Katherine Semar Junior School

Katherine Semar Schools

Katherine Semar Infant and Junior Schools are a 2-form entry Infant and Junior School, which serves an established and settled residential area in Saffron Walden.

Katherine Semar Schools provide a safe, inclusive and challenging learning journey, in a stimulating environment. The schools work cohesively to develop children and staff in a respectful and engaging way. Katherine Semar is an extremely popular and oversubscribed school andthe local authority asked us to take two additional classes in Key Stage 2.

The infant and junior schools work as one school, with one Headteacher, one leadership team and a single governing body. This further enhances the continuity for children and as all policies and procedures are aligned.

Values and vision

Our curriculum cannot be separated from our school’s core values:

· be kind,

· be confident,

· be curious,

· be positive,

· be respectful and

· be resilient.

These values permeate all aspects of school life and underpin our school curriculum.

We want our children:

• To use of a range of social skills in different contexts, for example working and socialising with other pupils, including those from different religious, ethnic and socio-economic background.
• To show a willingness to participate in a variety of communities and social settings cooperating well with others and being able to resolve conflicts effectively with resilience.
• To have access to a wide, rich set of experiences including opportunities for pupils to develop their talents and interests. The school provides these rich experiences in a coherently planned way, in the curriculum and through extra-curricular activities, and they considerably strengthen the school’s offer.
• To behave with consistently high levels of respect for others and play a highly positive role in creating a school environment.

INSPIRE Curriculum

Alongside our school values we have a set of aims for our school curriculum. These are the key threads that underpin and link our children’s curriculum experiences together. We want children to: question; challenge themselves and each other; investigate the world around them; experience the world first hand; communicate effectively; and seek to develop their understanding of themselves, each other and the world around them. These aims were developed by and for the school community; parents, teachers, staff and governors collaborated to create our INSPIRE curriculum.

To achieve our curriculum aims, we deliver a curriculum which is rich in first-hand experiences and children across the school:

Pupils and staff thrive at our schools. The pupils develop a strong moral compass and a rich and appropriate understanding of other cultures. They access a broad, balanced and exciting curriculum and are eager to learn. The school is highly committed to inclusion. All groups of pupils achieve well and children leave us exceptionally well prepared for the next steps in their learning journey. The teachers are well supported and are able to flourish at Katherine Semar by developing their teaching and through career developing opportunities into leadership.

Staff retention is very high. Our vision and ethos is well-developed as staff have built this vision as a team. Monitoring, evaluation and review has happens regularly and each subject has a deep dive on a rolling programme. Experienced subject leaders know their subject’s strengths and areas for development well.

Being a member of Staff at Katherine Semar

Katherine Semar is a friendly, exciting and dynamic place to work.  We are a learning community and seek to develop all of our staff by providing structured opportunities for professional development that improve pupil outcomes.  We access an extensive collaborative network of partnerships with other schools. We are also a strategic partner for the Saffron teaching hub (teaching school). This means we provide school-to-school support for other schools. We have six SLEs who work in the school to support Early Years, assessment, English and SEN. We have county moderators in Early Years, Key Stage One and Key Stage Two. We are also an important partner school with Cambridge university. The school is also very actively involved other school to school support clusters including the consortium which provides CPD.

Katherine Semar has shared co-ordinator posts, enriching subject leadership. Planned, shared staff meetings and training are of a high quality and ensure continuous professional development for staff. The staff work together to enhance provision in classrooms and use staff specialisms very effectively. Staff retention is very high.

Katherine Semar is a founding member of Saffron Academy Trust which includes Saffron Walden County High School and R A Butler Infant and Junior Schools. We are also strategic leaders in Saffron Teaching hub which allows us to lead strategically on professional development and school to school support. So whether you are an early career teacher who would like more support or an established teacher looking to support others we can provide you unrivalled opportunities for developing your career.

This is an enormously exciting time to be joining Katherine Semar Schools.  We were delighted to have both Infant and Junior schools  achievements so overwhelmingly endorsed by Ofsted (Infant Outstanding 2010) and (Junior Outstanding 2013) and have focused on the next stages of the school’s development.

We hope you will wish to play a leading role in shaping the next stage of Katherine Semar’s development.  We welcome your application to join us.