Ryefield Primary School

Ryefield strives for excellence; our job is to make people the best that they can be. Ryefield will be an excellent school where children love learning. We want all our children to achieve the highest standards possible in a thriving multicultural learning environment.

Above all we want our school to touch on the lives of all our children to ensure they grow up to be reflective, self-aware, and resourceful. They are at peace with themselves; empathetic towards others and confident young people.

• providing a challenging, stimulating, caring environment where children can be encouraged to develop to their full potential
• encouraging independence, responsibility, self-discipline and a genuine pride in our achievements and our school
• enabling all children to be granted respect irrespective of age, race, creed, gender, background or ability
• developing every child academically, physically, morally and spiritually
• offering well-planned and appropriately resourced teaching
• equipping our children for the future and to nurture a desire to learn
• showing care and sensitivity in the way we behave with one another in our school and the community

Our curriculum ensures learning is effective, exciting and above all, relevant to the needs of our children.

All pupils will secure firm foundations in English and Mathematics and this underpins a growing excellence in other subjects. Our broad, varied and knowledge-based curriculum offers a diverse range of subjects from Early Years through to Key Stage 2 (KS2). We believe in bringing learning to life, both indoors and out, with an emphasis on engaging and purposeful learning.

Ryefield Primary aims to provide a curriculum that is engaging, balanced and relevant. While emphasis is placed on pupils learning core skills of English and Math's, we place great value on developing the ‘whole child’ and provide an engaging programme of study in all curriculum areas.

Our high expectation of children begins in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Children begin Ryefield Primary in Reception and are regularly assessed throughout the year using Development Matters, with the aim of meeting the Early Learning Goals by the end of the Reception year. These assessments are used to identify key subject areas to inform planning and focus pupils who need to be targeted for specific activities. Pupils begin phonics lessons in Reception, and these continue through into Key Stage 1 (KS1) and sometimes KS2. There is a focus on exploratory play in Reception based around topics and core texts, which pupils access both on a morning and an afternoon.

In KS1, pupils continue their learning journey, taking part in early bird math's, reading and writing lessons every morning. In Year 1 (Yr1), pupils continue to have daily phonics lessons, and for some pupils this will continue into Yr2. Children in Yr2 will also have access to regular Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG) lessons, which are linked to their learning in writing, to allow them to apply and deepen their basic skills. In the afternoon, pupils access the wider curriculum via carefully planned topics. The foundation subjects are delivered as concrete subjects.

Speaking and listening skills are also enhanced in Reception and Yr1 through the school’s oracy programme. Where possible, this is linked to the current topic being taught.

In KS2, pupils again continue their daily diet of rigorous teaching, taking part in early bird math's, reading and writing lessons every morning. In Yr5 and Yr6, focus gradually shifts to the end of Key Stage assessments as pupils are prepared for these tests and the transition into Yr7.

In the afternoon, pupils access the wider curriculum through carefully planned topics and subjects that are taught as concrete subjects.

At Ryefield we place reading at the heart of our curriculum. We aim to deliver a curriculum that enables our pupils to be ready for every stage of their primary education and to be ‘secondary ready’ by the time they leave us in Year 6. We believe that reading is a key tool for life and teaching pupils to become fluent readers is a large part of what we do at Ryefield.

During the reading sessions, there is an emphasis on vocabulary, the retrieval of facts and inference. Novels are used to teach reading as well as a range of non-fiction texts. These texts are carefully chosen to ensure that there is progression and challenge across the school. Ryefield aims to develop a love of reading, so pupils are encouraged to read for pleasure at home and school. Teachers read a variety of high-quality texts to the pupils on a regular basis.

Our school is committed to using work with external advisers and experts who have proven records in developing pupils’ learning in writing. We use this valuable resource to finely tune our provision, share good practice and offer whole school staff continuing professional development (CPD). The school is currently working closely with both Bob Cox and Let’s Think in English.

Our Writer of the Week and our Speller of the Week are awarded high quality books that are made available to the school via Ryefield’s close working relationship with the Children’s Book Project. This brings around 750 books a year into school. These are then gifted to the pupils to promote a love of reading.