St John's Upper Holloway C.E Primary School

We are a one form entry primary school, catering for children from 3 to 11 years old. As a church school, we serve the diverse local community and pride ourselves on our supportive, inclusive ethos.

Our vision and values document highlights our commitment to providing all our children with the opportunity and encouragement to excel and achieve successfully in a stimulating and safe environment.

One of the advantages of our small school is the relationships that we develop with our pupils and parents and we work incredibly hard to ensure that the experience every child has at school is a positive and happy one. We always look for ways to further improve our school and some of the key areas that we are focusing on in the year ahead are set out in our School Development Plan (SDP).

We strive to deliver a curriculum that will inspire and challenge our children and hope that the website will provide you with a taste of some of our many highlights. You can find out more about the curriculum in the “Learning and Achievement” section of the website.

We have tried to include most of the information you may need but if you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact the school office and we will do our best to answer any questions you may have. In addition, if you would like a paper copy of anything on our website, please just ask.

Vision & Values

Our vision statement outlines the aspirations we have for our school and its children. A copy of our current vision statement can be seen here.

This is underpinned by our core values. As a Church of England school, much of what to do is shaped by our Christian values such as love, friendship, creativity, perseverance and thankfulness. These link to our shared British values of tolerance, mutual respect, individual liberty, democracy and the rule of law.

We have also created a school booklet to show how these values support the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our children. We have a breakfast club which runs from 8- 8:50am each day. As well as offering a healthy breakfast, children can play a range of games and activities.

Our school gates open at 8:45am and children can come straight in to class, meet their friends and be ready for the register at 9:00am. We ask that parents arrive in plenty of time to ensure a nice calm start to the day for their child. Children in our Nursery and Reception classes also start at 9:00am with parents bringing their children into the Early Years entrance at the front of the school. Parents are welcome to remain with their children to ensure they are settled and ready to learn with their friends.

Our Early Years and key stage 1 classes spend the first part of each day focusing on phonics and reading. We use a very structured approach to teaching phonics called Little Wandle and it is important that children are at school on time ready for the start of the lesson. The reading lesson focuses on children using their phonic knowledge to read the text but there are also opportunities to learn a range of broader reading strategies and develop a love of stories and books. In key stage 2, the children also focus on reading at the start of the day. We have trained all our staff on an approach to reading called "Destination Reader" which focuses on developing reading comprehension and vocabulary. The remainder of the morning is spent focusing on the core subjects of maths and literacy. We try to bring subjects to life through planning tasks that are cross curricular and encourage the children to apply their skills in a range of contexts.

Our daily act of collective worship takes place first thing in the morning on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and at 3:00pm on Monday and Thursday. These provide opportunities to explore our school vision and values through stories, songs and drama. Each Friday we celebrate our children's achievements through class assemblies to which parents are warmly welcomed.

Lunchtimes are staggered with Nursery having lunch first, followed by Reception class. Our older pupils support the younger children at lunchtimes, with Year 6 linking with Year 1 and Year 5 supporting Year 2. Lunchtime is also a time to socialise, play and be active in our playgrounds.

During the afternoons, we focus on the wider curriculum with much of the learning being cross curricular based on a humanities or science theme. Children also swim at the local swimming pool and attend Archway library.

Our school day finishes at 3:30pm for all classes and parents are asked to collect their children promptly if they are not attending the after school club.

Our after school club (Buzz Club) runs until 6:00pm and offers a wide range of activities including arts, sports, cookery and computing. Children receive a warm snack while at the club and we try to meet their preferences wherever possible. You can find out more about our Breakfast and Buzz clubs in the Parents section of the website.