Duncombe Primary School

Duncombe is a vibrant, happy and inclusive two form entry school that serves the local community that is rich in diversity. We aim to ensure that all pupils at Duncombe have the highest aspirations, attain their full potential and enjoy learning in a school that is stimulating, challenging and creative. Inclusion is at the heart of our school and we believe that every child has the right to be successful, confident and well-prepared for the world.

We provide a broad and balanced curriculum that will prepare children for secondary school and the world beyond that. The learning experiences for our children are enhanced by opportunities to work with specialists, artists and professionals as well as many educational visits which give them a wide understanding of the world around them. We are ambitious for all of our children and work hard with parents and families to support their learning and development. We have an enthusiastic and hard-working staff team who are committed to ensuring that every child at Duncombe achieves their full potential.

Visitors are warmly welcomed and we look forward to showing you around the school so that you can see for yourself what makes our school so special.

Duncombe supports children to learn and achieve in a supportive, high quality, aspirational environment, leading to a successful transition to secondary school. We are working together to continue to raise standards across the school, striving towards excellence. We have high expectations of all our learners. We develop our children’s sense of purpose, understanding, motivation and ability to learn.

The ethos was launched in September 2020, and since then our staff have been working with the children of Duncombe to develop a deep understanding of each value and the associated behaviours so that they can achieve more in all aspects of their learning and future lives.

We created symbols for each of our core values. These can be seen around the school as a constant reminder to the children, staff and other stakeholders about our core values. Here they are with some examples of how these characteristics can be developed

The Early Years consists of a two year old provision, a Nursery class and two Reception classes. Teaching and learning takes place in and outdoors using a range of whole class, small group and 1:1 activities. The learning environment is set up to provide continuous provision for each area of learning. This encourages children to access resources freely and become independent learners by following their own interests as well as learning about the termly topics that are planned for.

All children in Year 1 and 2 attend a weekly assembly which covers local, global and moral issues. We also have singing assemblies and opportunities to celebrate achievements, in order to develop our sense of community. As the children move through KS1, they are encouraged to become increasingly independent and take more responsibility for their behaviour and learning.

The Middle Phase includes Years 3 and 4. This phase represents a crucial stage in our children’s academic and personal development. The transition from KS1 to KS2 can be challenging so we support pupils by focusing on developing their independent learning skills and fostering a nurturing environment that allows children to learn about themselves and others.

The Upper Phase consists of Years 5 and 6. Children in the Upper Phase begin to assume whole school responsibilities. Many Upper Phase children have the opportunity to become a Bully Buster, a Stair Monitor or a Playground Friend. In the Upper Phase children have the chance to take on responsibilities and are encouraged to take on more nurturing roles throughout the school.