We arrived at the school in the morning
and were greeted by the Head teacher, Val, who gave us a guided tour of the
school. As well as helping us to get our bearings, this was very informative
about the organisation of English schools and Charlton-on-Otmoor in particular.
The school is a small village school in a
very rural location. It is on the edge of the village and is surrounded by
fields. The school is a Church of England school and it has a relationship with
the Church in the village, although it is not controlled by the Church. The
school holds some events at the church and joins in with significant village
and church events, the most notable being May Day. Apparently, the school leads
the celebration for this important day in the village and many people come
specially to see the parade, church service and dancing.
The school is under the jurisdiction of the
local County Council and receives its funding from the Council, although most
of it originates with the Central Government. Many schools in England are run
in this way but a significant number have been converted to Academy Schools and
are now funded directly from Central Government.
The school has just 84 pupils at present
but it has a capacity of 105. It admits a maximum of 15 children each year.
Children start in the Foundation Stage class during the year that they are 5
although there is also an optional nursery class that children can attend for
15 free hours per week, from the age of 3.
When the children leave the Foundation
stage they begin year 1. There are three classes and each contains two year
groups together. They are Year 1 and 2 (these two year groups are known as Key
Stage 1), year 3 and 4, year 5 and 6 (the 4 year groups in these two classes
are known as Key Stage 2). Most English primary schools are comprised of these
three stages.
During the week we observed children
working in all four classrooms. The youngest class has its own outdoor play
area and the children’s day was spent in a mixture of structured and
unstructured play activities as well as some formal type language and number
lessons. We were impressed by the facilities and resources that were available
in this class as well as the number of support staff working with the teacher.
As well as teaching they seemed to spend a lot of time assessing and recording
on iPads how the children as they played.
When we were in the other classes they were
much more formal in the way they worked. The classrooms were smaller than the
foundation stage but still a reasonable size. In all the classes the pupils
tables were arranged in groups, which is different to the arrangement of rows
at home. The children work on these group tables which are generally
ability-based groups. Depending on the work they work in silence or they are
encouraged to discuss their ideas quietly.
When we were in the year 1 and 2 class we
saw the pupils using iPads. Each child had their own allocated iPad which they
could keep in their drawer and use whenever needed. They are not allowed to
take them home. They use these for a lot of different purposes including some
of their writing. At other times we saw them writing in books. On one visit
they were finding out about Polish cuisine and writing an information page with
added pictures from websites. Later we saw them drawing some pictures of dishes
that they had found.
In year 3 and 4 class we saw the children
preparing for a school open day when parents will visit. They were making an
exhibition of work they had done about the ancient Egyptians.
When we visited the year 5 and 6 class,
they were hard at work preparing for and end of school year Play, a comedy
about William Shakespeare. The play has taken a lot of work so far and includes
singing, dancing and acting.
The children were interested to know about
us and about Poland and we were pleased to be asked to present an assembly
about our country. We showed a powerpoint presentation with pictures and words
and we dressed some children in traditional costume. We taught a small number
to dance the Krakowiak and some others to dance the Polonaise.
At break times we chatted to staff about
the work that they do, and they helped us to understand some reasons about why
they do things the way they do. We also met one of the school Governors and the
new Head teacher who will be taking up his post in September. Also, at break
time we explore the outside facilities. There is a hard playground as well as a
large field. There are sports changing rooms, an outdoor classroom which looked
like a bandstand and a pond which was fenced off but used by children for
science work. There were also games tables and climbing frames. The school has
a garden club which happens during school time and children learn to plant and
grow things as well as to look after their environment.
When we were not in school, we were able to
visit Oxford. It is a beautiful city and well known for its historic,
university colleges. We were able to visit the inside of Christchurch College
which has featured in TV and films, including Harry Potter. We also Visited
Bletchley Park which was home to the wartime codebreakers and is now a museum
explaining their work. It was interesting for us because Polish codebreakers,
who were the first to break the enigma code, also worked there and are
remembered in a special memorial.
SCHOOL WEBSITE
We experienced English food and culture. We tried English tea and scones
fish and chips
and full English Breakfast
