Great Totham Primary School

OUR SCHOOL

Since opening our school has grown over the years into a two form entry primary school with a range of additional resources and rooms to support the children. We are very fortunate to still have a swimming pool, a performance studio and dedicated Computing Suite as well as on site wrap round child care facilities.

GOOD

OFSTED RATING:

"The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the previous inspection.

There is a palpable sense of mutual respect and trust at the school.

An overwhelming majority of parents and pupils who responded to the online surveys would recommend the school.

Pupils respond well to the extremely high standards [of behaviour] modelled by adults."

Read the latest report here:

C239-3768-J2368 [G] - (A1) 01-A-A1 Assembly Part Marks.pdf

Use this link to take you to the OFSTED dashboard for our school, which offers more than just the latest inspection report.

This link will enable you to look at the Schools Performance Data relating to our school.

PUPIL PREMIUM

Pupil premium is additional money the school receives to help support children who are in receipt or have been in receipt of free school meals. The money is intended to help schools ensure that all children make the best progress possible.

Please find below our Pupil Premium strategy which shows, in detail, how much money the school receives, how we intend to spend and the impact it makes. Please be aware that the information is generalised.

Pupil Premium strategy 2020-21

Pupil Premium strategy 2020-21 spring update

Catch-up funding 2020-2021

Catch-up funding strategy autumn 2020

NB Catch up funding refers to support in place to help children recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

GOVERNING BODY

At full strength, the governing body of Great Totham Primary School has 12 members, plus the head teacher. These governors include:

Head teacher
Parent governors x 2 (elected by the parent body)
LA governor x 1 (appointed by the Local Authority)
Staff governor x 1 (elected by the teaching staff)
Partnership governor x 2 (appointed)
Co-opted governor x 6 (appointed)

The Role of the Governing Body

The governing body at Great Totham Primary School, like those at all schools across the country, has a general responsibility for seeing that the school is run effectively and promotes high standards of educational achievement for all its pupils. The governors’ role is to take a strategic view, and work in partnership with Sarah Vass (Headteacher) and her staff team. Their work includes determining priorities as identified in the School Improvement Plan and ensuring an appropriate budget is set. In addition governors help review policies by evaluating their impact, help make appointments to the staff team and evaluate the school's performance. This is through the analysis of data, understanding the school's curriculum and how the quality of teaching within the school is impacting upon learning.

Visit the Essex County Council Governor website for further information.

Governors Meetings

The main governing body and working committees meet twice every term.

The working committees are as follows:

Resources Committee – this committee covers financial, health & safety and staffing issues.
Curriculum and Standards Committee – this committee covers issues related to the content of the curriculum and how it is delivered, how pupils are assessed and the standards that are achieved.

Governor attendance document 2019-2020

Annual Governance Statement for 2019-2020

Current Governors at Great Totham Primary School - click to find out more.

Contacting Governors

Governors welcome feedback and comment from parents. You can do this:-

In writing - through either our Governor post box or by letter ( sent to the School Office).
Face to face – Governors are regularly at the school either helping in classes, discussing matters with the teaching staff and in the case of Parent Governors dropping or collecting their children at the beginning and end of the day.
By email - admin@greattotham.essex.sch.uk

Financial benchmarking

Schools financial benchmarking compare a school or trust's income and expenditure with similar establishments in England. You can view your school or academy trust's financial data, see how it compares with others and use the information to establish relationships with other schools or multi-academy trusts. Click here for link.

No school employees have a gross annual salary of £100,000 or more.

ADMISSIONS

Starting school or moving from one school to the next is a major step in a child’s life. We work closely with all parents, schools and pre-school provisions to ensure that this transition is as smooth as possible.

As a Foundation School the Governing Body is responsible for admissions and the current admission policy can be opened below. However we work in partnership with Essex and ‘in round' admissions are processed by the Local Authority team.

An ‘in round’ admission is for children starting school in either Year R, Year 3 or Year 7 the following September. Please note children currently in the school in Y2 DO NOT need to reapply, this is only for children who join our school in Year 3 due to changes in allowances for cohort size in KS2.

For 'in round admissions' please make your application via The Essex County Council Admissions page (click here for link). .

All other admissions are processed by the school office. If you have moved into the area or are interested in applying for a place for your child, please contact Mrs Bome for advice and an opportunity to come and view the school.

Admission Policy 2021-2022 Admissions Policy 2022-2023

To check your local catchment area, click here.

For information regarding appeals, click here.

admissions-policy-2018-19.pdf

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

Please find below our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Report - this is where you will find information about the types of SEND we can provide for and how we might provide support. If you have any questions please direct them to our SENCo, Mrs Lawrence via email (mrs.lawrence@greattotham.essex.sch.uk) or by contacting her through the school office.

Complaints about SEND provision should be made by referring to the whole school policy, found on the policy page.

send-policy-2017 (3).pdf

SEND Policy

send-info-report-2017- (6).pdf

SEND Information Report

STAFF STRUCTURE

Head teacher: Miss Vass

Deputy head teacher: Miss Cleghorn

SENCo: Mrs Lawrence

Family Support Worker: Mrs Wilson

Reception and KS1 phase leader: Miss Paul

Reception teachers: Miss Chapman and Miss Herron

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Larcombe, Mrs Jowitt and Mrs McMullan

Y1 teachers: Mrs Haley and Mrs McCarthy

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Peace, Mrs Munro

Y2 teachers: Miss Paul and Mrs Browne

Teaching Assistants: Mrs McTaggart, Mrs Reid

Y3 teachers: Mrs O'Reilly and Mr Quilter

Teaching assistants: Mrs Byford, Mrs Newman, Mrs Cox

Y4 teachers: Mr Kitchener and Miss Coulson

Teaching assistants: Mrs Meadows, Mrs Bredin

Upper KS2 (Y5 and 6) phase leader: Miss Campling

Y5 teachers: Mrs Glover and Miss Brewer

Teaching assistants: Mrs Hedgecock, Mrs Watson, Mrs Newman

Y6 teachers: Miss Campling, Mr Hunt, Mrs Craig

Teaching assistants: Mrs Lane, Mrs Robertson

Office staff: Mrs Bome, Ms Atkinson, Mrs Jarvis

Kitchen staff: Mrs Granger, Mrs McBride

Site staff: Mr Parfitt, Miss Rayner

VISION & AIMS

Great Totham Primary School provides an education that enables all children to learn within an inclusive environment that values them as individuals and prepares them for the next step in their learning journey. Our values and ethos for all children are summarised below:

For our children we provide:

A positive ethos that supports them to develop intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually.
A stimulating and balanced curriculum that enables them to develop their independence & confidence.
A safe and secure environment that enables them to take risks, rise to challenges and develop as effective lifelong learners.
High expectations of their behaviour, attitudes to learning and achievement.
Teaching of the highest standard.

For our parents we provide:

A welcoming and supportive environment The opportunity to build an effective partnership based upon trust & respect
Clear, open & timely communication
Opportunities for parents to be actively involved in the school community

For our staff we provide:

A positive, supportive working environment that values them as individuals
Opportunities to develop professionally
High expectations in relation to teaching and learning

We contribute to our local community by:

Working in partnership with other schools
Working together to mutually support school & community activities
Ensuring that our children develop an understanding of their role and responsibilities within society.

ACHIEVEMENT & ATTAINMENT

There are many different measures by which we assess and evaluate children's achievements and attainment. Within a school context a key measure is to consider how well prepared children are for the next steps in their learning.

We strive to ensure that all our children are ready both emotionally and academically to meet the challenges of a secondary school curriculum. A clear indicator of this is how well children attain at the end of each phase.

End of Year R: Children are assessed against the Early Learning Goals.
End of KS1: Children are teacher assessed with regard to their progress in the National Curriculum.
End of KS2: Formal end of key stage assessments or SAT's.

NB This data is out of date due to the impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic and SATs not being undertaken on government directive.

2017-2018 Data

2018-2019 Data

Schools Performance Data