Welcome To Gatehouse

Gatehouse is an exceptionally welcoming school providing a safe, secure and warm environment for children to learn in. A recent survey of parents felt that this was a most important aspect of the school.Our whole school staff is dedicated and hard working and we are very well supported by an active school association and Governing body.

The school takes up to 60 children in each year group and currently organises them in two parallel classes of 30 or less. The Governors place a high importance in maintaining these small class sizes. We have invested heavily in new technologies to enhance learning and benefit from having extensive grounds, which have been well developed to provide great play and learning spaces. The school council is currently engaged in planning for the installation of further outdoor play equipment for use during break times, while the staff and Governors are planning to upgrade the buildings further to provide learning spaces more suitable for today’s curriculum.

The curriculum is rich and varied with many opportunities to extend learning through educational visits, clubs and residential experiences. We work closely with children and their families to try and make their time spent at Gatehouse challenging, memorable and most importantly, fun.

The new headteacher joined the school in this September 2005, as the school was coming to the end of a period of support from the LEA, following an OFSTED inspection just over a year ago. In the inspection report four main concerns were raised. The school has been working hard in addressing these issues and we feel confident that we shall achieve the necessary progress before our next formal monitoring visit in January. For further information on this work please visit the standards section of our website.

We hope you enjoy the brief insight into our school in these web pages, which will be developed further over time. If there is any information you would like which is not available here, please do contact us. We would like to invite you to come and see us at work, to arrange a visit please contact the school on the telephone number above.

Meeting with parents

At Gatehouse we work closely with all of our parents. Each year we provide two set opportunities for you to meet with your child's teacher and discuss their progress.

In September we hold a meeting where parents and teachers can discuss each child's learning that term and their learning targets. This meeting is held without the children present as it enables issues to be discussed confidentially. In the spring term a written update is provided on how your child is getting on with their targets. Finally during the summer term a written report is provided detailing achievement through the year. In the summer term we provide an informal opportunity to meet with your child's teacher following the report and discuss any issues, this is also an opportunity for your child to share their work with you and to meet their new class teacher for September.

If parents or teachers have particular issues they wish to discuss further, we encourage individuals to contact the school to arrange a mutually convenient meeting time.

Assessment

We carry out formal assessment twice each year in February and June. To do this we use a range of appropriate assessment activities. The school uses this information to track how well we are doing, how well children are learning and what we need to focus in on improving next. Following this information a standards newsletter is sent out to all parents detailing our findings.

As teachers are working they are continually assessing the learning of pupils. They use this information to plan future lessons, mark progress to learning targets and let children know how they are doing.

School Profile

A new method of reporting to parents on the standards and work carried out by schools has been introduced by the Government; it is called the school profile. To view our current profile please follow this link.

www.schoolproflie.parentscentre.gov.uk/878/2475/english/2004

We hope you find this informative.

We are continually developing our new website and would value your suggestions for further information. If you have any suggestions please forward them to school either by email, letter or in person, thank you.