HERE at Bude Infant School we are enthusiastic about learning, supportive of our pupils and their families, and dedicated to providing the best platform for our pupils to thrive, writes Deputy Head Teacher Brook Osborne and Secretary Steph Smeeth.

We support each child as an individual, nurturing their own interests and gifts so they can fulfil their own particular potential.

From the children’s’ first entry into the Foundation Stage environment, they are surrounded by a colourful, vibrant and interactive environment where they are able to learn through play both indoors and outside. The Foundation Stage children have their own outside space where teachers can lead learning activities, and ‘Welly Wednesday’ in our woodland area is a weekly highlight!

Through play they are able to learn not only phonics and maths but about friendships, teamwork and sharing, all of which are vital key skills for the rest of their learning lives and beyond.

The curriculum is constantly developing as children move through Year 1 and Year 2, building in opportunities to use the local environment whenever possible, and giving the children exciting and fun learning experiences.

Take our recent Polar week for example: The week started with a visit from a real-life Polar explorer before the children then took part in a whole range of Polar based activities throughout the week. They then made interactive ‘Polar Books’ on the school iPads collating their fantastic experiences and learning. At the end of the week the children really enjoyed showing their learning to their parents and families in a Polar Week Parents’ Presentation.

We celebrate our pupils’ learning achievements each week with parents. We feel this link is really important and parents really enjoy coming into school to witness their child’s accomplishments. In fact, parents are very positive about school in general. Recent feedback from one parent’s questionnaire was: “My child is happy and loves coming to Bude Infant School. He has noticeably grown in all aspects of his development. Just thank you for all you do and continue to do!”

School results improved again this year; the majority of our Year 2 SAT results were in-line with the national average, with many above average. For instance, 43% of our children achieved the upper level in reading, compared to 30% nationally. Our Year 1 phonics assessment scores are in-line with national averages, and last year’s EYFS scores were higher than the national average in all the Key Early Learning Goals.

Sports and extra-curricular activities play a huge part in our school life here. We provide after-school clubs for all ages from Science club to Plymouth Argyle Football club, choir to Street Dance. Each year group take part in daily LEAP sessions, which work on balance, spatial awareness as well as encouraging pupils to get active!

Although we push our gifted and talented students we also work very closely with our less assured children. We created cookery club to work on their confidence and sense of achievement and we have an SEND interventions co-ordinator who works alongside our Pupil Premium champion and SENCO to insure that those that need that little extra help, receive it.

We are extremely proud of our school kitchen. All our meals are made on site using the freshest local ingredients possible. On average 85% of our pupils enjoy a cooked meal each day. We have two full roasts per week which are always popular and the children also adore the homemade puddings!

Our FOBIS (Friends of Bude Infant School) work tirelessly fundraising to provide the pupils with exceptional equipment – most recently they have focused on providing new playground equipment which is adored by the children and will be used for years to come. We regularly hold school discos’, ‘Big Bun Sales’, summer/Christmas fayres and our wine and wisdom evenings are a big hit with our parents!

‘Look out for Resilient Rhino’s and Pirate Reading Captains!’

This year has seen some fantastic changes to the way we learn in school. We now work even harder to develop life-long learning skills at an early age, and have developed some characters to help the children with this. You will often see children walking around school with our new Friendly Frog or Confident Camel stickers on their chests! To help boost reading even further, we have also developed a scheme called Pirate Reading. As children read at home, they win certificates until they eventually become a ‘Pirate Reading Captain’. These captains receive a wristband and treasure map in assembly, and then have to do further reading to cross the Forbidden Forest and Deadly Desert to eventually reach the treasure! One of our parents told us, “Pirate reading has been a huge success for my child and for us! You’ve made it a real visual feast for the children’s imagination and there’s no doubt that is has made a huge impact on his reading”.

Add these developments to our Celebration Assemblies, Star of the Week certificates, Superstar Writer certificates, Leapers of the Fortnight and Going for Gold Behaviour postcards and it’s fair to say that children are very well rewarded for putting the effort in! By celebrating the positive, we feel that we have created a happy, purposeful school where children are given the support and encouragement to flourish.

Bude Infant School really is a happy, vibrant local school where children play to learn and learn to achieve.

There are lots of pictures of what's going on at the school which can be found in this week’s Post.