Coteford Infant School

Coteford Infant School is a mainstream school with the privilege of additional funds to support approximately 7 children with physical disabilities. We are an infant school with two classes in each year group, as well as a fabulous nursery. Many of our nursery children move up into the main school.

Our school is on one level, designed to integrate pupils with physical disabilities, with all children being fully included and working together in our nursery and infant classes. Coteford Infant School environment is well maintained, safe and vibrant. The playground has many exciting features including the Magical Theatre, the Butterfly Garden and a conservation area that is a source of fascination to our learners. We have a large school hall, equipped with theatre lighting to support sports, drama and special events.

We are proud of our school and our children. We hope that you find our website both informative and enjoyable. If you would like to visit the school or ask for any other information, please call 01895 462395 and speak to Miss Harris or email to office@cotefordinfantschool.co.uk.

We believe that all children can achieve well and we highly value working together in partnership with parents and carers from the Coteford family to set and achieve high expectations for our children. We are a mainstream school, with inclusivity at the heart of our ethos and approach to teaching and learning. Our children are active learners and we aim always to deliver high quality lessons that are stimulating, memorable and fun. Children are encouraged to “have a go” and become independent as well as motivated learners. We believe that mistakes and challenges are opportunities to learn and move forward. Our aim is to nurture curiosity, resilience, independence, tolerance and respect. We are passionately committed to achievement, emotional well-being and to promoting learning in a way that leads to the fullest development of each child.

Our intent is to give our pupils the best start in life, one that enables our children to do their best to be the very best citizens that they are able to become. Entry to nursery and infant school is an important transition that marks the start of a child’s learning journey through the education system. Our intent is to develop resilient and independent learners, who leave Coteford Infant School well-equipped academically, socially and emotionally, and fully prepared for their next phase of education. We believe that learning should be fun and that children should have opportunities to learn and develop skills in a range of contexts that are meaningful to them. We believe that it is important that children start from the practical and have lots of opportunities to talk, learn and practise using new vocabulary. We have designed a curriculum at Coteford Infant School that considers the different experiences children may have had before they join our school, different learning styles, different learning needs and a variety of interests.

Whilst year group teachers plan collectively to deliver a curriculum that meets the needs of their year group in the context of national expectations, individual teachers adapt the curriculum so that it meets the needs of the pupils in each class. We identify memorable experiences to support learning and ask for children’s views about questions they want answered when planning a topic. Research indicates that learning equates to a change in long term memory. Therefore, throughout the academic year, we plan for the children to reflect upon what they have already learnt, and to retrieve information. We know children do best when learning is well planned and includes links to other curriculum areas, most especially when this provides opportunities for children to retrieve and consider information that they have learnt in previous lessons. We offer both challenge and support, and we encourage children to understand that mistakes and “being stuck” are chances and challenges to learn something new. Our curriculum enables the children to develop as critical thinkers and to problem solve, giving time to work individually and collaboratively with others, along with opportunities to be creative as well as time to practise skills within carefully structured lessons. Within the current climate, not knowing whether we are in the midst of or moving towards the end of a pandemic, we implement our curriculum with a focus on emotional well-being.