Luddenham is a seven class primary school near to the historic town of Faversham. Set in beautiful countryside, it enjoys woodland and pasture on one side and the marshes and nature reserve around Oare Creek on the other.

Our School has been awarded Beacon Status by The Department for Education in recognition of our achievements over a number of years

The Staff and I are pleased to welcome your family to our school. This prospectus tells you about our school and how we see the education of your child. The information contained relates to the current school year. At the beginning of the Autumn Term we provide for parents a Year Book which contains curriculum plans for the forthcoming year, a diary of events and an updated summary of the prospectus

We see education as a partnership between home and school. We want our children to have a happy school life as a member of a learning community that values each child.

School Dress

We do hope that you will agree that uniform promotes a strong sense of belonging to our school, indeed we want our children to be proud of Luddenham School. For this reason children are required to wear our school dress. Additionally children may not wear trainers to school.

The school colours are dark blue and grey. Our supplier, Lea Ray Sports of Faversham, provides the following items of school dress at very reasonable prices.

• Sweatshirts
• Polo shirts
• Sport shirts
• Sports Shorts
• Book bags
• Sport bags
• School hats

Jewellery and personal effects

We do not allow children to wear jewellery at school. Children are permitted to wear a watch. Loss or damage to personal effects can cause great distress to children. Please encourage your child to leave valuables at home.

Earrings in particular are unsuitable for young children. Many children have suffered ear injuries during Games and PE sessions and also in playground accidents. If your child has had their ears pierced then a stud, which must be removed during PE activities, is acceptable. However our strong advice is to avoid having your child's ears pierced, this can be left to much later!

Please note: KCC do not accept any responsibility for personal effects. With this in mind you may wish to make private insurance arrangements to cover your child's belongings

Sports Equipment

Our PE dress draws a distinction between indoor and outdoor kit. All children will need:

Indoor PE Kit

• A white shirt
• pair of dark blue shorts
• PE shoes/ NOT trainers.

Outdoor PE kit

This could be:

• Standard football/netball kit.
• A tracksuit or fleece - useful in the winter months. (Please note school sweat shirts may NOT be worn for games)
• Trainers / football boots may be worn.
• Children may not wear indoor PE shoes or their white PE shirt.

Children will therefore have two separate kits. Lea Ray Sports can provide all of these items of PE clothing and a bag to keep them in.

Although these PE clothes are good quality and value, there is no compunction to buy from Lea Ray Sports. Feel free to buy from any supplier but please adhere to the uniform colour.

We would like children to keep their indoor kit at school as a change of clothing following accidents, is often needed, particularly so for our infants!

Art And Craft

An old shirt or overall that can be kept in your child's PE bag will help keep paint and glue off expensive clothes. This is a very important item of clothing- particularly with young children!

Lunch Equipment

If your child has a packed lunch and uses a lunch box can you please clearly label it on the outside. most lunch boxes are very similar and confusion can quickly arise if a clear label is absent.

Labelling Clothes

Kent County Council do not accept any liability for loss or damage to personal property of pupils. marking clothes and other items of property with the owners name is, therefore, of the greatest importance. Please ensure that every item of clothing and foot wear is clearly labelled.

Summary of Governors' Aims

It is our intention at Luddenham School to cater for the all round development of your child. We wish to develop in your child self respect and a knowledge and respect of others. We wish to begin to develop self discipline in behaviour and attitudes to learning.

We aim to help each child develop individuality and their abilities across a broad curriculum which includes all the subjects of the National Curriculum as well as health education, sex education and religious education.

Within the primary school not all these areas appear as separate subjects. They will often be found integrated within a theme or topic. It is important for children to understand the inter-relatedness of knowledge.

Much of the work planned for our children will be rooted in first hand, direct experience with an emphasis on active learning as well as teaching. As teachers we value the traditional high standards in reading, writing, spelling and mathematics. We see knowledge as vital and also stress the value of knowing how to learn and find out.

We wish our school to be a happy and stimulating place where parents feel at ease to discuss their child's progress. This is an important aspect of our desire to create a partnership between home and school.

Structure and implementation of the National Curriculum at Luddenham School

We support the introduction of the National Curriculum as it describes an entitlement for all children. This is vital in an egalitarian society. The National Curriculum is divided into:

The Core

English, Mathematics, Science and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) and RE

The Foundation

History, Geography, Art, Design & Technology, Music, Religious Education, Personal, Social, Health Education & citizenship (PSHE) and Physical Education & Modern Foreign Languages, French and Spanish are taught at our school.

The traditional primary approach is to work through themes that weave these individuals subjects into a cohesive curriculum. Through careful planning and evaluation the correct sequencing of concepts and balance is achieved.

Thematic work is complemented by projects aimed at particular areas of the curriculum. At the beginning of each school year parents are sent a copy of our Year Book which outlines the curriculum plan for each year group. We hope this will enable parents to support their child's learning.

The National Curriculum is divided into Key Stages. Starting with the Foundation Reception Year, Key Stage One covers children in the infant years up to the age of seven. Children in the junior years, which extend

between the ages of 7 and 11, are covered by Key Stage Two.

At the end of each Key Stage National Curriculum Standardised Assessment Tasks (SATS) are administered to children to monitor progress. These tests are an integral part of the school's assessment procedures. The results of all the tests administered to our children are presented to parents in our end of year report available in mid July.

Our Parents' Library, which is situated in the entrance hall, contains copies of all our curriculum documents as well as a variety of information for parents provided by the School, the Local Education Authority, The Department for Education and relevant charities.

Teaching Methods

We have high expectations of our children and the staff use a variety of teaching methods. Class, group and individual teaching are employed according to need. In Key Stage two children are set according to ability and team teaching is used by the staff. This enables all the children to be taught by our subject specialists.