School Awards
Basic Skills Quality Mark
In June 2018 the school successfully renewed the Basic Skills Quality Mark.
The following 3 strengths were identified in relation to the Elements of the Quality Mark:
- CPD is a significant strength at Keston Primary School.
- Staff questionnaires are used to gather information on staff skills, knowledge and understanding English and mathematics.
- Training is arranged on the basis school improvement priorities and individual needs.
- English and mathematics leaders attend relevant external training and disseminate it to the rest of the staff.
- Recent school based CPD has included, mathematics and reasoning, reading and phonics and aspects of quality first teaching including planning and questioning.
- Teachers are participating in peer triads, where best practice is shared and teachers have time to reflect on their practice and learn from each other. Best practice is also disseminated by less experienced teachers observing outstanding practitioners.
- Some teachers are engaged on action research projects this academic year and on completion their findings will be shared with the wider staff team.
- The high quality CPD at Keston has led to well above average pupil achievement in reading, writing and mathematics. (Elements 6 and 7)
2. Mathematics teaching is well organised and effective with outcomes that are strong across the school.
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- The subject is well led by an experienced mathematics leader.
- There is a clear emphasis on fluency, recall and reasoning in all mathematics lessons.
- Times Table Rock Stars has proved to be successful at engaging pupils and improving their recall.
- Recent CPD has focussed on the structure of lessons, reasoning questions and sharing good practice.
- There are weekly open ended investigations to help develop mathematical thinking.
- Targets for mathematics are in pupils’ books, and these are reviewed regularly by class teachers with the children.
- Working walls are used in classrooms to record steps in learning, key mathematical language and stem sentences, pictorial representations and misconceptions.
- They are used as interactive knowledge organisers, supporting pupils’ self–assessment of ‘What I need to do and ‘What I need to know’.
- Regular book scrutiny, with key development points fed back to individual teachers and to the wider staff, is leading to even more consistency in approaches to mathematics teaching across the school. (Elements: 6,7,8,9)
3. Despite the impact of the pandemic, the partnership with parents has been strengthened.
- Prior to the first lockdown the school offered parents a range of curriculum workshops on phonics, reading, writing and mathematics. Some of these continued virtually during the lockdowns, such as phonics and curriculum workshops for nursery and reception parents.
- Particularly during the last period of home-schooling parents/carers gained a clear insight into what their children were learning through the daily virtual English and mathematics lessons.
- These together with information on the school website ensured parents/carers were well equipped to support their children with home-learning. Topic webs and key learning documents are sent home to parents/carers every half term and they highlight learning and where to access further information for home learning opportunities in reading, writing and mathematics. (Element 9)
Healthy Schools - Silver Award
In June 2021 we were delighted to be awarded the London Healthy Schools Silver Award.
The award is sponsored by the Mayor of London and was awarded to recognise our work in supporting children's health and mental wellbeing.
As part of achieving the Healthy Schools Silver award, we created an action plan to improve the lunchtime experience for all children who eat together at lunchtimes. School Council will be working alongside our Lunchtime Supervisors to try and make the dining experience and calmer and more enjoyable time for everyone involved.
STARS Accreditation – Silver
STARS (Sustainable Travel: Active, Responsible, Safe) is Transport for London's travel plan accreditation programme which provides a framework and guidance for nurseries, schools, colleges and academies to put in place a travel plan at the same time as applying for STARS accreditation.
STARS rewards educational establishments for their achievements and commitment to encourage safer more active travel behaviour such as walking, cycling and road safety. The scheme helps identify issues, looks at how pupils and staff currently travel to school, sets targets, monitors progress and celebrates success.
I am pleased to advise you that following the school’s work on the Travel Plan last academic year, led by Miss Nice and the Junior Road Safety Officers, means we have been awarded the Silver Award.
