Overseal Primary School

Overseal Primary School is a small village school in South Derbyshire. We currently have 185 children on roll organised into seven single year classes.

The main building is a traditional, attractive Edwardian building. There are six classrooms, a large hall, a community room and a library. Upstairs are the offices and staff room at one end and an ICT suite and store room at the other end.

Learning should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for all pupils. It should be fun. We aim to teach children to grow into positive, responsible learners who work and co-operate with others while developing their own knowledge and skills.

We are committed to developing high standards of literacy and numeracy skills within a broad and balanced curriculum. Our aim is support children as they become curious, creative and positive about learning and develop lively and enquiring minds.

We take every opportunity to enrich lessons through visits, visitors, use of resources and the wider community. Activities this year have included a skipping workshop, a football coaching day, residential visit to Castleton, theatre trip to Stratford and  whole school art and book days. We have excellent computer facilities with the development of ICT skills a real strength of the school.

The National Curriculum provides the basis of a wide learning programme, including the core subjects of English, maths and science and the foundation subjects including art, music, history, geography, P.E and information and communications technology [ICT]. Pupils also have lessons in religious education [RE] and personal, health and social education [PHSE].

We want learning to be real and active. Pupils will be involved in a wide range of practical activities including drama to develop confidence and understanding of issues and texts, experiments to test out scientific hypothesis and fieldwork in Overseal and beyond. It is not unusual to find groups of pupils on the playground learning about angles and rotation, in the hall holding a meeting to discuss the treatment of wild animals or e-mailing members of the local council about real issues that concern them.

We use the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies to support our teaching of English and maths. We make good use of supplementary materials including support programmes for pupils who need extra support with schemes such as Springboard maths, Further Literacy Support, Better Words and Positive Play. We are committed to ensuring that all pupils succeed and every opportunity to celebrate progress is taken. Teachers and teaching assistants work closely together and there is a very effective programme of assessment and monitoring to ensure the needs of all pupils are being met and they are making progress.

We know that parents play a vital part in their children's education and we have an open door policy, actively encouraging parents to come into school to discuss any concerns so that they can be tackled straight away. We have regular parents evenings and good use is made of the 'home-school reading diary' for on-going communication between teachers and those parents who are unable to come into school.

We are very excited about our association with the University of the First Age [UFA}. Two members of staff are fellows of the UFA and this means that the whole school can take advantage of the very latest research into the human brain and preferred learning styles. We hold regular 'Super Learning Days' and are confident that our work with the UFA will ensure all our pupils can become 'super learners'. University of the First Age

There are a wide range of activities to enable pupils to extend their learning beyond the classroom. These include

Junior and Infant Choir: open to all pupils from Years 2 to 6. The choir takes part in many village and school activities.

Instrumental Lessons: Currently we offer lessons in clarinet, brass and flute. Lessons take place in school time and there is a tuition fee . Many pupils are involved with the South Derbyshire Music Centre and play in one or more of the bands.

Gymnastics Club This club is open to Year 1,2 and 3 and is run by a gymnastics coach.

ICT Club: The Infant club club is open to pupils from Years 1 and 2, the Junior Club is for pupils in Years 3 and 4.

ECO Club: This club is open to all pupils from Years 3, 4,5 and 6.

Volleyball Club: This club is open to all Juniots and meets after school on Thursdays.

Badminton Club: This club is open to all Juniors.

Football is provided by Team Theme and is available on Wednesdays. There is a charge for this club.

French is available on Fridays with a French teacher. There is a charge for this club.

School Production: During the summer term the school presents a musical production and pupils are involved. Rehearsals take place after school and on Friday afternoons.

In addition the school has links with the village football team - The Foresters. There is training for all ages and teams compete in the Tamworth League.

Overseal Village Gala: The school participates every year in the Village Gala which takes place in July through the Village streets and on the Recreation Field. The pupils elect a Gala Queen, King and Attendants who are, together with a decorated Float carrying children in costume, part of a Parade to the Opening Ceremony. Many children, parents and staff are also involved in Events. Posters advertising the Gala are also designed and coloured by the children. To find out more see the Gala website

Team Work, Purpose

Overseal Primary is committed to providing the highest quality of education for all our pupils. The talented team of teaching and support staff work together to ensure that the school is a safe, friendly, purposeful place where children are encouraged, challenged and supported to do their best and learn.

Interest, Fun, Challenge, Support

We know how important it is for children to enjoy their lessons and we provide a varied and interesting curriculum, using lots of different approaches to teaching and learning to engage and interest our pupils. We plan visits and extra-curricular activities and promote strong community links to extend learning further and give pupils the opportunity to discover and develop their talents.

Confidence, Independence, Involvement

We believe that developing children's self-esteem and confidence is vital to enable them to tackle new things, develop independence and learn effectively. We build self-esteem through involving them in their own education and the life of the school, listening to their ideas and valuing what they say.

Enthusiasm, Positive Attitudes, Co-operation

Children are encouraged to work and co-operate together and we have many ways of recognising and supporting effort and good behaviour, all based on positive praise and rewards. We are proud of our pupils - they are invariably positive, eager and enthusiastic to learn as well as helpful and supportive of one another.

Communication, Involvement, Partnership

Parents are an important part of our school team and we actively encourage parents to become involved in the education of their children. In addition to regular newsletters, there are frequent opportunities to come into school and share in activities and special events. We also value parents support at home, helping children extend their learning through homework activities.