Bowker Vale Primary School

Our school is a fantastic place to be; we have wonderfully motivated pupils who love to learn and excellent teachers who love to teach (and learn).

Bowker Vale is a large, two form entry, successful community school catering for around 450 pupils aged from 3 to 11 years. Our last OfSTED judged our school to be ‘Good’ with many 'Outstanding' elements - particularly the Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare of our pupils. We hope that your child will be happy and successful during their time here.

The whole staff team aim to do the best for every child and family in the school and we know that parents, carers and family involvement plays an important part. We really value parental co-operation and support.The national curriculum provides pupils with an introduction to the essential knowledge that they need to be educated citizens. It introduces pupils to the best that has been thought and said; and helps engender an appreciation of human creativity and achievement.

The national curriculum is just one element in the education of every child. There is time and space in the school day and in each week, term and year to range beyond the national curriculum specifications. The national curriculum provides an outline of core knowledge around which teachers can develop exciting and stimulating lessons to promote the development of pupils’ knowledge, understanding and skills as part of the wider school curriculum.

Teachers should set high expectations for every pupil. They should plan stretching work for pupils whose attainment is significantly above the expected standard. They have an even greater obligation to plan lessons for pupils who have low levels of prior attainment or come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Teachers should use appropriate assessment to set targets which are deliberately ambitious.Teachers must also take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English. Monitoring of progress should take account of the pupil’s age, length of time in this country, previous educational experience and ability in other languages.Bowker Vale Primary School seeks to become a centre of excellence for High Standards, enabling each pupil to explore their talents and achieve their full potential. This will be promoted in a welcoming environment of mutual respect ensuring each pupil feels safe, secure and valued.

Children at Bowker Vale use the Internet on a regular basis as part of their learning. In school, we have regular 'e-safety' activities to remind children of the importance of keeping themselves safe online.

At home, sometimes children can be given unsupervised access to the Internet. This, potentially, allows them to access all kinds of society (both good and bad) and bring them virtually into their homes.Building Learning Power is all about helping children learn how to learn. It involves building and developing skills and habits of mind to enable children to face difficulties calmly, confidently and creatively and so be better prepared as lifelong learners.

At Bowker Vale we have developed six learning characteristics which we believe are the things good learners need to be. We have 6 Learning Superheroes to help the children think about these learning powers, we talk about building learning power in lessons and assemblies and celebrate occasions when children have shown their own learning powers.

We also encourage a growth mind-set, which means believing that you can grow your intelligence, aren't afraid of a challenge and view mistakes as one of the best ways to learn.

Governors work as a team we call the 'Governing Body'.They are responsible for making sure the school provides a good quality education. Raising educational standards in school is now a key priority.This has the best chance of happening when there are high expectations of what pupils can achieve. Governors also promote effective ways of teaching and learning when setting the school aims and policies.They do this together with the Head teacher, Mrs Jacques, who is responsible for the day to day management of the school.Every school must have a governing body. The membership will vary according to the type of school.

The governing body at Bowker Vale has 10 members, plus 2 associate members.Governors are at the heart of how a school operates. It is important they get things right. How they do their job affects the interests of pupils, staff morale and how the school is seen by parents and others in the community.

Governors support and challenge the Head by gathering views, asking questions and deciding what's best for the school. They are not there to rubber stamp decisions. They have to be prepared to give and take and be loyal to decisions taken by the governing body as a whole.So long as they act within the law governors are protected from any financial liability for the decisions they take.A governing body is not a supporters club. Governors are responsible for how the school is performing. Following up inspection reports is an important job. Governors should try to be ahead of the game - identifying problems and tackling them in advance.