School Day

8.00am - Breakfast Club

For parents who need to leave their children early, we offer a daily breakfast club where children relish the opportunity to meet up with friends before the school day starts. Children are given a healthy breakfast and have the opportunity to select from a wide range of activities (Reading in the book area, speed stacking, group games or watching the daily news on the big screen!)

8.30am - Doors open Lower school
8.35am - Doors open Upper school

Children are welcomed into their classrooms, where they hang up their coats and have a quiet and settled start to the day. This gives the children the opportunity to share items of interest with their teachers before the day starts and prepare for their days learning.

8.40am - Registration Lower school
8.45am - Registration Upper school

We expect a high level of attendance and good time-keeping from our children. By being on time all our children are able to mentally prepare for the day through our positive and welcoming registration process.

Morning Session

The morning is devoted to core subjects taught in learning blocks. This is when Maths and English are focused on most heavily as the children are fresh and ready to absorb these vital learning opportunities.

9:30am - English

At Dame Janet Primary Academy we work hard to teach exciting and motivating writing lessons and link the context of the learning to a class project as this stimulates, excites and gives children ownership of their learning. Children participate in fun activities that help them rehearse the tune of the language they need, followed by shared writing to show them how to craft their own written pieces, children are helped to write in the same style. Accurate spelling, correct grammar and neat handwriting are all important aspects of English, and are incorporated into English lessons, or taught as discrete subjects throughout the timetabled day.

10.30am - Break

During the morning break children play together in phased age play areas. The outdoor environments offer a range of play opportunities from hard play surfaces, fields, sensory gardens and extensive areas housing educational play equipment.

Maths

We use a variety of teaching and learning styles in Mathematics. Our principal aim, based on the new National Curriculum is to develop children’s fluency, reasoning and problem solving. We have adapted our approach to a split lesson approach of: Skill, Application and Reasoning. During our daily lessons, we encourage children to ask, as well as answer, mathematical questions. We also ask children to answer real life questions linked to their mathematical learning every day during the plenary or next step marking. This is recorded in their workbooks. In all classes, children have a wide range of  mathematical abilities. We recognise this fact and provide suitable learning opportunities for all children. Our main school resource is Numicon. This is a visual aid which helps children to understand mathematics. We use Teaching Assistants, Learning Mentors and additional educational needs TAs to support children, and to ensure that work is matched to the needs of individuals. Maths is taught across all years every day including the Early Years Foundation children attending our nursery.

12.00 – 1.00pm - Lunch

Throughout the whole academy, lunches are staggered  between the hours of 12 and 1pm. School meals are cooked fresh daily; our meals offer a wide range of nutritionally balanced options (free to all lower school pupils). Staff members regularly eat with children to encourage pupil/staff interaction in an informal atmosphere. Playtime is again spent in zoned play areas where Sports Captains are on hand to facilitate assisted games to encourage team play.

1.00pm - Afternoon registration and Mindfulness

A quick catch up over registration to ensure all children are set for the afternoon learning environment. A timetabled Mindfulness session allows the children to reflect upon their day and centre upon their own well-being. 

Afternoon Session

Project

Afternoon sessions are run across the academy incorporating a holistic approach, focusing on project based learning. Projects encompass all core and foundation subjects leading to a fully immersive and purposeful learning experience culminating in a final presentation to an audience to ensure learning is embedded.

Nationally, this approach has been shown to have huge benefits for the children as it is a more fun, exciting and challenging way for them to learn. The varied activities engage children more fully, and consequently they learn more effectively. As subject areas are linked closely through the project objectives, children make more sense of the relevance of what they are learning - and how it relates to the ‘real world’. There are more opportunities to write for real purpose and consequently, writing standards improve.

2.40pm - Assemblies

Assemblies are held three times a week at both the lower and upper school. Monday’s assembly is teacher led and is based on PSHE themes. Wednesday’s are delivered by class teachers in their own classroom with a continued focus on PSHE themes. Friday’s assemblies are a celebration across the school; rewards are given for attendance, punctuality and special work. We like to share our successes with the wider community and always invite friends and family to Wednesday and Fridays assemblies.

3.10pm - School day ends Lower school
3.15pm - School day ends Upper school

Compulsory school day finishes

Children are collected directly from classes in the lower school and from phased playgrounds in the upper school ensuring safety and allowing carers the unique opportunity to catch the class teacher for a chat if needed.

After School Clubs

Another major strength of our school is our commitment to providing a huge variety of extracurricular activities, enabling your child to develop a wide range of skills not normally presented in the curriculum. As a result of teachers and teaching assistants giving up their time for free, children can choose from a wide selection of after school clubs, including, football, netball, dodgeball, choir, art and homework club to name but a few!