We believe that music is really important to children and that music education:

• Increases confidence and self-esteem
• Improves health and well-being
• Provides important life and social skills
• Develops creativity and self-expression

All children learn to play a musical instrument while they are at school here, for example Ukulele, Djembe drums, percussion and boomwackers. Key Stage 2 pupils have also recently learnt to play the violin, clarinet and drums. There is no charge for these lessons.

Relationships and Sex Education

Today’s children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world. This presents may positive and exciting opportunities, but also challenges and risks. In this environment children and young people need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal and social lives in a positive way.

Although primary schools are not required to teach sex education, Avonreach Academy Trust has decided that this is an important aspect of the children’s education in preparation for transition to the next stage of their education.

Assembly

We bring all the children together to develop a shared sense of community and morality. A caring and considerate attitude is fostered to develop a respect for ourselves, each other and our environment.

The school is broadly Christian-based and local clergy are welcomed into the school to talk to the children. We also think it is essential to give children an appreciation of other cultures and religions; this is covered in our topic-based RE work.

Breakfast and After School Club

Both clubs are run by school staff and are open every school day; Breakfast Club runs from 7.15am until 8.35am. Our After School Club runs from 3.15pm until 5pm. Further information and booking forms are available from our website and the school office.

Charities and Fund Raising

We are very proud of the efforts that we make in raising money for charity.  The School Council discusses each year which charities the children would like to support, as well as regularly supporting Children-in-Need and Comic Relief.

Child Protection and Safeguarding

At Orchard Primary and Pre-school the health, safety and wellbeing of our children is of paramount importance to us. We are committed to:

• Establishing and maintaining an ethos where children feel safe, secure, valued and respected, and are encouraged to talk openly and are always listened.
• Ensuring that all children know there is an adult in school whom they can approach if they are worried or in difficulty.
• Including opportunities in lessons and the wider curriculum for children to develop the skills they need to recognise and stay safe from harm.

A copy of our Safeguarding Policy is available on the school website; this policy sets out a clear and consistent framework for delivering this promise, in line with safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance.

Community Links

Part of our school ethos is to involve ourselves in the community as much as we can. We see it as vital to teach pupils about the value of a community and the benefits that being community spirited can bring. We teach our children to have a sense of responsibility for their own well-being and that of other people. We want them to be confident, independent, well-balanced individuals who care about the world and want to look after it.

The children regularly take part in the town Carnival (with great support from The Friends of Orchard Primary School), the Remembrance Day Service and the schools' Bellboating Regatta. We also welcome visitors from the local community to lead assemblies and work with the children.

Extra-Curricular Activities

We believe that a safe, social atmosphere helps pupils of all ages to develop their social skills and confidence.

Each term we hold a number of different extra-curricular activities for pupils that occur either during or after the school day.  Examples of these activities are football, art and craft, gymnastics, yoga and mindfulness, drumming, dodgeball, netball, knitting, piano, friendship, and circus skills. We also organise sporting fixtures against other local schools.

House Teams

In keeping with our family ethos, we operate a House Team system and believe that the children benefit from being members of mixed-age school teams. This provides opportunities for different year groups to work together, encourages children to support each other and gives the children a sense of responsibility and belonging. Our House Teams are:

Apple (green)

Pear (yellow)

Plum (purple)

Cherry (red)

When children join our school, they are assigned to one of the four school House Teams; siblings are assigned to the same team. Children in Year 5 and Year 6 put themselves forward for the role of House Captain and Vice House Captain and are elected by members of their House following a democratic vote.

During the year we have special focus activity days when the children work together in their Teams rather than in their classes. Our annual Sports Day is also organised around our teams.

Pupil Mental Health and Wellbeing

At Orchard Primary School we aim to promote positive social, emotional and mental health for everyone. We use the Thrive Approach  to help support all children with their emotional health, wellbeing and social development. Using Thrive helps us to plan our curriculum to meet the needs of our pupils.

Pupil Voice

Pupil Voice is about developing a culture in school where all children have a voice and the opportunity to play an active role in decisions that affect their learning and wellbeing.

Pupil voice is extremely important to us and we value the opinions of all our pupils. As part of our commitment to this the school has set up a School Council, Learning Council, Eco Council and Sports Council. Representatives from each year group are elected by their classmates and meet on a regular basis to contribute ideas to how we organise events and learning in school.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

We welcome all pupils and pride ourselves on creating an inclusive atmosphere. It is important to us that every child achieves their full potential and programmes of work are set to match children's needs and create challenges in their learning. Orchard Primary School has a commitment to recognising needs through constant evaluation of progress and by providing or negotiating for appropriate support when necessary, in consultation with parents. We have provisions in place to ensure our pupils with SEND don’t miss out on any opportunity.