Marks Gate Infant School

Marks Gate Infant School is a special place full of learning, laughter and friendship and where children are happy, feel safe and are valued.At Marks Gate Infant School, we aim to provide the best possible education in a stimulating and creative environment. The school develops a love for learning inspired by high-quality teaching and developing and building upon individual strengths and talents. We expect all children in our school to reach age-related levels, in line with national expectations, as a minimum and work hard to ensure barriers to learning are removed so that every child reaches their full potential.

Children educated at Marks Gate should be curious, committed and confident. We encourage a positive partnership between pupils, home, school and the wider community. The school values and has a strong relationship with its community. The children in our care develop into individuals who are honourable and fair; they are persevering and will lead happy and rewarding lives.

Our Interim Special Educational Needs co-ordinator for the Infant School is Mrs Kate Mayhew and for the Junior School is Ruth Mercer. Both are Na SENCo accredited.Every pupil at Marks Gate has the opportunity to follow all National Curriculum subjects.We are committed to narrowing the attainment gap between SEND and non-SEND pupils. We do this through a variety of different provisions which may include after school interventions, short-term specific interventions, home-school interventions and other learning interventions developed on an individual needs basis.

Our school council provides an opportunity for children to have a voice and understand that their opinions matter.It also provides a basis for active learning of life skills such as speaking and listening, problem solving and encourages them to voice an opinion and express their feelings about issues. At the start of the year, each class is asked for a class representative for the school council. Children can give a short speech to explain why and how they would best represent their class. The class votes and the child is chosen.The representatives from each class form the school council. The school council meet once a term to discuss issues raised by the children in their classrooms.The school council discuss these issues and try to come to an agreement of what can be carried to solve these issues.

In accordance with The Department for Education we aim to actively promote British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance and understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law.Schools, through their curriculum, are legally bound to actively promote fundamental British values.

Nursery is an exciting and important step in your child’s development. Research shows that good experiences in Nursery prepare children well for their lives ahead. It is here that they learn to share and make friends. They learn about being independent and try things for the first time on their own. They take their first steps along a life long learning journey that could lead them almost anywhere.Here at Marks Gate Infant we hope to support your child and their individual needs seeing them grow and develop in a safe, caring, stimulating and fun environment. We also hope that this is an experience that you will enjoy and that you grow to feel that this is as much your Nursery as it is your child’s.

Our Parent Support Advisor is Pam Webb. She is a qualified nursery nurse with many years of experience. She has worked with children with different abilities and from diverse backgrounds within school. Her experience of child development and the education system will be invaluable in her role as a parent support advisor.

Recently we had lots of snow in Marks Gate. The children and teachers in Daisies Class enjoyed going outside to explore the snow! We all wrapped up warmly in our coats, hats, gloves and scarves. Daisies Class have enjoyed a visit to Marks Gate Library! Some of Daisies Class parents came to help us and we all walked to the library together. When we arrived we were very quiet to make sure that we didn’t disturb anybody else who was using the library. Marcus works in the library and he told us how important it is to take care of books. Can you remember some of the ways to take care of books? Daisies Class looked at the children’s books and children with a library card took books home. Do you have a library card? What library books have you borrowed? Finally, we all listened carefully whilst Marcus read us a funny story. When learning about our topic ‘Head to Toe’, Daisies Class have been using playdough to make their faces and the faces of their friends. First, we had to look carefully at our faces and see what features we have. We then had to use our hands and tools to shape the dough and create our dough faces.