School Improvement Priorities 2022-23
The School Improvement Plan is the document which drives ongoing improvements and developments in school. The Governing Body is responsible for evaluating the progress made against the plan and has an approved process in place for regular and effective monitoring. At Pinewood we never ever sit tight, we are always striving for improvement and excellence in all that we do. Our main school priorities this year are:
Historically attendance data at Pinewood has been above National figures. However, this has been hugely affected by the pandemic and wider social issues at present. Despite much work and detailed records showing the steps school has taken to improve attendance for all children our attendance rate at school is at an all-time low. We need this to improve to support children’s outcomes.
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2. To revisit whole school approaches to helping our children know and remember more including the growth of a whole school consistent approach of retrieval practice
We have been working on approaches to supporting children’s ability to remember for a few years now. We recognise the need for intelligent repetition as nothing has been learnt until if goes into your long term memory. This can be seen through our approaches to maths, writing, geography and history for example. We ensure we ‘over learn’ and repeat knowledge and skills and ensure our curriculum is not ‘over full’ leading to confusion for young children. All teachers are aware of how memory works and have had much CPD around working memory and cognitive load. Retrieval practice has been developed across school with lots of recapping and revisiting to consolidate learning through quizzes, starters etc.
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3. To further develop a culture of aspiration within the whole school community
At Pinewood we have a culture of striving for excellence and never sitting still. This is true of all our staff and leadership and we try to instil this determination into our children. This culture of ambition and aspiration is also evident in many of our families that join us in supporting their children with aspiration and learning. Attendance at performances, stay and play sessions, lunches, special events are extremely well attended. It is engagement with us in regards to reading practise at home for some of our children that we need to improve as 30% of our children last year did not read 3 times a week at home last academic year. We also want to increase attendance in after school clubs (KS1) so that all children access these at least once over the year. Only 42% of free school meals children attended an after school club for enrichment last year which is much lower than percentages prior to lockdown. We would like ALL children in KS1 to partake in an out of school enrichment activity with us throughout the year.
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4. To meet the needs of an increasing amount of children in school with very complex SEND needs
We are a very inclusive school and support children with special educational needs very well indeed. We benefit from the expertise of Claire Al-Hussaini, our SENDCo and Deputy Head Teacher who also works as a family SENDCo for many other schools.
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5. To implement successfully a new phonics scheme to ensure consistency across school and the needs of all children are met
Although we are happy with our Phonics teaching until we get 95%+ there is room for improvement. We are adopting a new scheme to ensure consistency and that the needs of all pupils are met.
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