Middle 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
Year 5, Year 6, Year 7 and Year 8
Click here to view the Middle School Booklet
Children in our Middle School will receive the same development and standards that we expect in our First School, but they will be encouraged to take more responsibility for themselves and their own learning. Children develop at different rates and in different ways, so by creating more appropriate steps along their educational pathway we will be able to provide a more gradual transition. As children move into Middle School (Years 5 through to 8) they are already beginning to find their place in the rich and stimulating world we live in. They are becoming more aware of both themselves personally and of those around them. By giving them a level of responsibility, with guidance, we can offer them the best possible opportunities to learn.
Traditionally, leaving the safe comfort of a primary school at Year 6 has always been a scary and traumatic time for many pupils. Suddenly, they have to enter a new environment. They are expected to move around a school, find new classrooms and be taught by numerous teachers every week. They are back to being the small fish in a much bigger pond! Children are always excited at the thought of moving up into Senior School, but tell us that moving is also a worrying time. Middle School will allow for smaller, supportive steps to be made in your child’s education. Year 5 will introduce them to being taught by specialist subject teachers and as they progress through Middle School, the number of lessons taught out of their base classroom will increase; all this without the fear factor.
As children move into Year 7 they traditionally have to start a new style curriculum in a new environment. Our Year 7 pupils will have already been introduced to this and will benefit from another two years of Middle School, allowing them to mature before moving into the age range of College students.
The older pupils in Middle School will be given greater responsibilities, such as buddying the younger pupils within Middle School, organising and leading events and house assemblies. Year 8 pupils will be seen as mentors to help with the transition between the First and Middle School, something which fills them with pride. Moving through Middle School is the next progressive step in the preparation for College.
In a traditional school environment children may not reach their true potential at the end of 
Year 6 as this is seen as a transition point to a senior school; therefore the curriculum must stop and then restart when in Year 7. At Scarisbrick Hall we have developed the Middle School so that the learning process does not stop; instead it is enhanced. We can start the transition into the Year 7 curriculum earlier and therefore children are able to achieve higher academic potential by having less disruption to their learning. The Middle School allows us the flexibility to move children onto a senior style curriculum seamlessly. As they move up to Years 7 and 8 we will be introducing the ‘traditional’ array of subjects, but will deliver them using a linked themed approach. This makes the curriculum more appropriate to today’s world and will allow children to develop and excel in a variety of ways. The creative approach is highly successful and allows children to reach their true academic potential.
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
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.
Music at Scaisbrick Hall
In Music, Years 3-7 have been following the Creative Curriculum.
This term pupils in Year 3 have been studying music from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite. They have created a spooky dance to accompany “The Hall of the Mountain King” and are currently working on a class performance of “Morning” with the intention of composing some mood music of their own.
Year 4 have also been doing some music and movement to go with their topic on mountains. We have taken some South American pan pipe music called “Winds on the Mountain” which is very atmospheric and pupils have created their own dances in small groups to show the differences in tempo and mood between the three sections of music.
In Year 5 pupils have been working on music for a “Space” composition in groups which will have four sections – Outer Space, Stars, Space Ship and an astronaut moonwalking. They have experienced working with a range of instruments and making different sounds using clusters.
Year 6 pupils are currently having fun and at the same time learning about music from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. They have sung a well known Elvis Presley song, attempted to learn the Jive (with varying degrees of success!) and can also play The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” using keyboards.
In Year 7 we have been using African polyrhythms to create rhythm pieces of music which have been based on names of African rivers, cities, countries and mountains. Some of the names we have used are less well known and have proved quite challenging to say, however, the end products have been very effective.
Year 8 have been working on group compositions using “Ternary Form” and these are nearly ready to be performed and recorded.