Shireland Hall Primary Academy Prospectus

Principal: Ruth Leask
Executive Principal: Travis Latham
Shireland Hall Primary Academy
Montague Road, Smethwick, B66 4PW
Telephone: 0121 558 6331
Fax: 0121 558 6331
Email: enquiries@shirelandhall.sandwell.sch.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @ShirelandHall
Find us on Facebook: Shireland Hall Primary Academy
Shireland Hall
Primary Academy
Prospectus
2 Our Ethos
Welcome
3 Our Aims
4 Learning & Teaching
As Principal, I am delighted to welcome you to
Shireland Primary Academy. We are an Academy that
works as part of a successful Federation with George
Betts Primary Academy. We are proud to be part of
The Elliot Foundation Academies Trust.
8 Community
Our Academy is committed to working with children,
families and the local community in supporting
children to be Successful Learners, Confident
Individuals and Responsible Citizens.
We value high standards of education as well
as developing children’s sense of self and their
responsibilities to the wider community. Our outcomes
are great but we are always striving to achieve more
for the benefit of our children and families.
10 Activities
12 Our Learning Environment
16 Well-being
“Live as if you were to die
tomorrow. Learn as if you
were to live forever”
Mahatma Ghandi
We are fortunate not only to be working together in
a brand new school building, designed to facilitate a
wide range of learning styles, but also to have a team
which is enthusiastic about, and utterly committed, to
the children in our care.
We hope you find this publication useful and that
you are able to visit our website. I thank you for your
interest in our Academy.
Ruth Leask, Principal
2 Our Ethos
We are an Academy with very high aspirations and we aim to
enable each and every child and every member of our team to
fulfil their potential. We celebrate diversity and difference and
encourage all of our learners to aim high and be prepared to
take risks and challenge themselves along every step of their
learning journey. We are a supportive learning community and
are committed to ‘learning together for today and tomorrow.’
Our Aims 3
“All of our dreams
can come true if we
have the courage to
pursue them”
Walt Disney
Our Values
Learning & Curriculum Aims
• We respect and value every child supporting
them to become successful learners who
share their knowledge and understanding with
others and continue to strive and learn more.
• We will value and respect every member
of our team and encourage them to take
responsibility, make a contribution and achieve
their full potential.
• Our curriculum is designed to respond to the
needs of all of our learners and provide a wide
range of rich learning experiences that will
inspire, engage and promote success.
• Confident individuals, who are prepared to take
risks, stand up for what they believe in and
be a role model for those less confident than
themselves.
• We will be an open, welcoming and responsive
Academy that celebrates success with our
learning community at every opportunity.
• We are an inclusive environment that
celebrates diversity and accommodates
different learning styles.
• Our Academy will be at the heart of our local
community and we will work closely with
parents, carers, families and partners to ensure
all of our learners thrive.
• Our learners will experience a wide range of
learning experiences that help them to become
highly skilled 21st century citizens.
• Responsible citizens, who look after others,
care for the environment and understand that
they are part of a global community.
• We aim to provide a stimulating learning
environment which inspires, excites and
celebrates achievement
4 Learning & Teaching
We have a dedicated, committed team of
teachers, teaching assistants and support
staff who work tirelessly to provide stimulating,
inspirational learning experiences for every child at
Shireland Hall Primary Academy.
We encourage every child to take responsibilty for
their learning and we understand that every child is
unique and has their own personal learning style.
We encourage them to enjoy their learning journey.
“The journey of a
thousand miles begins
with one step”
Lao Tzu
“For the things we
have to learn before
we can do them, we
learn by doing them.”
Aristotle
6 Our Curriculum
At Shireland Hall Primary Academy we aim to
provide the children with fun-filled, child-led learning
experiences. Our three aims are for all children to
be Successful Learners, Confident Individuals and
Responsible Citizens during their time at our school.
We value children’s ideas and opinions and their
ability to use Learning Powers such as collaboration,
making links, perseverance and planning.
Our teachers bring the Curriculum alive through
‘Learning Together’, and by making links between all
subjects through interesting themes such as Space,
Inventions, Natural World and Future. We also
provide the children with ‘hooks’for their learning with
trips by inviting visitors into school and with week-long
residentials.
Interwoven into our children’s learning journeys, a
variety of Curriculum Celebrations, when children
share with parents and their peers the learning
they have experienced. Learning is shared during
assemblies, via PowerPoint presentations and
through exhibitions to name a few!
Family learning is very important to the children. We
regularly invite families into school for Parents’ Days
and INSPiRE Workshops, which help families to
support their child’s learning at home.
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Vision Statement
At Shireland Hall Primary Academy we aim to provide
reliable and up to date technology that can be
accessed with ease to support learners.
order to develop core computing skills. We
have flexible learning zones that enable
children to access technology with ease.
We have high quality interactive boards that include
learning software to facilitate teachers to create, deliver
and manage interactive lessons.
Our Media Suite is fitted with a Chroma (green
screen) screen that enables learners to perform and
record their work with creativity.
We provide our learners with high specification laptops
that are flexible to operate a range of software (word
processing, database, spreadsheet, presentation,
design, animation and programming packages) in
Our technology has full connectivity to a secure and
extremely reliable wireless network system to cover the
entire school premises.
Family Engagement:
We are an open and friendly school and we
encourage parents to get involved when and where
they can. As well as a six weekly Inspire Lesson,
an opportunity for parents to work alongside their
children in the classroom, we also provide lots of
parent and family learning opportunities. These range
from English and Maths classes to sewing and Keep
Fit classes.
8 Community
“Shireland Hall is a great school
that listens to children and helps
them be the best they can be”
Parent
We have a smaller group of active parents called the
Parents’ Forum, who are regularly consulted on all
aspects of school life and whose views and opinions
are taken into account when planning new initiatives
and projects.
Finally we run a FLIP (Family Learning in Partnership)
Programme where parents are trained to support
children’s reading or run friendship and workshops.
Once trained this team of parent volunteers work with
selected children to support and develop their skills.
Training Facilities:
The academy’s training room is available for hire. We
encourage local groups such as Neighbour Hood
Watch, and community forums to use the space to
meet. If you are interested in hiring the training room
you can contact Parveen Akhtar.
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“Children learn as they play.
Most importantly, in play children
learn how to learn.”
O. Fred Donaldson
10 Activities
A large number of our extra
curricular clubs and activities
are run free of charge by
our teachers, support staff,
parents and volunteers.
After-school club
Brass club
Breakfast club
Cheerleading
Chess
Choir
Cricket
Dance
Drama
Drumming
Football
French
Gardening
Green club
Guitar club
Hockey
Maths
Music
Netball
Orchestra
Recorders
Robotics
Rugby
Science
Scrabble
Sports skills
Table tennis
Tennis
Violin club
10 Activities
11
“We shape our buildings,
thereafter they shape us”
Winston Churchill
12 Our Learning Environment
After saying farewell to our old school in Summer 2013
we are now in our brand new, purpose build Academy
and are delighted to announce that our new building
provides us with a wonderful opportunity to offer the
very highest quality, learning and teaching experiences
for all of our learners.
Our learning spaces are designed for flexible use and
we able to work with small, medium and large sized
groups and we also have private spaces for one to one
support work. We have learning zones, a multi-purpose
hall and our whole interior space lends itself beautifully
to displaying the creative talents of our learners.
The whole site is light, spacious and flexible and
whether we are learning indoors or outdoors our
environment is safe, stimulating and inspiring.
Outside we have retained the mature trees and we
have an amphitheatre and a wide range of outdoor
learning spaces and we will soon have a new sports
field and mini organic allotments
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We don’t have traditional school corridors and our
learning spaces are fluid, open plan environments that
inspire 21st century learning. We have an abundance
of light and space and the movement of people
around the building is safe, relaxed and efficient. Our
learners will be creating display material that reflects
our committment to them leading their learning and
will also make a significant contribution to helping
our new building develop an identity that reflects the
personality and creativity of our learning community.
“The mother art is
architecture. Without an
architecture of our own
we have no soul of our
own civilization”
“Light, God’s eldest
daughter, is a principal
beauty in a building”
Thomas Fuller
Frank Lloyd Wright
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We enjoyed a very close working relationship with
our architects and contractors and as a result we
have a collection of learning spaces that we believe
will support the needs of our learning community.
Children and staff had the opportunity to contribute
ideas to the design process and name their learning
spaces which has helped us immediately feel at
home in our new Academy.
Natural Learning
15
Our children took inspiration for our colour scheme
from nature and also decided to name our learning
spaces after plants, shrubs and trees. As they progress
through the school their class group names range from
the small ‘Fern’ to the mighty ‘Oak’!
Wellbeing Vision Statement
Shireland Hall Primary Academy has a caring and
dedicated Wellbeing Team which strives to support
families by working in partnership.
Our Wellbeing Team supports children and families
by promoting positive family life. The team identifies
where a child or family needs support, whether it is
learning, social skills or behavior and works with the
family either directly or by engaging relevant agencies.
Shireland Hall Primary Academy aims to engage
families/parents and our local community to aid the
ethos of our school.
“If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed;
if in terms of ten years, plant trees; if in terms
of 100 years, teach the people.”
Confucius
16 Well Being
Wellbeing is at the heart of our Academy and we pride ourselves in our positive
relationships with parents, families and the broader community.
17