My Vision for Aston Rowant C of E Primary School

Over the past few years, I have been so lucky to see aspects of our school site develop. Due to Mrs Lawson’s hard work and determination we now have facilities, both outdoor and indoor, to provide the children with a bright engaging learning environment. We have a new classroom for Hedgehog class which has allowed us to use the classroom in the main building as a hall for PE, collective worship and hot lunches. Our new MUGA provides an area for the children to play and take part in physical activities in line with new DfE standards. Our breakfast, after school clubs and after school provision, give children a wraparound opportunity and provide parents with safe care for their children at all times.

Moving the school forward, my ultimate vision for Aston Rowant is to now build on the children's academic knowledge and skills. My goal is to develop on our current curriculum and assessment procedures to achieve a creative learning ethos and improve pupil outcomes.

I am inspired to develop our own creative curriculum, where learning is brought to life through more educational visits and visitors to school, where our children are challenged more to extend themselves in real life situations and where they can feel valued, trusted and confidently take responsibility for their own learning so that we continue to nurture happy children that love to learn. I am passionate about seeing this through so that we can demonstrate outstanding practice and give our children the education they deserve.

My goal is to develop this creativity so that each child will effectively have their own personalised curriculum; albeit one that meets the requirements set out in the national curriculum. Introducing personalised learning to our school may sound like an arduous task; however, I have already introduced personal learning journeys which are instrumental in this process. Our new planning and assessment frameworks are ensuring we deliver a bespoke curriculum for each child, mirroring that of the independent sector. I have worked hard with staff to develop individual targets for every child; where they’re at and where they need to be. This is hard work for teachers but it makes the daily assessment of the age related targets more meaningful and it informs the next steps in a child’s journey.

I have seen how children in other schools (where this style of curriculum is embedded) take a more independent and engaged role in their own learning. I know that we can achieve the same at our school as our school ethos lends itself to this more bespoke child-centred curriculum. I would also like this to be supported by the use of technology where the older children create Learning Journey e-portfolios - so that they can document for themselves the milestones in their learning. This will help to show how they’re progressing and how close they are to achieving their goals.

Examples of child centred learning this term have been our work on British values, patron saints days and Sport’s Relief fundraising which the children have played a part in planning for. With the support of the PTA, we have also just purchased a new website which includes a ‘thought for the day’, ‘picture of the week’, news footage, British values discussions and links to all curriculum areas. This will allow the children to become more independent learners while they ask questions and carry out their own study. I believe that if the children are given the opportunity to take more responsibility for their learning and are engaged more positively then low level behaviour issues are dissolved.

Our pupil voice is strong at Aston Rowant. I regularly tell the children that through the school council and as individuals they have the ability to be heard and make changes for the better. I have been inundated with requests for positive changes to the way we deliver our collective worship to the organisation of playtimes. It seems our children are striving to make our school even better. They would like to be sports leaders, games designers, equipment organisers, eco councillors, gardeners…the list goes on. We have an exciting journey ahead!

Mrs Roberts

Head Teacher