Welcome to our school!

Halstead Community Primary School is a small, village school
in Sevenoaks, Kent, situated within easy reach of main commuter road links.

Although many of our pupils come from the village and surrounding area, we also welcome families from further afield.

We hope that our web site will allow you to begin to discover what we have offer both your children and you.

We encourage families to visit the school to see, at first hand, our strengths and our commitment to the children at our school.

Our Mission Statement

At Halstead Community Primary School, we strive to create a happy, secure and caring community where children are inspired to develop self-discipline and to fulfil their potential.

Every individual is equally valued regardless of race, gender, faith or ability. We encourage our children to show respect and consideration for others both inside and outside of the school.

We provide a broad and balanced curriculum supported through a stimulating environment, which promotes high expectations in attitudes, behaviour and achievement.

HCPS Annual Report of the school governing body to parents for the academic year 2004/2005
view report (PDF format opens in a new window)

The School Day

School uniform

The wearing of uniform helps children feel that they belong to the school community and this is strongly encouraged.
The school colour is navy. Sweatshirts, jumpers, cardigans, polo shirts and PE tops with the school logo are available from the school office. Black shoes should be low heeled and sensible. Trainers are not worn except for outdoor PE.
The wearing of jewellery is strongly discouraged on the grounds of Health and Safety.
Watches are the only acceptable item of jewellery for pupils.

All clothing should be clearly marked for identification.

Lunch

School lunch is cooked on site, in our own kitchens, and provide the children with a choice of nutritious food. There is always a vegetarian option available.
Payment for the week's school lunches is made on the first working day (usually Monday) of each week.
Children may bring a packed lunch if parents prefer.

Mid-morning snacks and drinks

Children may bring fresh fruit or a savoury snack for mid-morning.

The school has both water fountains and water coolers which provide drinking water for all.
Children may bring a non-fizzy drink in a screw top bottle for mid-morning.

Fruit and Veg!

All KS1 and Reception children at HCPS have a piece of fruit (or peeled carrot) at morning break every day at school.

We value the children in our school and do our utmost to offer them the very best of opportunities.

Our youngest children, (Reception), are offered the full Foundation Stage curriculum. This comprises 6 areas of learning.

The Foundation Stage curriculum areas are:
Communication, Language and Literacy
Mathematical Development
Knowledge and Understanding of the World
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Creative Development
Physical Development

Children in Key Stages 1 and 2 are offered the full National curriculum and Religious education, all taught by enthusiastic, committed teachers.

The National Curriculum subjects are:
English
Mathematics
Science
Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
History
Geography
Music
Art and Design
PE
Design Technology (DT)

All subjects, except music, are taught by the class teacher. We have a specialist music teacher who comes in to teach the music curriculum to each class.

For a small village school we are fortunate in having some excellent facilities - including an ICT suite, a large playing field, a wildlife area with a pond, a hall and many after hours clubs.

Select Your Class...
to find activities and information to support the topics for this year.

Schools Sports Partnership

Being part of the Schools’ Sports Partnership, HCPS has been able to offer even more opportunities for children – trampolining and golf to name but two!
We have even benefited, through the Partnership, from the Football Association which has given us a bag full of Mitre footballs, marker cones and bibs - this came as a ‘reward’ for encouraging girls to take part in football !

Poetry

Neil Stevens, poet, visited our school for the day. He worked with each class, reading poetry, encouraging the children to interact with him and helping the children to become poets themselves. The day culminated in a whole school session of performance!
Children read the poems they had written, either individually or as part of a small group. The poems included action and sound additions. It was a truly exciting time!
You can read some of the poems our children wrote if you follow the links, starting at  www.poeticpieces.com

Our children are able to benefit from a wide range of clubs and activities, most of which take place after school. Some of the clubs are run by enthusiastic and talented parents, some by experts from within our wider community, others by professionals.

All clubs are run by people known to us over past years and who have our confidence.

Our clubs and activities include:
Football - run by Mr Madden, a teacher at the school
Dance - run by a talented and enthusiastic parent
Chess - run by a very long standing friend of the school
Pottery - run by an expert tutor who fires our own kiln regularly
Netball - run by two enthusiasts
Percussion club - run by Mrs Woodcock, music teacher

Most clubs incur a small cost which covers materials and resources in those clubs.

Further details of these clubs can be obtained from the office.
 

Halstead CP School received the award of Artsmark Silver in June 2005.

We are very proud of this achievement, which reflects the huge range of Arts activities that we offer our children.

The Arts includes all aspects of what we traditionally think of as art (drawing, painting, sculpture etc) but also it includes performance arts such as dance, drama, singing, recital etc.. Children at HCPS are involved in the Arts during school lessons, in after school clubs, and through visits and visitors to the school.