Independent Schools Association
The School Day
Between 8.30 and 9.00 pupils are greeted, on entry to the school, by a senior member of staff. They shake hands and learn to make eye contact when they say “Good Morning”
They make their way to their class rooms where they meet with their class teachers. Pupils hand in their Homework and Homework Diaries and there is time to generally organise themselves for the day ahead. Each pupil has a Homework Diary into which they write their Homework on a daily basis and this is counter-signed by their parent.
Class registration is at 8.55a.m by which time pupils should be organised for the day.
Twice a week pupils attend school assemblies and these are held immediately after registration. The other three mornings our pupils take part in class based PSHE lessons.
The first part of the morning’s lessons starts at 09:10 with lessons until a morning break at 10.40. Lessons resume at 11.00 until lunch at 12.30.or 1.00. Lunchtime lasts for one hour and a packed lunch is eaten in the classroom supervised by school staff.After which pupils have supervised play in the playground.
Afternoon lessons start at 1.30 or 2.00 depending on start time and finish at 3.15 for the Reception class and 3.30 for the rest of the school..
We aim, where possible, to teach the Core Curriculum subjects in the morning.
Pupils are dismissed from the front door at 3.30 when they shake hands with their teacher and then are then passed over to the adult nominated to collect them.
From 3.45, the school runs many different clubs which any pupil can join and most of these finishes at 4.45.
The Curriculum
At Buxlow we aim to deliver a wide, well structured and balanced curriculum.
In the Upper School, we build on the strong foundations laid in the Lower School. Right from the Reception class pupils are taught by specialist teachers for French and Music. In Year 2 we introduce specialist teaching for ICT and from Y3 we now also extend the range of recreational activities and pupils start to travel by coach to Vale Farm twice a week for swimming and sporting activities. Year 5 and 6 year marks the start of the serious preparation for entrance exams in the Spring Term of Y6.
Y6 is essentially the final preparation year for entrance exams. The Y6 pupils will have regular (most likely fortnightly) formal practice of papers in the Autumn term leading up to their exams in January.
Once the exam period is over, the Y6 pupils spend the rest of the year engaged in different aspects of the curriculum and enjoy such experiences as running a small business in competition with one another.
We have robust systems of internal assessment and tracking procedures and these ensure that our teaching is informed. Differentiation within the lessons is the norm. Formal assessment results are shared with parents and regular methods of reporting to parents are firmly in place and we keep these under regular review.
