Level 3 Early Years Practitioner

Jewell Academy is an Outstanding school. Ofsted visited the Academy in June 2015 and judged us to be Outstanding in every category, with no areas for improvement.  We are a two-form entry primary school that opened in September 2013 for children in Reception to Year 6. In addition we have our own Pre-School on site for children eligible for the 15 hours free education.

The facilities at Jewell Academy are fantastic, including a studio hall for PE and Dance, 2 multi-use games areas, a large school field, allotment, kitchen classroom, designated Early Years unit and a school kitchen which cooks our hot meals freshly on site.

I believe that every child is a Jewel; unique and special. We value each child as an individual, listening to their aspirations and celebrating each step that takes them closer to their goal. This enables them to reach their fullest potential. Children come to us with different starting points and experiences and it is important to acknowledge this. Every child needs to know they are unique and special, and we work hard to ensure a sense of belonging is established from a child’s first day.

Our smart uniform that matches our sister schools in the South Coast Region (Magna, Ocean and Livingstone) enables our children to feel pride in their school and further develop their sense of belonging. This is particularly evident when we collaborate with our sister schools. We work closely with Ocean Academy Poole which opened in September 2015 for Years 3-6 and Magna Academy Poole, an outstanding Aspirations Academy for 11-18-year olds. Secondary staff and pupils often support our curriculum by hosting specialist subject days, such as Science, PE and Spanish. Collaboration with other schools is important, to establish our identity in the community and give competitive opportunities to all the children. We are proud to be part of a cluster of 7 local schools as well as part of the wider Aspirations team of primary academies in Banbury and West London.

The key to ensuring children become lifelong learners, is ensuring the curriculum is fun, exciting and relevant. Our Early Years develop these skills using the characteristics of effective learning. This continues as the children move into Year One and begin to access the National Curriculum. Literacy and Numeracy skills are essential to enable children to access the world around them. In a world that is always changing, we ensure children develop their problem-solving skills and resilience through open-ended tasks, where they are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. In addition, our three school rules, “Safe, Ready and Respect” ensure children are Safe in all they do, Respectful to all and Ready for anything, not only at school, but in life.

There are numerous opportunities we offer parents and carers to engage in life at Jewell, to enable them to gain the skills and confidence to support their child’s learning. Parental involvement in a child’s education is key to good progress and development.