‘Nurturing Individual Excellence’

Governor Visit to School - 18th November 2019

Date: 19th Nov 2019 @ 2:28pm

On Thursday 14th November, Mrs Houldsworth and Mrs Jones stayed behind after school to explain and discuss with Governors the development of our school’s curriculum. A huge amount of work has gone into this new curriculum; many hours of hard work by all staff involved.  I’ve said it before, but we really have a wonderful group of teachers and teaching assistants who work tirelessly to ensure our curriculum is relevant and appropriate for all learners and it is still evolving and improving daily.

We learnt about the development of our new curriculum since we became an academy and how this has allowed the staff to think more about what young people will need in the future. We have worked alongside other primary schools, as well as Alsager School, to ensure we are planning and preparing an engaging learning experience for our children, constantly thinking about what careers and jobs our children will do in the future. Some of these have not even been thought of yet, so we need to provide our children with skills and the ability to think for themselves and utilise their learning in different situations. The world of work may seem a long way ahead, but in reality, it’s just round the corner for some of our young people in the upper key stage 2 classes!

We also learnt how the staff had thought about progression of skills and how this would look in the children’s books. Several governors joined me to look at a few of the children’s books and we can already see that there is obvious progression from year to year. Obviously, it is still early in the year, but you could see how each year group was building upon previous learning and that some of the learning was challenging, but attainable to most children. We also discussed how learning is adapted for those who needed additional support too.

I’m sure all of the Governors are looking forward to looking in those books later in the year and seeing even more evidence of progression. Likewise, I’m looking forward to talking to children and staff alike to see how they feel our Excalibur curriculum is developing. It’s very early days and it’s inevitable that we will need to make a few changes along the way. 

One thing that did catch my eye though was this… “What does learning look like for “Jo Bloggs” in our school?”  It’s interesting to think about it through the eyes of a child. As parents and carers, you will really be thinking about your own child… “What is learning like for my child in this school? As a Governor, we have to try and think about every child and ensure that they have a positive experience in our school. Likewise, we also have to think about our staff and the many pressures they are under too… our school needs to ensure that balance for everyone in our school community.

Finally, I finished off my Health and Safety tour of school for this term with Mr Pickin and it’s lovely to see our school looking so warm and well kept, tidy and clean. Many thanks must go to Mr Pickin, to our cleaner, Mrs Moore and to Mrs Hilditch who keeps an eye on things around school. It’s really important for us all to remember how we can all do our little bit to help keep school tidy and clean and it’s lovely to see that our children put their litter in the bins!

Jo Bain

Excalibur Primary School

Ivy Lane, Alsager, ST7 2RQ

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