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Information for Parents Your Child’s School Career
For many parents the education system may feel confusing. Hopefully
this information will provide an explanation of the stages your child will
pass through, both primary and secondary school. Your child’s first experience of school will probably be in the
Nursery class of Foundation Stage. Here they will attend school for half a
day and be gradually introduced to the learning process. Much of their
learning is through structured play and their time in Foundation Stage will
include many fun activities which will develop their personal and social
skills. From here they move into a full time Reception Class. The transfer
takes place in September and there is a phased induction over 3 weeks so that
the children are introduced to their new class in groups of 10 and gradually
meet the other groups until they are with the full class of 30. Your child
will be expected to read with you at home during Reception and reading books
from a structured programme will be sent home for you to share with your
child. Your child will then move into Key Stage 1 - Year 1 and Year 2.
Here your child will be taught the National Curriculum – Literacy, Numeracy,
Science, Information and Communication Technology, History, Geography, Music,
Physical Education, Art, Design and Technology, RE and Citizenship. Homework in Key Stage 1 includes regular reading, spellings and
Numeracy. At the end of Year 2 your child will be tested using National
tests and tasks. These are known as the Key Stage 1 SATs. From here they move into Key Stage 2 – Year 3, 4, 5 & 6. They
will continue to be taught National Curriculum subjects As well as the
subjects in the National Curriculum the school also teaches citizenship,
extra swimming, environmental education, second language (French), health
education, performing arts, economic and industrial understanding, peer group
tutoring and library and research skills. The work will become more and more
demanding as your child progresses through the Key Stage and the amount of
homework will increase. At Year 6 your child will do Key Stage SATs. These are marked
by external examiners and the levels they achieve for these examinations are
passed onto the chosen secondary school. The staff at Lower Farm do their
very best to prepare the children for the examination process. At the end of Year 6 your child will leave Primary School and
move onto the next level – secondary education. This may be in a Secondary
School or a Grammar School. It is your choice which type of education you
want for your child. If you want Grammar School education then your child
must sit an entrance exam as well. Entry into Secondary education sees the start of Key Stage 3 -
Year 7, 8 and 9 and they will continue to be taught the National Curriculum.
At Year 9 your child will be tested again – Key Stage 3 SATs. Your child will probably be studying for their GCSE
qualifications in Year 10 and 11. This will probably include coursework as
well as exams. GCSE examinations are not always easy and therefore sometimes
students may not be as successful as they hope. However, these exams can be
re-taken. After the GCSE examinations your child can return to school in
the sixth form, go to college or find work. If your child returns to sixth
form, then he or she is likely to be studying for A levels. Colleges offer A
level courses and vocational courses for specific career paths. The 2 years
of A Level are separated into AS (Advanced Subsidiary) which, is half an A
level and then the final year completes the A Level qualification. From here they can move on to higher education or begin their
working life. At Lower Farm we support and encourage
our students through their first years in education. We have high
expectations of them and they work with enthusiasm and commitment to achieve
these. We hope all of our students will have successful school careers and
future working lives. |
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