School Strikes GOLD!

We are delighted to have our commitment to the Arts recognised with an Artsmark, but thrilled to have the Award of Artsmark Gold!

The National award from the Arts Council England recognises schools with a high level of provision in art, dance, drama and music.

The school completed an extensive audit for the application process and was visited by an Arts Council assessor who interviewed our School Council as well as many people involved with the school.

The award recognises the school’s commitment to giving all our children a wide range of arts experiences including out-of-hours opportunities, visits and partnerships with arts practitioners and organisations, from our weekly circus skills workshops to our Brass Band.

Update...

Our School was re-accredited with Artsmark Gold May: 2010 to May 2013

 We are delighted to have had our school recognised for a SECOND time with an Artsmark and at the highest level of Gold.   This is a national recognition with the same standards regardless of size of school of our provision for children in Music, Dance, Drama and Art and Design both in the curriculum and in extra curricular provision.

 The Assessor, who spent a day with us in the Spring term, commented that he was running out of superlatives to describe our school!

 The award is a wonderful recognition of the enthusiasm and commitment of all our staff and volunteers in providing exciting opportunities in the Arts for all our children.

 * OUTSTANDING IN ALL AREAS *

check the Ofsted website for further details

we are also accessed by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich as a church School.

** 2011 **

Still An Outstanding School

Following changes in the way Ofsted now inspect schools we have received our  Ofsted Interim assessment Statement which confirms we are still an Outstanding School.

A copy of this statement can be found here or on the official Ofsted web site.

Photographs of our children cooking and enjoying circus skills were displayed on a giant screen. Hearing about other schools has inspired us to give our children even more opportunities to grow and enjoy preparing fresh vegetables, giving children skills for life and teaching them how to enjoy good food.

Nacton is a Flagship Food For life School.

2011 Nacton achieves Silver Award.

BRONZE schools serve seasonal school meals that are at least 75% freshly prepared by a well-trained school cook. Pupils and parents are involved in planning improvements to school menus and the dining experience via a school nutrition action group, boosting school meal take-up. Every pupil has the opportunity to visit a farm during his or her time at school, and opportunities are given for cooking and food growing activity.

SILVER schools serve school meals on plates, not flight trays, and a range of locally sourced and organic items are served. All chicken, bacon and sausages served are Freedom Food certified or free range and no fish from unsustainable sources is served. The school has a cooking club, and pupils get to cook with and eat the produce grown in the school growing area. Parents and the wider community get involved in food education via food-themed events.

GOLD schools are hubs of good food culture in their community, actively involving parents and community groups in cooking and growing activity. School meals are at least 75% freshly prepared, 50% local and 30% organic, and more than 70% of pupils are choosing to eat school meals. Every pupil learns to cook and has the opportunity to grow food, and groups of pupils are actively involved in the life of a local farm.
Further information on the criteria for each award level is found at the Food For Life website or by clicking on the logos

Website :Food for Life Partnership

Our school team wins the Global Challenge 2008!

Congratulations to our five Year 6 pupils who represented the school at the BT Centre in London on Wednesday. Pupils from Nacton Primary School competed against eight other schools invited to take part. These included teams from Technology Colleges and High Schools from Manchester and Newcastle as well as teams from Suffolk.

In the first part of the Challenge the children had to make a one-minute timed presentation about the storysacks and wonderful DVDs of Traditional Tales which last year’s Lions made and sent to Katha School, our paired school in New Delhi, India.

Our second timed presentation was about our current project that is linking to the Lions project on toys and games as we have sent instructions to Katha on how to play our favourite playground games. Our team even demonstrated Grandmother’s Footsteps. Many people commented on how confidently and enthusiastically our children presented and engaged with the activities of the day that were focussed on communication skills, collaborating and working cooperatively together.

Another highlight of the day was a live video-link with Katha where Nacton Bear was recognised by the children in Katha and as one of our pupils was celebrating his birthday, our Katha friends even sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. Amazing to exchange greetings from half way across the world.

An added pleasure was meeting a senior teacher from Katha School, Dr. Annan Rana who came to England especially for the Challenge, visited Nacton and enjoyed lunch with us. He also brought beautifully illustrated instructions on how to play some of their favourite games in India as well as cards and decorations for us. Annan has returned to India with two of the lovely mugs commemorating the centenary of the rededication of our Church and also our lovely Tea Towels which include everyone in school with smiley faces. Another exciting day.

The Activemark 2008

This award is recognition of our schools hard work over the last year and shows that over 90% of our pupils achieve 2 hours of PE and School Sport each week. The award shows how active lifestyles are promoted in our school.

The Activemark award is valid for one year and will be renewed next year if our school reaches the criteria set by the DCSF (The Department for Children, Schools and Families).

Suffolk Greenest School Award 2010

Nacton wins Suffolk Greenest School Award 2010: Food and Drink category.

We have won a lovely trophy made from wood and re-cycled glass and a cheque for £200 for “Going green by eating our greens”.  This is for our promotion of our children enjoying eating vegetables they have grown themselves as well as having minimal food miles with our lovely organic vegetables for lunch delivered freshly dug up for us by Home Farm Nacton.

The National College for School Leadership

Works to develop and inspire great leaders of schools, early years settings and children’s services so that they can make a positive difference to children’s lives.

Membership of the National College gives access to unrivalled development and networking opportunities, professional support and leadership resources.

National College leadership development schools

Schools taking part in the scheme have been chosen to represent a range of contexts and to reflect current policy initiatives. The headteachers of these schools are positive, influential role models and have demonstrated the ability to build leadership capacity in their schools. Schools offering placements are designated National College leadership development schools and ensure that appropriate personnel, including the headteacher, are available to work with you.

as a trainee headteacher the placement should give:

•an increased understanding of the leadership challenges within different contexts
•increased expertise in using leadership skills in different contexts
•an opportunity to address some leadership development needs
•further experience of different leadership style(s)

The placement will enable the leadership development school to:

•gain from the outcomes of the leadership task you have undertaken
•make an important contribution to developing next generation of headteachers

Investors in People

 is a flexible, tailored and easy-to-use people management standard. We help you to achieve your business objectives by developing and harnessing the skills of your people.

At the heart of Investors in People is the Standard, an outcome-based framework of best practice that's written in plain English and designed to be tailored to your needs. We help you choose the parts of our framework most relevant to your organisation and its goals, and provide one-to-one advice, plus a range of interactive tools and resources.

We monitor your progress using interview-based assessments and give in-depth feedback so you can keep improving performance. When you have met the Standard, you're accredited as an Investors in People organisation. The whole approach is forward-thinking, flexible and personal.

BT Schools Award Winner

Awarded twice 2005 & 2006

Our School demonstrated their commitment to understanding and enjoying the benefits of improved interpersonal communication skills

We were able to demonstrate:

- an understanding and endorsement of the principles of constructive dialogue;

- commitment to helping others have better conservations;

- an attempt to make the most of every discussion, whatever role is played in it;

- a desire to actively seek opportunities to promote the importance of speaking and listening, both within school and outside of it.