A school giving off good vibes (From Gazette & Herald)

A school giving off good vibes

3:10pm Thursday 30th April 2009

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MALTON Community Primary is a thriving school rooted in the heart of the community.

This is evident when you step over its threshold – there’s a positive vibe throughout the school; the children seem happy and relaxed and the staff are dedicated and supportive.

The feeling of community is further enhanced by a number of schemes that the school has set up, including a strong, active school council.

“Last year, the school council worked with Norton Community Primary School to campaign for improved cycle paths in town and ended up being filmed for BBC Look North as they interviewed councillors at Ryedale House,” said headteacher, Mark Poole.

“Their latest campaign is to recycle as much as possible on a daily basis, and they have also linked up with a school in Zambia and regularly hold events to raise funds for their chosen charities.”

Another focus on the strong community spirit in the school is a buddy scheme; a team of children has been trained by the National Childline in Partnership scheme to provide friendship, support and guidance to fellow pupils at playtimes.

Mr Poole is immensely proud and passionate about the school’s successes and achievements.

“The school places great emphasis on celebrating children’s achievements in their studies, sport and music,” said Mr Poole.

“The curriculum is designed around purposeful and real-life themes to encourage the children to be excited about their learning. Each term, one boy and one girl from each class are awarded a trophy for excellent effort, behaviour and achievement, and there’s a range of other awards to celebrate pupils’ achievements.

“Results have improved to record levels and an inspection in January this year reported that: ‘Pupils told the inspector that lessons were much more fun and they now knew what they were learning and ‘how to learn’… And there has been a significant increase in standards in all subjects’.”

A strong feature of the school, said Mr Poole, is the way in which it provides a rich, exciting and varied environment for learning, nurturing and supporting the personal development of each and every child in a positive way, summed up in the school’s motto, ‘Reach for the stars’.

The school has been praised by the local authority for its “excellent work” providing for pupils’ behavioural, emotional and social wellbeing and, in recognition of this leading practice, it has been selected as one of only eight schools in North Yorkshire to lead and develop enhanced provision for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, from September 2009.

“This means that a team of staff will provide outreach work with families and schools in the local community to lead them in supporting youngsters in their own schools and settings who are experiencing difficulties in these areas,” explains Mr Poole.

“The local authority will fund new and additional staff and a substantial new building to provide additional space for the extra staff, which will create a new ‘front’ to the school.”

Malton CP is strong in the field of sport, currently topping the tables for athletics, football, basketball and swimming inter-school tournaments in the Malton area, and its teams are now through to regional tournaments for athletics and football.

Music is another strong feature of the school – the school orchestra, choir and recorder group regularly perform in the community.

Pupils have set up their own reading council under the leadership of literacy leader, Miss Wilkinson, which organises a range of events to celebrate and develop reading in school. All children in the school recently designed a t-shirt to reflect their favourite book for World Book Day.

The school has newly-refurbished and extensive facilities for nursery and reception pupils with activities to help children learn through play. Flexible nursery arrangements are available from September and there will be open days on June 3 and 4. There is also a room in the school which serves as a link to Central Ryedale Children’s Centre, where a range of activities are offered to mums, dads and their babies and toddlers.

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