The Schools

The three schools I worked in are in St Helens, Merseyside. A big city between Liverpool and Manchester. To know a lot more about St Helens visit the web site: http://www.sthelens.gov.uk

The three schools are Roman Catholic Aided Primary Schools for boys and girls within the age range of 4 to 11.

The schools: 

• St Thomas of Canterbury, my host school.

• St Teresa

• St Peter and St Paul,

Levels:

            infants, key stage 1, Reception, 4-5 years old
                                            Year 1, 5-6 years old
                                            Year 2, 6-7 years old

            juniors, key stage 2, Year 3, 7-8 years old
                                            Year 4, 8-9 years old
                                            Year 5, 9-10 years old
                                            Year 6, 10-11 years old

The school day,
Morning sessions from 9 to 12, afternoon sessions from 13 to 15.30.
The 3 schools have breakfast club from 8 to 9 and afternoon club until 5:30. This time has to be paid.

Teaching time,
Infants: 21.30 hours. Juniors: 23.50 hours.

The staff
There is a teacher for every classroom plus assistants. There are a lot of assistants in the schools and they help the teachers with the  class or help children with Special Educational Needs.
There aren't specialised teachers as we have in our schools, but some of them have been trained in some areas as Music, PE or ICT.

The Governors
The Governors are the responsible for the management of all the aspects of the schools, including the budgets. They are representatives: teachers, parents, non-teaching staff, Foundation, LEA representative.

General Aims of the schools
The school staff try to create a friendly and disciplined environment and help every child to reach the highest possible standard. They encourage all children to play a full part as a member of the school community and to show respect for others.
They acknowledge the important role parents play as the first educators of their children and the important need of the school to work as closely as possible with them in the spirit of mutual respect.
Finally, children are encouraged to become independent learners by the creation of a stimulating learning environment.

Curriculum
The schools conform to the requirements of the Foundation Stage ( Reception ) and the National Curriculum at key Stage 1 and 2. For more information see in The National Curriculum

Assessment
Although Assessment takes place every day in every formal class, assessments are made periodically throughout the year. In the summer term, years 2 and 6 carry out statutory assessment. SATS (standard assessments) in English, Maths and Science. The results are published in the Annual Report to Parents. These assessments put a lot of pressure on teachers because  the schools are ranked by results and it affects  the amount of money they receive.
Year 3, 4 and 5 carry out their own series of tests to determine attainment in English and Maths.

Extra-curricular
As a guide, the time children spent on homework should be approximately:

Reception:       10 minutes

Year 1 and 2 :  20 minutes

Year 3 and 4:   30 minutes

Year 5 and 6:   45 minutes

 

Many activities take place outside the school day as Sports, music, languages, cooking, art and crafts. In the addition, most of the schools have an after school Club.

 

School uniform

Children in all the schools wear uniform. The main aim is to reinforce the sense of school identity and to reduce  differences.

Modern languages
Teaching  a foreign language is not compulsory in English schools. By the year 2010 all English schools have to include a foreign language into curriculum. Many of the schools have already a language such as French, Italian, German or Spanish.