Enriching Lives
Cradley C of E Primary School is a small school that values standards and achievement.
We are extremely proud of all that goes on here. As our website demonstrates, the children at Cradley Primary School are supported in their learning by dedicated staff, governors and parents.
I encourage you to browse around our website - you will find details of school events, visitors and activities that serve to enliven the curriculum, alongside information about our after-school clubs and extra-curricular activities in which your children can participate.
Don't forget to visit our Calendar section, for a comprehensive lisiting of all of the important forthcoming term dates - make sure you have your diaries handy. I look forward to seeing you in school!
Best Wishes
Mr Adam Greaves
Headteacher
Head Teacher's Vision
As we move towards the culmination of my first full year in charge, the staff and I have been reflecting on the progress that we have made this year. When I wrote back in September that we would be looking forward to a visit from Ofsted at some point this year, I was not really expecting two weeks later. The view of Ofsted that we are a ‘good’ school was the view shared by the staff and the Governors and we were delighted that Ofsted recognised our achievements and the plans we had put in place to develop the school further.
Now, almost a year on from some of those initiatives, we are in a process of reflection and evaluation to determine our priorities for the next academic year. It was only while sitting in a staff meeting recently, that we put together the list of new ideas and initiatives that we have started, and that list proved to be far longer than we had envisaged.
We have introduced a structured phonics scheme to support reading and writing skills in the Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. This has been a large investment for the school in terms of resources and training, but we are very pleased with the progress of the children and the feedback from parents. We also looked at the quality of the curriculum and have moved this year to a more ‘creative curriculum’, using cross-curricular topics on the afternoons that have really enthused the children’s learning.
The previous 2006 Ofsted had highlighted the need to have a greater understanding of and greater use of assessment data. As a school, we have revamped our assessment structures this year, introducing targets for the children and sharing that information with you in the changed Parent’s Evenings. We have introduced Raising Attainment Profiles (RAP sheets) that we use to ensure all children are targeted to ensure that the best possible learning takes place. Termly progress meetings are held between the staff and myself to monitor the progress of every single child in the school.
Perhaps the biggest challenge that the school and Governors have risen to this year, was the closure of the Magic Moments Nursery. In December we were faced with a difficult decision, whether to try and set up our own, or to have no Nursery Provision. We decided to go for it! Now, four months after opening, we are full to our present staffing capacity. A wonderful achievement. We have relied on the support of our community and Governors to open the Nursery and to Karen, Mandy and their group of volunteers to run the Nursery on a day-to-day basis. We are eagerly awaiting the Nursery’s Ofsted, sometime soon.
We started the year with 100 children and I spoke about the need to ensure that Cradley was a place that parents chose to send their children to. At present our numbers have increased to 111.
All these improvements to the academic structures of the school and the changes to the Adventure Playground and Sport’s Day, have ensured a very busy year for all the school staff. We are very lucky to have such a hard working and dedicated staff.
We will continue to refine and develop our vision for the future of Cradley CE Primary and we look forward to working in partnership with you further.
Adam Greaves
Headteacher
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CRADLEY NEWS May 17th (2) (57)
