Nightingale Primary School

Our diverse and exciting curriculum gives children many opportunities to find and develop their talents. Our dedicated staff includes specialist language and maths teachers and a team of learning mentors dedicated to teaching children how to increase their wellbeing through activities such as cookery, sport, gardening and looking after our school beehives. In nursery and reception classes the children follow the curriculum based on the foundation stage. The children are expected to acquire skills and knowledge to enable them to develop into self motivated learners. In delivering our curriculum, we aim to develop the whole child emotionally, socially and academically.Careful records are kept of your child’s progress and you are kept fully informed through termly targets, parents evenings and annual reporting. All pupils develop the practice of home-school reading through taking home books on a regular basis to share and read with parents/carers in the early stages.

Places will be offered to children using the admissions criteria shown below. Some places are given to children with SEN statements. You can apply for a reception class place in a Hackney school from September 1 2009, regardless of whether you live in or outside Hackney. You can list up to three state-maintained primary schools in Hackney in order of preference. For Nursery places or places in any other year groups you should apply to the school directly. Please note that attending the Nursery class does not automatically guarantee a place in the Reception class as those places are allocated by the Learning Trust.

At Nightingale School we believe in the concept of life long learning and the idea that both adults and children learn new things every day. We fervently believe that learning should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone; it should be fun! Through our teaching we aim to equip children with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to be able to make informed choices about the important things in their lives. We believe that people learn best in different ways. At our school we provide a rich and varied learning environment that allows children to develop their skills and abilities to their fullest potential.

Our after school club provision provides opportunities for enrichment through activities such as taekwondo, ballet, cookery, debating and art. Our music provision encompasses individual and group tuition on a range of instruments, a talented choir and whole school singing assemblies as well as links with professional musicians who work with our school.

We work closely with our parents and our community providing opportunities for everybody to feel part of the Nightingale family. If you would like to visit our school please contact the office; we love to welcome visitors and showcase what makes Nightingale such a special place to learn.

Pupil Premium is funding allocated to schools for the purpose of boosting the attainment of pupils from low income families. It is intended to enable schools to provide targeted support to help children reach their full potential.

Nightingale offers a variety of exciting and enjoyable clubs which range from sporty, artistic and musical to cookery. At Nightingale, we have clubs which explore language and culture, food and the environment. Children have fantastic fun, make new friends and develop skills, interests and talents.These clubs are led by members of the Nightingale team, and tutors from the school community and beyond. Take a peek at the Spring Newsletters attached which detail what’s on offer, pop in and sign up and join in.

Teachers continually monitor children’s progress. Feedback is given to the child regularly, both orally and through marked work. On-going assessment underpins the planning of work appropriate for children of different abilities and at different stages of development. Detailed records are essential to this planning.Once a year more formal assessments are undertaken in English and Maths, to assess each child’s progress and to provide information about the year group as a whole, so that the school is able to set targets and evaluate its success in relation to individual year groups.We set whole school curriculum and individual child targets each term to work towards in Maths and English.

SATs are administered nationally during the summer term and are designed to provide a standardised measure across the country against which the achievements of children can be judged at the end of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2.

We expect high standards of behaviour, respect and courtesy from all children and adults in our community, to create environment in which all children can be happy and work effectively. We believe that good behaviour is based on self-esteem and mutual respect.Incidents of name-calling, bullying, racism or any aggressive behaviour are dealt with firmly. Children are not expected to ‘hit back’ if they are hurt but to seek help from a member of staff.

We encourage children to resolve their disputes by discussions. In the first instance, any behaviour problems are dealt with by the class teacher. If they persist or become more serious, then the Deputy and ultimately the Headteacher will become involved, as will parents.Parents will be informed of any major incidents involving their children. Parents are asked to inform class teachers of any problems that children are worried about.

Every child’s welfare is of paramount importance. We try to ensure each child is safe and happy, and we take seriously any concerns about a child’s welfare. As with all schools in Hackney we follow the local Child Protection Procedures. The Headteacher is the designated Child Protection Officer at this school.If you have worries about any particular child’s well-being please speak to a class teacher, Headteacher or Deputy Head. The school respects personal and confidential information, however, if we have particular concerns about a child we may be required to contact our Schools Attendance Officer or the Social Services Department.
The Friends’ of Nightingale is a school, community and fundraising committee run by parents and carers of children in the school, and some of the staff and school governors. Funds raised help provide all those little extras that enhance the children’s lives in school.