ST. AUGUSTINE’S SCHOOLCONTEXT AND INFORMATION

We are a school at the heart of a local community, amalgamated on 1 April 2013 from St Augustine’s Infant School and St Augustine’s Junior School. The school has two main buildings separated by a playground, but has developed good integration of staff and pupils. We have a 40 place nursery in a third building, which is attached to our local, highly effective SureStart Children’s Centre. We have a strong belief in inclusivity, which can be evidenced through our close support of all children in the school.

Our strong staff team work together to ensure the children are given the best possible opportunity to achieve their individual potential. We offer a high level of expertise and are looking for colleagues who can join our team and work with us to continue to achieve the high standards we have achieved in the past. Curriculum expertise in any area would be welcomed.

Our pupils enter Foundation Stage well below the level achieved by children locally and nationally and their level of achievement is declining annually. By the time they leave Year 6, the children are

doing very well for their starting point, for example, showing that their results for 2011 were at or above national expectations in all areas. We attribute this success to the systems and structures in our school which support effective teaching and learning and ensure quality is experienced by all children in all aspects of their school experience. We are a self-evaluating school and all teachers have a responsibility to monitor and develop their own practice.

The school has an extremely strong and capable wider leadership team, with TLR holders for Communication Language and Literacy, Mathematics, Science and Technology and ICT, as well as this post for a TLR holder with Inclusion Manager/SENCo responsibilities.

The school is very proud of its’ ICT provision, with numerous sets of laptops, iPads, iPad minis, Kindles and even its own radio station. We blog voraciously in all classes, and are extremely keen to be at the cutting edge of technology use in education.

We have a fantastic new wildlife area with bird hide, pond and other opportunities for our children to become closer to nature. This is enhanced by allotment areas for both buildings.

We place an emphasis on concrete, fun experiences and opportunities for our children, backed up by solid and useful learning, developing independence, stamina, problem solving and the building of skills

The children are taken from a wide range of backgrounds, but many start from a place of low social advantage, with little worth being put on learning and education, and parents and carers who find it challenging to interact positively with school. We therefore have a large number of children who attract pupil premium.

History of our school

When the first Kilton schools opened back in 1957, St. Augustine's was a 5 to 11 primary school. Within ten years, numbers of children had risen so much that a new school was built and the site was separated into Infant and Junior schools.

In the mid seventies, Hearing Impaired Units were established at both schools, taking in children from right across the North of the county. In 1984 a much needed nursery was built and in 1989, due to increasing numbers, a mobile classroom was erected at the Junior School. In January 1995 both hearing impaired units closed and a new Primary Individual Needs Centre opened. The staff attached to the Individual Needs Centre work in both schools supporting deaf pupils. Both schools are carpeted to cut down unnecessary noise disturbing the deaf children. In the school we have accommodation for 450 pupils.

We also have a Children’s Centre on site. This building is attached to the Nursery building. This Centre offers day care for children from 0-5 years from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. all year round. There will also be training and family support services offered from the new building.

During the last few years, the heads, staff and parents at both schools have worked hard to return to the ethos of a single school for all children from three to eleven. From 1 April 2013, the two schools amalgamated formally, and the staff have become the one team so long in the making.

The site is attractive and classrooms are spacious. The grounds are well maintained with many mature trees providing a pleasant environment for children. We enjoy good relations with our neighbours. We have a security fence around the site in the interests of safety for children and staff.

We are sure that everyone associated with St. Augustine's School endeavours to ensure our children are happy, safe and are given every opportunity to achieve success.