The Chafford School Prospectus 2014

“Our school is friendly and inviting and provides a rewarding experience for everyone. It is a place where everybody feels safe, secure and happy. A place where everybody can achieve their very best and prepare for their journey in life.”

Vision Statement

Dear Parent/Carer

An extremely warm welcome to The Chafford School. I hope that this prospectus provides you with the information you require and gives you a flavour of what our school is about.

The Chafford School is an exciting place to be. We have a great staff, supportive parents, a very committed Governing Body and most of all, we have students who enjoy learning.

I am privileged to be the Headteacher of The Chafford School. The students make us all proud of them because of their achievements, successes and the contribution they all make to school life. It is their accomplishments and the hard work of the staff that makes ours a fantastic school.

We all believe that underlying the success of the school is the strong emphasis we place on parental support; we call it our three way partnership between student, parent and teacher. It provides the necessary support and communication that helps students to give of their very best.

So much goes on at The Chafford School every day that contributes to building a good future for all of our students and an enjoyable, warm, friendly environment to work and develop in.

We warmly invite you to come and visit us. Simply get in touch to arrange your visit.

Mr. G PrattHeadteacher

Welcome

Coming here really helped me to buildmy self confidenceAndreia Fernandes, Year 11

The Chafford School is a happy harmonious learning community where staff and students feel safe and secure. School life is characterised by a calm, ordered, purposeful environment underpinned by relationships built upon mutual respect. We believe that students who take pride in themselves and their school learn more effectively and achieve greater success.

Our code of conduct is based around the positive aspects of our ‘5 a day’ which are:

l Respectl Uniforml Learningl Excellent Attendancel Safety

Our students are encouraged to learn how to behave and respond in a variety of situations and we have a team of House Leaders and Year Leaders to help us in this. The Chafford School aims to provide a safe, secure, caring environment where students can learn and teachers can teach. We ask parents and carers to support us and their child in this. Students who have the active support and interest of parents and carers are far more likely to be successful.

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We aim to provide an appropriate and challenging curriculum, which allows our students to develop their potential to the fullest extent possible. In addition to the formal curriculum we also provide other courses. These are designed to broaden our students’ education and allow a degree of choice so that students can experience a personalised learning plan. We emphasise the traditional values of spelling, punctuation and grammar and place a heavy focus on reading and development of literacy and numeracy skills.

Key Stage 3The school is able to offer the full range of subjects as directed under the National Curriculum. From September 2014 the Year 7 curriculum has been developed to include:

Art & Design, Citizenship/PSHE, Design & Technology, Drama, English, Geography, History, Computing, Mathematics, Modern Foreign Languages, Music, Physical Education, Religious Education and Science.

The school has also been able to develop additional lessons outside of the National Curriculum in various subjects that we feel are important to student development. These include Drama and Music.

In Year 7, most students are taught in mixed ability groups for the foundation subjects or in ability groupings for English, Maths and Science. There is one group of students that have their curriculum outside this model to boost their learning. These are students who achieved 3a or 3b in English. This is a class run on primary lines run by a primary trained teacher. These students are targeted to achieve level 4 in English at the end of Year 7. These students have a diet of learning that supports and develops their literacy skills so that they can better access the Key Stage 3 curriculum.

Key Stage 4The Key Stage 4 (KS4) programme further develops students’ skills and ambitions giving rise to a learning programme that allows learners to personalise a curriculum to develop their strengths, ambitions and interests. The curriculum at KS4 is timetabled as a 50 period two-week timetable.

All students follow a core programme that consists of:English and English Literature, Mathematics, Science Core, Additional Science, PE and Civics.

The Chafford School ensures that students are able to receive their entitlement to follow a course of study within each of the four entitlement areas and have further developed our option choice to include vocational opportunities.

We currently offer:Arts entitlement Art and Design, Drama and Music Design and Technology entitlement Food and Nutrition, Product Design Humanities entitlementGeography, HistoryModern Foreign Languages entitlement French, German Business & Enterprise SubjectsBusiness Studies, Business Communications, ICT ComputingVocational entitlement COPE, Child Development, Health & Beauty, Construction, Motor Vehicles, Media Studies, Engineering,English Baccalaureate (Ebacc) English, Mathematics, History or Geography, Double Science, a Modern Foreign Language and Computer Science at grade C or above

Special Educational Needs (SEN) ProvisionThe SEN Department at The Chafford School brings together a team of very experienced staff who have a wide expanse of knowledge and expertise. They are committed to ensuring that all pupils are able to participate fully in the differentiated curriculum in order to fulfil their potential. Interventions include in-class support, paired reading, behaviour support and withdrawal from particular lessons to work on literacy, handwriting, maths or a speech and language programme.

Teachers add humour to the lessons; it makes it easier to learnKatie Brett, Year 8

Assessment and ReportingParents are issued with half-termly reports denoting progress in every subject taken compared to targets set at the beginning of the academic year. The reports are colour coded and easy to understand. Students receive scores for classwork, homework, effort and behaviour in every subject taken. This forms part of the data folder which builds up on every student and covers their academic five years at The Chafford School. Within our library provision we offer an accelerated reader program aimed at increasing student’s reading skills and this is reported on four times a year.

At the end of the five years, students are entered for external GCSE examinations in core subjects such as Mathematics, English and Science, as well as a range of option subjects from Computer Science to Media.

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Parents’ Consultation EveningsParental engagement is one of the key success criteria for The Chafford School. Annually you will have the opportunity to make appointments with your child’s class teachers, with our fully interactive booking system, ensuring you have allotted appointment times to discuss progress, using the half-termly reports.

Careers and Work ExperienceWe also offer an independent careers service, with one to one meetings with a dedicated careers adviser, to assist your child with decisions regarding their post 16+ education. In addition, we embed careers activities across Key Stage 3 to enrich student’s knowledge regarding possible choices for the future. For Year 10 students, we offer the opportunity for a 10 day work experience placement, giving them an invaluable insight into possible career choices for their future.

Student Learning Services is established to support all aspects of student monitoring, assessment and data, and encompasses the external provision of services including careers guidance and work experience.

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We are taught lots of the skills we need to be successful in the future and given lots of advice and help in choosing the best path for us when we leave school. I am not sure yet what I want to do when I leave The Chafford but I know that what I have learned here will mean I have lots of choices. At the moment I am deciding between taking my A Levels and going to university to study engineering or applying for an advanced apprenticeship in engineering so I can learn while I work.Year 11 Student

Being Head Boy is the proudest achievement of my life. During my time at The Chafford School I have had lots of fun and I think that will continue until the day I leave.Nathan Adkins, Head Boy

Becoming Head Girl of The Chafford School is a huge honour; to represent the school is such a privilege. Throughout my time at the school I have had so many enjoyable and funny moments which will stick with me throughout life.Courtney Harrison, Head Girl

The best thing about being a prefect is that I get to help create a better future for this generation of The Chafford School.Edem Xulu, Senior Prefect

I am really proud of the progress I made since I came to the Chafford. I didn’t have much faith in my abilities when I started here but now I feel I can achieve whatever I put my mind to because everyone at the school has pushed me to try harder and believe in myself.Parmatma Lidher, Year 10

We are provided with so many facilities to help us with our learning so every student can progress in all their subjects.Year 7 Student

Our accreditations

Designed and produced by Mackman www.mackmangroup.co.uk

A Specialist Business & Enterprise College

Headteacher: Mr Gary Pratt MA BA (Hons) NPQH Ad.dip.ed

Lambs Lane South, Rainham, Essex RM13 9XDTelephone: 01708 552811 Fax: 01708 522098

Email: [email protected]

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