First School
I am proud to be the Headteacher of Scarisbrick Hall First and Middle School. Having worked around the area at various schools, has helped me prepare myself for taking the School forward. I have a passion for teaching and believe that education is about preparing pupils and young adults for the future; providing them with skills, knowledge and experiences so that they can make informed decisions about their own pathways in the future.
I was a class teacher here in the days when it was Kingswood College and spent 5 fantastic years teaching in both the Prep and Senior School, as well as being Deputy of Prep School. For my own professional development and career aspirations I left here to move to St John’s Crossens as a Year 6 class teacher and eventually became an Assistant Headteacher there. I then gained further leadership and curriculum development experience as Deputy Headteacher of another St John’s School, this time in Burscough. Whilst at Burscough I applied for, and was offered, the post as Headteacher of Marshside Primary School in Southport. I spent 3 years leading the very successful development of Marshside, including taking the school through several key initiatives and an interim Ofsted inspection which deemed the school as Good, with many Outstanding features. This has prepared me and given me the perfect experience for taking on the exciting role as Headteacher here at Scarisbrick Hall School.
Mr A. McCoy, BA QTS (Hons), NPQH
Reception, Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4
Click here to view the First School Booklet
Personalised Learning Within the Early Years at Scarisbrick Hall School
Description of School and Setting:
The Reception class is the first point at which children at Scarisbrick Hall School become part of the First School. A partnership is formed between the staff, children and parents within the Reception class. The staff and parents communicate through the schools VLE, parent meetings and through home school record books. Within the Reception class there is a fully qualified teacher and a fully qualified teaching assistant, therefore the small class size of 17 is divided between the two key workers, which allows a highly concentrated amount of time to be spent with each individual child to plan in-depth personalised learning for each child. As Reception is the first class within the First School the staff work closely with the other years within the First School to ensure continuous progression through the years, much like the transition from Nursery.
Good practice in detail:
There is an umbrella that is over all of the work going on in the Reception class. The umbrella is there to form the 
structure that will help shape and direct the year in terms of topics. However, the way in which the topic is taught and the resources that are used are not set in stone before the children walk into the classroom, as the children are influential in helping the practitioners to personalise their curriculum by learning about the children so that the children can learn from them.
Inspectors have reported that ‘the key to the success of an outstanding school is the way it promotes learning as a lifelong skill’.
The teacher within the Reception class at Scarisbrick Hall School has a very good knowledge of the knowledge, skills and understanding that each child needs to have before they leave the Foundation Stage and progress into Key Stage One. There is also a very good ability to think of creative ways in which the knowledge, skill and understanding can be delivered to the children by forming exciting and interesting long term topic plans. However, the details of each day and lesson are not yet known as the teacher feeds from the children’s curiosity and merges that with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding of the Foundation Stage to make a personalised, purposeful and meaningful curriculum.
Self evaluation / How can you achieve good progression?
In many lessons I have seen this very important pattern emerging within the Reception class. As a teacher, to plant a seed during an adult led session is just the beginning of the learning process for the child. However for the teacher this is part of the way through the process of supporting each child through their discovery of a new skill. The teacher needs to have previous knowledge of what that child is able to do and in what way. This knowledge has and will influence the delivery and level at which the next stage of progression each child will take. A key aspect of good progression is not only knowing what the children would like to learn about but how the children are going to access this curriculum – what questions? What stimuli? What resources? What form of differentiation?
Small Class Sizes
Each year group within First School is limited to 21 pupils places, it is our firm belief that by maintaining this level each child can develop at their own pace without the need to compete with their peers.
The Creative Curriculum
The development of a creative curriculum is a key improvement to the delivery of teaching – it is a 21st century curriculum. It enhances the learning opportunities for children who do not always respond enthusiastically to the traditional teaching styles. With the creative approach individual subjects are merged together and delivered through a themed topic that inspires the imagination of the learners. Children are taught a range of key skills that are transferable across all subjects and interests – with the aim that pupils will become fluent in the application of areas such as Literacy, Numeracy and ICT rather than just learning about the subject. It is often difficult to write a letter or create a story without a focus that captures a child’s imagination, however, studying ‘The Rainforest’ or asking the question ‘What Else is Out There?’ stimulates ideas and curious minds. Themes are planned carefully, often lasting for a whole term, allowing the topic to develop with the children’s interests and abilities.
From experience we know that children can attain higher academic levels when immersed in the creative curriculum rather than some traditional methods. A creative approach teaches children how to use key subject related skills and then apply them to a variety of experiences – the essentials for learning and life. The creative curriculum allows children to become more successful, more confident and more responsible.
Sport at Scarisbrick Hall School
Sport plays a large part of everyday life at Scarisbrick Hall School. Within the curriculum time the girls play netball, hockey, rounders, badminton and volleyball, plus they also have regular swimming lessons, take part in cross country running and athletics and sail on the lake in the summer months. Our lessons are fully mixed ability with the more able children helping those who find sport difficult, re-enforcing their own learning through guiding others.
Boys play football, rugby, cricket, tennis and basketball. Athletics and cross-country also take place in the spring and summer terms. We travel to make use of local facilities such as Burscough Sports Centre, Halsall Memorial Playing Fields for cricket and Park Pool for swimming lessons.
Extra curricular time allows us to play competitive sport against other local schools and periodically we also compete within the ISA group, travelling within Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire for tournaments and matches.
Our ethos is for all children to develop an enjoyment of sport and to appreciate the value of a healthy active lifestyle. Beyond this we like all children to have the chance to play competitive sport and to that end we aim to allow everyone to be part of the school teams at some stage. Beyond this we do try to allow those with sporting prowess to develop their skills and reap the rewards of their hard work. We recognise those with outstanding ability and talent through the presentation of school awards and certificates. We also direct our most able students to outside clubs and organisations who can further develop their talent.