School Improvement
Christ Church is a caring school with a strong sense of community. We value the uniqueness of every child and are committed to a fully inclusive learning environment.
With Christ at our centre, we encourage all children to grow and learn surrounded by love and a feeling of belonging. We strongly believe that every child matters, value all individuals and celebrate diversity.
We want our children to become confident, resilient, independent learners with a strong sense of self-worth and a caring attitude towards others.
We encourage all children to 'Have faith...’ in themselves, in others and in God, as we believe that
"Nothing will be impossible with God."
Luke 1:37
We are committed to providing a broad and balanced curriculum which provides rich opportunities for children to explore a range of subjects, thus developing a variety of knowledge, skills and interests which they can apply to opportunities, responsibilities and experiences in later life.
We value the individuality of our children and their various curriculum strengths and interests. As a school, we aim to provide opportunities for children to build upon these to become the best that they can be. This is underpinned by our curriculum mission statement:
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”
1 Peter 4: 10
All stakeholders are fully committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning and individuals are keen to improve.
School Improvement Priorities 2023 - 2025
The areas for improvement for the 2023 - 2025 academic years are identified as:
Quality of Education:
Priority 1: Improve outcomes in Phonics at the end of Year 1.
- Embed the use of a DfE validated systematic synthetic phonics programme across Foundation Stage and Key stage 1.
- Provide training for all staff involved in the implementation of the above programme to ensure that everyone is clear regarding the teaching approach and expectations.
- Regular monitoring by HT / English Subject Leader to ensure a consistent approach to use.
- Provide evidence-based intervention for children at risk of falling behind through the Fast Track and Bounce Back Phonics programmes.
Priority 2: Develop provision for early reading in order to improve outcomes in Reading at the end of Key stage 1.
- Audit of reading scheme to ensure that books are well matched to the phonics programme.
- Ensure that all children, but particularly those in the lowest 20%, have opportunities to read stage appropriate books to an adult in school on a regular basis.
- Regular monitoring by HT / English Subject Leader as well as dedicated staff meeting time to ensure that unit plans in English offer a balanced and engaging approach to developing reading and teach both decoding and comprehension skills.
- Continued daily use of strategies to support inference and understanding including prediction, questioning, clarifying, summarising and making connections.
Priority 3: To improve outcomes in maths at the end of Key stage 1.
- Offer class teacher relevant and ongoing CPD in relation to how children learn mathematical concepts.
- Ensure a logically sequenced and progressive approach to teaching and learning in maths is evident in teacher’s planning, and offer strategies to support this where necessary.
- Review calculations policy with staff to ensure that agreed strategies are being embedded, particularly in relation to the use of manipulatives and representations to develop children’s understanding.
- Support staff in ensuring that Math’s Working Walls support children to build upon what they already know as well as developing children’s mathematical vocabulary and reinforcing key mathematic concepts.
- Provide evidence-based interventions for children at risk of falling behind through the FirstClass@Number programmes.
Behaviour and Attitudes:
Priority 4: To develop strategies to support positive behaviour through a relational approach.
- Undertake Behaviour Audit using Lancashire Audit tool and use to create action plan.
- Support staff in their understanding of what might influence behaviour through relevant CPD, particularly in relation to trauma informed practice.
- Ensure a clear and consistent approach to the management of behaviour by all staff through regular reviews and sharing of good practice.
- Develop tools of capturing and recording ‘Children’s Voice’.
- Implement systems of support for children who find certain parts of the day more challenging e.g. lunchtimes.
- Provide rapid support and intervention if behaviour becomes a concern through the EHA process and support from the Children and Families Support Worker / other external agencies.
- Embed use of the Lancashire Behaviour Pathways document as a means of identifying and implementing a systematic approach to support if a child’s behaviour becomes a concern.
- Regular engagement with the Inclusion Hub to develop knowledge and skills of staff, as well as to identify avenues of support.
- Access support through Inclusion and Engagement Support Team (IEST) / SEND Specialist Teaching Service as necessary.
- Work towards obtaining Behaviour Quality Mark.
Personal Development:
Priority 5: To support the development of positive learning behaviours through metacognition and self-regulated learning.
- Develop staff understanding and skills of how to develop children’s metacognitive knowledge through relevant CPD.
- Agreed a range of approaches to be used across school to promote the development of children’s metacognitive and cognitive skills (such as worked examples: “I do, we do, you do.” and scaffolds).
- Provide support for teachers to be able to develop their knowledge of these approaches and monitor their application to ensure consistency.
Leadership and Management:
Priority 6: To ensure that all stakeholders are prepared from SIAMS inspection.
- Review actions from previous inspection: (worship evaluation / outdoor prayer spaces) and work alongside the RE Lead / Class teachers and Church School Adviser to ensure that these actions are addressed.
- Develop and implement a 3 – 4 year rolling programme of themes for Prayer Spaces to ensure this remains a high priority within the school (2 themes per year), beginning Spring 2023.
- Involve a range of stakeholders in school self-evaluation by developing and implementing a working party which includes staff, governors and pupils.
- Continue to develop links with Christ Church and with the Church of England through engagement with a range of opportunities.
- Implement a system of worship evaluation (Worship Log?).
- Monitor class worships to ensure that these are taking place in line with the Worship Plan and following the agreed format and are.
- Monitor class Worship areas to ensure that they remain relevant as the year progresses.