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Offley Infant School Sandbach
Welcome to Offley Infant School on the web. We hope you enjoy the space that we have created to tell you about our fun packed learning environment.
This is the school – there are 6 classrooms and the Play Environment. The classrooms overlook the school playing field and farming land beyond.
We use the hall for PE, dinners and collective worship as well as live performances by and for the children.
Children use the Play Environment for structured play in mixed age group sessions. The complexity of the constructions they achieve and role plays they create can only be marvelled at.
The central courtyard is an area used by everyone and it serves to enhance the first hand experiences in environmental education. The edge of the playing field is bordered with a 'wild' area. This area provides opportunities for scientific work and wonderful imaginative play.
Excellence for all in a caring and stimulating environment
We aim to:
· support the development of each child intellectually, emotionally, physically, spiritually and creatively.
· nurture sound attitudes to learning about themselves and something of the nature of their world.
· provide first hand experiences in a stimulating, secure and happy environment.
· encourage self-discipline, courtesy and consideration for others.
· work in partnership with parents to support the growth and development of each child.
· ensure that children leave Offley Infant School with memories to treasure.
The professionalism of our committed teaching and non teaching staff is at the heart of realising these aims.
Our children are our future. We want them to be active participants in society - responsible contributors to it and capable of achieving independence. We aim to provide the best quality learning environment, following the National Curriculum.
We believe that all children must receive their full educational entitlement in a learning environment where there is equal opportunity, regardless of gender, race, culture or special need.
AWARDS AND PRAISE FOR OFFLEY INFANT SCHOOL
Quality mark award
The school and the Governing Body have made a commitment to ensure that the teaching of the basic skills to all our pupils is effective. We set realistic and challenging goals for all our pupils and we ensure the progress is regularly monitored and that there is an effective system of intervention to help prevent early difficulties.
All the staff in school motivate our children to achieve the very best across the curriculum, with particular emphasis on basic skills. We provide the appropriate opportunities and the right equipment to be able to do so.
The school was awarded the prestigious Quality Mark from the Basic Skills Agency in June 2000. This was renewed in June 2003.
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A Sandbach School Receives the Highest Praise from Ofsted
A recent inspection of Offley Infant School, Sandbach, has revealed it was an “Excellent School providing an outstanding education for its pupils”. This is believed to be the highest possible award which a school could receive.
In the accolade praising the extremely high achievements gained by the school the Inspector’s report noted “Standards of attainment by seven are very high in reading, writing and mathematics. This is because the very high quality of teaching leads to the pupils becoming very confident learners. They make significant gains in their knowledge and understanding in literacy and numeracy, and in many other areas of learning such as art and design, design and technology, and history and geography.”
“Children make an excellent start to their formal education in the reception classes, built on superbly by the teachers in the rest of the school.” The report went on to praise the Headteacher’s leadership as being outstanding, thereby setting the highest expectations for staff and pupils.
To read the Ofsted report in full click
here
The report is in .pdf - ie Acrobat format - if you have not got the free reader then click here to download it
Investors In People
The School received the ‘Investors in People’ Award in July 2002.
Healthy Schools Award
The school day is busy and lively. The children have the opportunity to work with a range of children and teaching and non teaching staff.
School begins 9.00 am
Morning break - 10.30 - 10.45
Lunch 12.00 - 1.00
Afternoon break 2.30 - 2.45
School ends 3.15 pm
School is open from 8.50 am and you are welcome to bring your child into school. Eventually your child will want to be more independent and come into school alone.
Children are collected from the playground at the end of the day. Please inform the Class Teacher if anyone unknown to the school is collecting your child on your behalf.
We ask that you use the correct pathways at all times to teach good safety habits. For the safety of children please do not drive into the school grounds at the beginning or the end of a school day.
During the day please use the front entrance and press the buzzer to request entry.
We are an infants school progressing from Reception year to Year 2. We currently have 175 children registered.
There are 6 teaching groups of children.
These are organised as follows:
Red and Blue - Reception children
Green and Purple - Year 1 children
Yellow and Orange - Year 2 children
The grouping of children within each class encourages the individual child to work at a level that is most beneficial to his or her personal development. Children are encouraged to integrate across the year groups in the Play Environment.
School meals are cooked in our kitchen and are available at a cost of £1.75 per day - cheques payable to Cheshire County Council rather than to the school.
Payment for the whole week should be sent into school on Monday mornings (or the first day after a closure) in an envelope clearly labelled with the child's name, class and amount enclosed. Late payment gives our clerical staff additional work.
If your child is entitled to free school meals, a form for completion may be obtained from the Secretary or from the District Education Office.
Alternatively, a packed lunch may be brought in to school, but we ask that you encourage a healthy eating pattern by providing a balanced meal. We ask that you do not include sweets or chocolates with these meals or for any other part of the day.
Snacks
We are enthusiastic about encouraging healthy eating habits. We provide a variety of snacks for afternoon break. The range includes apples, pears, oranges, tomatoes or carrots. For morning break children are welcome to bring in a snack of fruit, dried fruit, vegetables or cheese. We are keen that this does not include sweets, cakes, crisps or nuts.
We adhere to the County Guidelines for the administration of Medicines.
There are two main sets of circumstances in which requests may be made to the Headteacher to deal with the administering of medicines to pupils at school, viz:
a) cases of chronic illness or long-term complaints, such as asthma, diabetes or epilepsy.
b) cases where children recovering from a short-term illness are well enough to return to school but are receiving a course of antibiotics, etc.
The child’s own doctor is the best person able to advise whether a child is fit to return to school before the completion of a course of medication.
A form requesting the School to give medication must be completed on all occasions.
School uniform is not compulsory but it is hoped that parents will choose to follow the recommended uniform listed below.
Grey trousers (short or long).
Grey pinafore or skirt.
Grey or white shirt, or white blouse (summer can be white short sleeved polo shirt i.e. collar and three buttons).
V necked blue sweatshirt with school emblem (available from school) or grey v neck jumper or cardigan (white in summer).
Socks - white or grey, tights - white, grey or royal blue.
Shoes - plain dark shoes (no trainers or other casual footwear).
Summer dresses - pale blue/white gingham.
Parents of Reception children may find that their children have difficulty with ties. In this case a polo shirt is quite acceptable. A polo shirt also saves time for teachers before and after P.E.
We ask that no jewellery is worn other than plain studs in pierced ears. We also ask that long hair is tied back.
All clothing and footwear should be named.
Sweatshirts and ties are available for sale in school.
P E equipment
Shorts and Tee shirt or leotard and slip-on pumps in a named pump bag.
Children with known Special Educational Needs will be welcomed into school with the recommendation of an Educational Psychologist or other professional body with relevant information concerning the child and where it has been pre-determined that we have the facilities to meet the needs of the child (i.e. physical disability). In common with every other child in the school they will have an entitlement to the National Curriculum, to be fully integrated into the life of the School and to receive all the support that can be given to meet the Special Educational Need having regard to the Code of Practice.
We are aware that we share responsibility with parents for the children in our care. Every effort is made to provide the care any responsible parent would give. Children are supervised at play and general rules of common sense and courtesy apply with a degree of independence encouraged, based on the belief that true discipline is not imposed but is developed from within each child. There is no corporal punishment within this school. Bullying is not tolerated, nor is discrimination of any kind. We comply with Cheshire County Council’s Child Protection procedures and their guidelines on Restraint and Control of Pupils. Health and Safety procedures in school are reviewed yearly by the Governing Body.
We are really pleased to welcome parents into school to help in a variety of ways, with baking, language/maths games, computing, photocopying, sewing, art and craft, mounting children's work, or on educational visits. A note is sent out at the beginning of the Autumn term asking for your support, but we welcome your skills and expertise at any time.
There is a Parent Teacher Association to which all parents automatically belong. We are grateful to parents who offer to help on the committee and to those who offer assistance for special events. Very successful fund raising events are held throughout the year.
We look forward to working with parents as partners, we need co-operation and support in all that we do, for the growth and development of each child depends so much on the relationship between home and school.
An attendance record is maintained for all pupils and absences should be reported as soon as possible. A telephone call on the first day of absence to explain symptoms or illness is sufficient and this can then be recorded as authorised. Children who arrive in school late, without prior arrangement, will have this noted in the attendance register and unauthorised absences have to be recorded. When your child returns to school please send a covering letter explaining the absence.
Family holidays during term time
It is accepted that in some circumstances family holidays may need to be
taken during term time. For our records we note these absences and
would be grateful if you would inform the class teacher in advance,
should a term time holiday be necessary. A maximum of two weeks in any
one academic year can be approved as authorised absence. Please could
you notify us of any term time holidays using our pink holiday form
which is available from the School Office
or click here to open in Word to print
School trips are an important part of the school year and children’s learning at Offley Infant School. We encourage parents to make a contribution to the cost of the school trip for each child. We do recognise that this can cause difficulties in some circumstances and we use either school funds or funds raised by the PTA to subsidise these costs.
We are required to have a formal policy on charging for school trips under the The 1988 Education Reform Act and the governing body have recommended that "a policy of charging for the board and lodging element of a trip and a policy of remission of such charges for such pupils whose parents are in receipt of income support or family credit be adopted and that a policy of funding activities by means of seeking voluntary contributions from parents where necessary be adopted".
Please support the school in ensuring that your children develop good
road safety habits. It is important that:
The children cross Offley Road at the place where Mrs
Roberts, our
school crossing patrol lady, stands. It is the safest place to cross.
When entering the school grounds the children use the path up
to the mini zebra crossing and not the driveway.
Only staff and people with permits are allowed to park within the school
grounds at the beginning and end of the school day. It is also not
permissible to turn vehicles around within the school grounds.
Together with the Juniors we will be monitoring the situation carefully.
It is in the interest of your child’s safety that there is as little
traffic movement as possible at these busy times.