Carlisle Infant School

At Carlisle Infant School we know that high levels of engagement and participation leads to deeper, more meaningful learning. The teachers strive to make lessons creative, exciting and accessible to all. It is very important to us that children have fun as they learn and really enjoy their childhood.

We are a large over-subscribed 3 form entry infant school with 270 pupils on roll. We are fortunate to be situated close to Bushy Park and our pupils benefit from regular visits to this wonderful outdoor environment. We believe that children learn best when they can be active and we have a large outdoor environment including two designated gardens so the children have daily opportunities to develop their skills in a range of subjects out of doors with their friends.

We are a school where children are encouraged to develop their creative talents and we have a commitment to the arts with a large number of creative workshops and visiting artists who come in to school and provide a springboard for the children’s learning.As a busy school community, communication is key and our aim is for the website to be an informative and important first point of contact. Please use the tabs available in this zone to obtain an overview of the school.

Carlisle Infant School is a Community school and admission arrangements are determined in agreement with the local authority. The Admissions Authority for our school is the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames which publishes its entry regulations every year.Our governing body applies the regulations on admissions fairly and equally to all those who wish to attend this school in accordance with the Local Authority.

We are proud of all the children at Carlisle Infant School and we value the individual contributions they make. At Carlisle, we lay solid foundations from which children can grow and flourish.Learning is meaningful, active and creative so that all children leave with a love of learning for life.Through experience, children discover areas of strength, develop confidence and their sense of self-worth.

The introduction of the new primary curriculum in September 2014, has coincided with the federation of Carlisle Infant School and Hampton Hill Junior School. As part of the preparation for both of these, staff from the schools worked together to develop a curriculum which is dynamic, broad, balanced and innovative to ensure that the children enjoy a practical, fun, challenging learning experience that will prepare them for life in 21st Century Britain.

At the fundamental core of our curriculum is a belief that children need to learn core knowledge whilst developing the necessary skills to make them independent thinkers who will progress through secondary school and beyond. As such we have identified a skills progression that the children will follow in each subject area so as to ensure that they can attain this.

We also recognise that children need a curriculum that is wider than the national curriculum. To this end we have incorporated aspects of Enterprise, Sustainability, Globalisation – through our international links and Full International School Status and Local Community Responsibility as well as Religious Education and Relationship Education.We are confident that through the dedication of all our staff we can ensure that all children receive a curriculum that is inspiring and appropriate to them as individuals.

As a Read, Write, Inc. school we have a specific phonics programme because we believe that fluent reading is key to school success. Our programme ensures that no child falls through the net and children move into the KS2 with well developed literacy skills.

The team at Carlisle is committed to making a real difference to children’s lives by giving them a solid foundation in basic skills, whilst developing their confidence and strong self-esteem so that they can shape their lives and achieve their potential.

At Carlisle Infant School we believe that children learn most effectively when they are actively engaged and when they have a real sense of enjoyment in what they are learning. We work hard to ensure that the topics through which we teach the National Curriculum are interesting, exciting and appeal equally to both boys and girls.

We set very high expectations for our pupils and encourage them to take pride in all that they do. We are aspirational in our target setting and continually track the progress of our children. Our children know that through effort and by following the advice of their teachers they can achieve the highest standards in all subjects. We value all subjects equally and will help each child to discover their areas of talent and develop them further whilst also learning and developing new ones.

Our curriculum is broad and balanced and is taught through topics that allow children to make meaningful links with other subjects. We aim for ‘deep’ learning of key skills and concepts allowing children time to apply what they have learned before moving on to new content. The children will be given choice and ownership over their learning, starting each topic with their ideas and questions that can help to shape the topic’s direction and build on the childrens' prior learning and interests.We believe reading to be the most important life skill the children will acquire with us and so we have a dedicated phonics programme, Read, Write, Inc. that helps the children to learn to read as quickly and efficiently as possible. We know that once children can read fluently then they can access all learning.

We pride ourselves on the rich and varied extra curricular opportunities that our children have at CIS.We have an amazing range of clubs that happen before, during and after school.We have high expectations of attendance, commitment and behaviour at these “clubs” and believe that all children should enjoy at least one activity during the week…many enjoy many more.

Some clubs we provide internally and we don’t charge for these. Where we have to bring in external providers, eg a company called Motiv8 parents pay them directly and we provide the space for free.Clubs change on a termly basis and are advertised to the children and in the newsletter. We have strict rules about collection after clubs.