We have chosen to rename our classrooms after trees. Trees are mentioned in the bible more than any other living thing. They are linked to being spiritual and as a Church School, the spiritual aspects of life will be recognised and nurtured alongside the academic and emotional needs of all.
Reception – Ash Class
Hello and welcome to Reception at Clifton All Saints Academy. We are Ash
Class and we love to learn through our environment and experiences. We follow the
Early Years Foundation Stage and work towards reaching the Early Learning Goals
at the end of the Reception Year. We are blessed with a well resourced indoor and
outdoor environment which allows for rich, purposeful play and self directed learning.
We take part in whole class learning, group work and child initiated learning. Our
learning is captured through observations, photographs, videos and recorded work,
this allows staff to identify personalised learning opportunities and plan for possible
next steps.
In Ash Class we have two full-time members of the team; Mrs Downer is the
specialist Early Years teacher, Miss Morgan is the full-time Teaching Assistant.
We also have part-time learning support staff.
We have PE on a Wednesday afternoon which is delivered by Premier Sport.
On Friday afternoons, we enjoy visiting the school library.
Year 1 – Birch Class
Hello, Birch Class are our Year 1 group. They are taught by Miss Pepper on a Monday, Tuesday and
Miss Seamarks on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Mrs Hook and Mrs Gibson are our teaching
assistants. Our PE days are Monday and Wednesday, and weekly homework includes reading and
phonics practice over the weekend. In January, we will also begin our weekly spellings challenge.
In Year 1 we work using continuous provision, which allows a smooth transition from Reception to
Year 1. Continuous provision allows the children to carousel through the range of activities that we
provide, which all link to the learning goals of the week. This approach supports the children to learn
independently, whilst becoming more confident in doing so. The learning here takes place as both
indoor and outdoor activities. This includes those that are set up in our lovely outdoor courtyard,
which has a reading corner, sand pit and sensory herb garden.
Our reading and phonics scheme is Little Wandle Letters and Sounds and this is delivered through
group reading that takes place in school 3 times a week, where books are sent home with your child
on a Friday to be read over the weekend. The 3 reads at school focus on segmenting and blending,
reading with prosody and comprehension. The phonics is delivered through a main lesson each
morning where we practice reading, writing and sounding different words, with a recap session each
afternoon.
We also have our Statutory Phonics Screening Check that takes place each June. Phonics is key to
reading and writing in Year 1, so this check aims to assess your child’s ability to segment and blend a
selection of real and alien words. We do lots of practice of this in class and will send home
information to support your practice of this at home, throughout the year.
Year 2 – Cedar Class
Welcome to Cedar class, the home of our Year 2 class at Clifton All Saints
Academy. The Bible describes the cedar tree as both strong and durable which
are qualities we hope that we regularly display in our classroom. We also hold
our school values of Love, Respect, Courage, Koinonia at the heart of
everything we do.
Our class teacher is Mr Coverdale who is supported by our teaching assistant,
Miss Webb, every morning. Mr Della-Valle also volunteers regularly in our
classroom to help with our music lessons. We are really lucky that our
classroom is at the heart of the school, not only are we are next door to the
playground but also really close to the hall, the prayer garden and the school
library.
During Year 2 we study lots of exciting topics, including: Africa, The Great Fire
of London and even spend time searching for Dragons! Our science lessons
over the year look at different animals and we help support our learning with a
trip to Woburn Safari Park in the Summer term. Last year we also had a visit
from Safari Stu who brought a range of creepy crawlies in for us all to learn
about.
Our PE lessons take place on a Tuesday (with Mr Philips) and Wednesday (with
Mr Coverdale).
Year 3 – Juniper
Hello and welcome to Year 3, Juniper Class!
Our teacher is Miss Taylor who is supported by Mrs Norman in the mornings. We have a spelling test and homework due each Thursday. Spellings and homework pages are set on our Class Dojo page the Thursday before it is due. We also do weekly times table and division practice tests working on our 2, 5, 10, 3, 4 and 8s. We focus on one of these each week. We encourage children to practise at home too using various resources such as Hit the Button and Times Table Rock Stars.
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
We will be learning about lots of exciting things such as The Stone Age (including a visit from a real cave woman!) all the way through to the Iron Age, fossils and different types of rocks. In Year 3, we start to learn French too!
Merci!
Year 4 – Maple Class
Hello, Maple Class are our Year 4 group. Their teachers are Miss Wittering and Mrs E Sykes who are supported in the mornings by Miss Mead.
Year 5 – Olive Class
Welcome to Olive Class and Year 5.
In the Bible the Olive tree represents ‘peace’ and ‘productivity’ and in Olive Class we try to show both these qualities. We are taught by Ms Sykes on Monday – Thursday and by Mrs Sykes on Friday. Our support staff include Mrs Cartmell and Mrs Herbert. This year Miss Timms is also teaching in Olive Class. Our classroom is upstairs in the treetops.
During the year we have many exciting topics including Drama & Danger, ‘Epic Adventures’, ‘Space Heroes’ and ‘Forest Explorers’. We attend Young Voices at the O2 where we sing with thousands of other children and swimming lessons in the summer term. Our PE lessons are on Thursdays and Fridays with Mr Heneghan.
Year 6 – Palm Class
We are Palm class (year 6) and Mrs Lines is our teacher. She is supported by Mrs
Cartmell and Mrs Bassett. We are located upstairs in the new building within our school.
In Year 6, we have a very busy timetable but we work exceptionally hard. We have a
planned residential in the Spring term where we go away for 3 days and 2 nights.
We are set homework every Thursday. This is a combination of mathematics, grammar
and comprehension. Homework club is on a Monday and we can attend if we need help
with any of the work set. We also have spellings to learn each week. These are given on
a Monday and tested a week later.
In class, each week we have a grammar and arithmetic focus. At the end of the week
we have short assessments to see how we are progressing in these areas.
We have a reading book to read at home and in school. We are encouraged to read at
least 3 times a week and record our reading in the reading and homework diary. We
read to an adult at least once a fortnight. If we need further opportunities to read we
might read daily.
We are working towards our end of Key Stage 2 assessments (SATs) throughout the
year and regularly revisit previous teaching. Information regarding these tests is
communicated with our parents and carers.
PE lessons are taught by a specialist teacher twice a week. We also have a retired
music teacher teach music alongside Mrs Lines once a week.
