Welcome to
Alwyn Infant School
"Children get off to a flying start..."
Ofsted 2018
What makes Alwyn and Courthouse special #4
Alwyn and Courthouse are 3 form entry schools which means we have 3 classes in each year group. The capacity of the schools combined is 630 children which makes us larger than the average primary school. With size comes resources. We have a lot of space across the two schools including a wonderful Reception garden, two pond areas, 3 playgrounds and a large field, not to mention the swimming pool! But these aren’t the important things - it is the people that make a school and we share some of the best teachers and leaders that I have worked with in almost 20 years in education. The expertise that Alwyn and Courthouse shares in our team is phenomenal.
Expertise in teaching is one thing but our team also have expertise in the children that they teach. Children are known well by a number of different adults; not just their class teacher and and teaching assistant but senior leaders and other adults in each year team. Having more adults that care and know children so well ensures a feeling of safety and belonging. Children have great relationships with multiple adults; adults who know their name; adults who know what’s important to them; adults invested in their learning and wellbeing.
And this is what makes us special. We have the resources of a large schools but the feel of a small school.
What makes Alwyn and Courthouse special #3
Alwyn and Courthouse have had a joint PTA for many years and the work that we do ensure that we are more than just a federation of two schools - we are a community.
Bringing people together
The PTA runs all sorts of events throughout the year. For all the family there are the Christmas and Summer fairs and a couple of fun runs. For the children, there are events such as discos and for the adults, a quiz night, a craft and pamper night and even a netball and football tournament. This year we want to do more though. We aim to celebrate a wider range of cultural and religious events including Diwali, Chinese New Year, Holi and Eid ul Fitr. Watch this space!
Supporting our families
The cost of uniform can add up - they all grow out of things so quickly! You can buy pre-loved uniform at a huge discount from the PTA website here.
Beyond the community
We are also conscious of our wider responsibilities. We run clothes collections for all your unwanted garments which will make journeys all over the world starting their new life! This can be a purpose built second hand store in Eastern Europe or South America, or a market stall in East or West Africa, providing valuable employment for importers, warehouse staff, transport companies and stall holders as well as affordable clothes for local people.
Raising money
At the heart of what we do is fundraising for the schools. With your help, we have raised tens of thousands of pounds over the years to spend on the children on things like climbing equipment, author visits, theatre trips and pantomimes.
Get involved yourself - support our schools and join our wonderful community!
What makes Alwyn and Courthouse special #2
Alwyn and Courthouse are federated. This means that we remain two separate schools but we have one leadership team and one governing board.
This is much better than being two separate schools because we work together to map out what children will learn over 7 years of school, we align our approaches to teaching and we share resources (including our expert staff). These are the benefits that we are working towards:
You might be thinking: Well isn’t that what all through primary schools do anyway? What’s the big deal? The crucial difference that we have many of the benefits of an all through primary and a unique opportunity…
Alwyn and Courthouse necessarily have their different identities because we teach children of different ages and stages of development. What is best for a 4 year old in one of our Reception classes is not what is best for an 11 year old in one of Year 6 classes and vice versa. In many primary schools, resources can often be unequally distributed towards the oldest children (partly because of SATs) but not in our schools. We recognise the different approaches needed for children in our infant school and for children in our junior school, tailoring what we do so that every child feels safe, is happy at school and by the time they leave us at the end of Year 6, has flourished in many ways.
We have the resources and opportunities of a big school but the feel of a small school. Every child is well known by adults that care about them and their development deeply.
What makes Alwyn and Courthouse special #1
At Alwyn and Courthouse, we value kindness and belonging.
It is important to us that children show kindness and that they behave in a way that makes each other feel like they belong to a friendship group, the class, the school and the community.
One of the ways that we do this is through our rules. At Alwyn, the Alwyn aims show children how they should behave:
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Keep your hands and feet to yourself
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Look and listen
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Be careful and kind
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Always do your best
As children get older and move to Courthouse, excellent behaviour becomes more complex. Three rules summarise how the older children should behave:
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Be ready
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Be respectful
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Be safe
There are many specific behaviours that we teach under these three rules:
Our vision
'Together we build the future'
All the adults work really hard to encourage children to behave in these ways.
These are some of the things that adults do to establish routines in the classroom:
And these are some of things that adults do to make sure that every child feels like they belong: