The Spinney Junior School

We celebrated our 50th birthday in 2004 and currently have 200 children on the roll. We aim to develop a life-long love of learning in our pupils, and creative challenges and a sense of professional pride amongst staff. With this in mind we have used the ‘ALPS’ approach to enhance teaching and learning (see below). Joining the CfL project was a chance further to extend the creative approach to teaching and learning that takes place in school, and to help us to continue to raise achievement in maths. The project also enabled us to extend our links with Harlow Museum to include a more cross-curricular dimension when using the museum’s collections and the expertise of its education officer.

ALPS (Accelerated learning in primary schools)

At the heart of the ALPS approach are classroom strategies that build and maintain a positive and supportive learning environment. We have regular staff inset and feedback sessions to promote this philosophy in our school. We feel it has had a positive impact on our practice and on our pupils.

The Alps Approach resource book
Smith and Call
Network Educational Press Ltd.
ISBN 1-85539-078-7

A user’s guide
Smith, Lovatt, Wise
ISBN 1-85539-150-3

Staff involved in the project

The CfL project in our school originally involved girls from two year 4 classes researching and exploring maths and dance ideas. The focus of the project altered in summer 2007 with staff changes. By September, Sarah Brennan (class teacher) and Vanessa Downie (artist) decided to focus on dance and fractions, followed by dance and shape. Harlow Museum and the Museum, Libraries and Archives funded 1.5 days’ teacher cover so that the artist and teacher could collaborate in linking lessons to the New Primary Framework. This also meant that a site-specific performance was successfully conceived and carried out.

Sarah Brennan
The CfL project continued to develop and extend the school’s ethos of creative learning. Working with an artist like Vanessa gave my class an opportunity to see a professional at work, to use language for a real purpose and to see an example of a resilient learner in practice. It has made me much more aware of the need for lessons to cater for all the variety of learners in my class. My involvement in this project has also made me think more creatively about how resources can help raise standards in learning and teaching. I would never have considered linking Harlow heritage and maths.

Rosie Kelly
I really enjoyed feeling a part of the project and sharing the fractions work with dance. The children enjoyed it too.

Links
The Spinney School worked with artist Vanessa Downie.
View The Spinney School’s project work.

Contact
The Spinney Junior School
Cooks Spinney
Harlow
Essex
CM20 3BW
Tel: 01279 425755
Web: www.spinney-jun-sch.ik.org