Cottesbrooke Infant and Nursery School

Our vision is to provide a Caring, Inspiring, Nurturing and Successful environment for children to learn and thrive. The feel and atmosphere of the school has been likened to that of a village school although we are in the midst of Britain's second city. Our partnerships with other settings and relationships with families are a particular strength of the school.

Cottesbrooke School opened as a combined Junior and Infant in 1933. In 1968 a new Junior School was built in Cedars Avenue at which point the school separated. The Infant School remained in the "temporary buildings" with a Nursery added in 1971.

The Infant School was rebuilt in 1998 and the children are now accommodated in modern classrooms with all the facilities required for modern teaching methods including a separate library, specialist teaching areas, a networked computer system and interactive whiteboards and visualisers in all the classrooms.

On 1st April 2014 the school became an academy called Cottesbrooke Infant & Nursery School. The decision to convert was made by the governors following our successful Ofsted report in January 2013. We are a converter academy which means that the governors run the school rather than a sponsor or the local authority. This gives us greater freedom to make choices for the benefit of the children; however the school still has a good relationship with the local authority.

Cottesbrooke Infant & Nursery School is a popular school within the local community, educating successive generations since 1933, with many past pupils returning as parents themselves! The school’s most recent Ofsted Inspection (February 2017) rated the school Good and said that the school is an inclusive and positive learning community. As a result, pupils are enthusiastic and well-behaved learners. The staff value pupils’ work and efforts and encourage pupils to succeed and enjoy school.

The school provides education for children aged 3 to 7 years over a four year period. This time is divided into two phases – Early Years Foundation Stage which consists of the Nursery and Reception classes and Key Stage 1 which consists of the Year 1 and Year 2 classes.The Nursery class has capacity for 78 children in total, 39 in the morning session and 39 in the afternoon session. The nursery offers part time and full time places. Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 each have capacity for 90 children organised into classes of 30 children.

The teachers consult with parents/carers formally on three occasions during the year to discuss children’s individual progress and at the end of the year a written report is completed. However, parents/carers are welcome to meet with staff, including the Head Teacher, at other times as we endeavour to maintain an open door policy.

The school has a very committed group of supporters (Cottesbrooke Infant School Supporters – CISS) who organise a variety of successful fund raising activities which support a variety of school projects and initiatives. This has included the funding and resourcing of a Sensory Room and playground equipment and in the past has funded such purchases as all-weather suits for Foundation Stage children. All parents/carers are automatically members of CISS and are welcome to join the organising committee at any time. Meetings are held approximately once per month.

Throughout the year the children have an opportunity to join an after school club. We are currently using some of our Sports Premium to fund a coach who is running various sports activity clubs after school. A Rainbows Guides group is also run by a member of staff who is also a Guides Leader.

Cottesbrooke Infant & Nursery School sees educational support for parents/carers as part of its duty and classes for parents/carers in the past have included workshops on healthy eating, happy parenting, reading, writing and maths skills and classes for English as an Additional Language. Our Senior Learning Mentor has organised services to support parents/carers with various problems for example around housing and debt management; she also arranges parenting classes.

We are proud to be inclusive and culturally diverse, teaching children how to get along in our society. We also focus on the essential basic skills of reading, writing and maths which underpin our curriculum. Cottesbrooke Infant & Nursery School strives to ensure that all children fulfil their potential academically and develop positive life skills for the future.

Cottesbrooke Infant & Nursery School promotes the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. We also promote the universal virtues of courage, compassion, self-discipline, justice and humility. These values and virtues form part of the teaching of all areas of learning in our school.

Actively promoting these values and virtues means challenging opinions or behaviours in school that are contrary to fundamental British values. Staff do not have to ‘promote’ teachings, beliefs or opinions that conflict with their own, but it is unacceptable for staff to promote discrimination against people or groups on the basis of their belief, opinion or background.