Welcome

I am absolutely delighted as the Executive Head Teacher of Crofton Anne Dale Federation to welcome you to our website. It is a pleasure to come to school every day and spend time with our children, staff and parents. 

Visitors frequently comment on how warm and welcoming our schools are, how well-behaved and polite our children are  and how fantastic our grounds are. Learning outdoors is a key part of our curriculum and children have regular access to our outdoor facilities which include a pond, an outdoor classroom, woods, chickens, open air classroom, amphitheatre and running track not to mention our playing fields and outdoor play trails. 

As a Federation we choose to operate both schools independent of each other with their own unique characteristics and opportunities. We make conscious choices about what should be the same in both schools. We have thought carefully about how we can ensure the best 'uninterrupted journey through the primary years' for our children therefore the language of learning is the same across both schools, feedback and marking systems are the same, there are shared learning values and the behaviour system is the same. This means that our children, and their families, do not have to re-learn routines when they move between the schools which means the focus can be on great learning and wider opportunities to develop as individuals.

We are very proud of the children and the kindness and care they show to others. All children have completed training sessions on being 'anti-bullying ambassadors' and wear their badges with pride. We strive to ensure that every child feels welcome, safe and secure in our schools - without this quality learning cannot take place. 

We are very proud of the standards that our children achieve. Through a broad and balanced curriculum children learn the basic skills for life of reading, writing and maths, but we also ensure all other subject areas are given a high priority too. Our curriculum page will provide you with further information on how this is achieved and you will find links to the data outcomes for our schools in the key information section.  

We believe that every child is unique and has different gifts and talents to discover and develop. We have  a very strong music curriculum led by one of our teachers who is a very accomplished specialist. Children have the opportunity to participate in a weekly class music lesson and may choose to join the school choir or recorder clubs. Once at the junior school they can also opt to have additional tuition (a subsidised cost applies) in an instrument such as guitar, keyboard, flute and many others. A particular highlight every summer term is the music concert where all children having lessons plus the choir and recorder clubs from the junior school perform to parents. We also place a high priority on sporting opportunities. We employ specialist sports coaches at both schools who lead PE lessons with teachers and provide after school clubs, we also attend many local sports events with our children offering them an opportunity to compete at a wider level.

Our focus is on ensuring that our children develop the learning behaviours they need to equip them to become lifelong learners. Our five learning values are deep thinking, independence, resilience, teamwork and creativity. 

We hold a number of open mornings, afternoons and evenings during the year; dates can be found on the website or please call our school office to enquire.

I look forward to welcoming you to our schools.

Lorraine Phillips