We are very pleased at Cottesbrooke because in the summer term 2017 we were awarded the Investors in Pupils Quality Mark. We were reaccredited again in both November 2020 and in Novemeber 2022.
What is Investors in Pupils
The Investors in Pupils programme is an established national quality mark to recognise, develop and extend pupil voice and participation in schools and educational settings, building young people’s life skills, character and resilience. Operating over 15 years, the programme now has over 500 accredited schools across fifty local authorities with a number of schools choosing to reaccredit on several occasions.
The award contributes to school improvement through a focus on pupil personal development, behaviour and welfare, PSHE, Citizenship education, financial planning, SMSC development and Children’s rights, providing direct and active experience of democracy in action in schools.
- Over 90% of schools accrediting to Investors in Pupils report that it has had a direct impact on learning and classroom management
- 100% of schools achieving reaccreditation attribute Investors in Pupils as having an impact in each of the five areas of the award; learning; behaviour; attendance; induction; school and classroom management
- Schools said that assessments visits were valuable in helping their school move forward
Children tell us how they feel about school
We want to listen to the pupils and understand how they feel about their days in school. As part of Pupil Voice Mr Loughlin along with a selection of Governors, asked children from Reception, Year 1 and Year a few questuions about life at school.
Q1 - What do you like about school?
· Playing with my friends at break times and lunchtimes
· Playing with cars and the food at lunch
· I like the teachers because they are kind and they help me
· I like hula hoops
· People being nice to each other
· Climbing frame
· Making new friends
· People do good handwriting
· The library
· My teacher
Q2 - How would you make the school better?
· Tidier
· Harder work
· Sleep in school
· Swimming pool
· Don’t leave rubbish on the floor
· More good behaviour
Q3 - What are your favourite lessons at school?
· PE – fun to move around and use imagination, special games.
· I like phonics because I am really clever
· I like PE – jumping all around
· Computers – making videos and photos
· Art – weaving
· Maths – learning new things
· English – doing good things
· Art – make fun stuff
Q4 - Do you feel safe at school?
Yes, I feel safe, I feel safe because there is a lot of teachers here, I feel safe because the building is safe. I don’t feel safe without mummy.
Q5 - Who at school would you tell if you were worried about something?
Your teacher, my friends, any teacher
Class Representatives
All children were given the opportunity to put themselves forward to be the Class Representative for Investors in Pupils. As our country is a Democracy, each canditate spoke to their class about why they think they would be good as the class representative, and then every member of the class was given one vote. The child with the most votes in each class were then appointed as the Class Representative.
Learning the cost of resources in school
All the Investors in Pupils class representative met with Mrs Highfield, our School Investors in Pupils Lead to learn about how much school equipment costs. The children took this information back to their classes to help children to understand we must look after our resources.
British Values and Equality
We focus in school on being good citizens and supporting positive British Values and Equality. We focused on these ideas during a British Values and Equality Week.
Celebrating the children’s successes
It is important that the children feel proud of what they achieve and so we celebrate their successes. Celebration Assemblies are held weekly and the children get to take their certificates home. The children also get a special mention on the school Class Dojo page to enable the whole school comunity to celebrate with them.
Individual Key Targets
All children get 3 opportunities over the course of an academic year to choose a persnal target for themselves to work on. These do not need to be academic, and we encourage children to think about extra-curricular activities that they would like to get better at such as riding a bike, swimming or gymnastics. They set an Autumn target, which is then reviewed and changed in the Spring term, and then finally again in the Summer term. These are displayed in classrooms and a copy is sent home for parents to see what target their child has chosen.
Class Mission Statements
All our classes have written class mission statements based on the school mission statement. The children all signed up to their class mission statement. These are displayed in teh classrooms, but also in the foyer at the entrance of the school (opposite the school office)
Class Induction Booklets
We like to make everyone who is new to our school feel welcome and happy. Each class create a class induction booklet to showcase the amazing things each class enjoy doing. The booklet says who the teachers are, and they are full of photogrophs and pictures detailing the learning environment and activities that the classes enjoy. These are displayed in each classrioom, and they are in the entrance foyer opposite the school office for any visitors who may wish to look through them.
Following the School Rules
We know, that when everyone follows the school rules our school becomes a happy and safe place in which to learn. Teachers use Dojo points to reward good behaviour, good effort in class, and for producing work of a good standard. When a child reaches 20 Dojo points they get a prize from the prize box and then teh points start over again.
We also have our 'Good to be Green' charts in every class. We love it when we all stay on green because each day we stay on green earns us 5 minutes of Golden time on Friday afternoons. If we have been on green everyday in a week, we gain a bonus 5 minutes which means we get 30 minutes of Golden time!
Links with PSHE
We want our school to be a happy and safe place where everyone can reach their potential. To help with this, we have our school rules to follow, our reward systems, and our weekly Jigsaw sessions. These sessions help us to feel like we belong to the school community, and that we have valuable contributions to make in ensuring our school is successful. Jigsaw helps us to support one another and realise that we are part of a wider world.
To help us, each class chooses 2 children per day to be the Investors in Pupils VIP's. These children are chosen to be the role-models for the day to help the whole class to follow the school rules, and to contribute to the school day. They wear a VIP badge which shows everyone at school that they are the VIP for the day. This makes the children feel very special for the day.
Staff Shout-Out!
At Cottesbrooke Infant and Nursery School, we also value and appreciate the staff who work tirelessly to make our school the wonderful place that it is. We have a staff 'shout-out' board in the corridoor outside the staffroom for anyone who would like to make a special mention of a member of staff. This helps to show our appreciation and makes staff feel valued at our school.
We are very pleased at Cottesbrooke because in the summer term 2017 we were awarded the Investors in Pupils Quality Mark. We were reaccredited again in both November 2020 and in Novemeber 2022.
What is Investors in Pupils
The Investors in Pupils programme is an established national quality mark to recognise, develop and extend pupil voice and participation in schools and educational settings, building young people’s life skills, character and resilience. Operating over 15 years, the programme now has over 500 accredited schools across fifty local authorities with a number of schools choosing to reaccredit on several occasions.
The award contributes to school improvement through a focus on pupil personal development, behaviour and welfare, PSHE, Citizenship education, financial planning, SMSC development and Children’s rights, providing direct and active experience of democracy in action in schools.
- Over 90% of schools accrediting to Investors in Pupils report that it has had a direct impact on learning and classroom management
- 100% of schools achieving reaccreditation attribute Investors in Pupils as having an impact in each of the five areas of the award; learning; behaviour; attendance; induction; school and classroom management
- Schools said that assessments visits were valuable in helping their school move forward
Children tell us how they feel about school
We want to listen to the pupils and understand how they feel about their days in school. As part of Pupil Voice Mr Loughlin along with a selection of Governors, asked children from Reception, Year 1 and Year a few questuions about life at school.
Q1 - What do you like about school?
· Playing with my friends at break times and lunchtimes
· Playing with cars and the food at lunch
· I like the teachers because they are kind and they help me
· I like hula hoops
· People being nice to each other
· Climbing frame
· Making new friends
· People do good handwriting
· The library
· My teacher
Q2 - How would you make the school better?
· Tidier
· Harder work
· Sleep in school
· Swimming pool
· Don’t leave rubbish on the floor
· More good behaviour
Q3 - What are your favourite lessons at school?
· PE – fun to move around and use imagination, special games.
· I like phonics because I am really clever
· I like PE – jumping all around
· Computers – making videos and photos
· Art – weaving
· Maths – learning new things
· English – doing good things
· Art – make fun stuff
Q4 - Do you feel safe at school?
Yes, I feel safe, I feel safe because there is a lot of teachers here, I feel safe because the building is safe. I don’t feel safe without mummy.
Q5 - Who at school would you tell if you were worried about something?
Your teacher, my friends, any teacher
Class Representatives
All children were given the opportunity to put themselves forward to be the Class Representative for Investors in Pupils. As our country is a Democracy, each canditate spoke to their class about why they think they would be good as the class representative, and then every member of the class was given one vote. The child with the most votes in each class were then appointed as the Class Representative.
Learning the cost of resources in school
All the Investors in Pupils class representative met with Mrs Highfield, our School Investors in Pupils Lead to learn about how much school equipment costs. The children took this information back to their classes to help children to understand we must look after our resources.
British Values and Equality
We focus in school on being good citizens and supporting positive British Values and Equality. We focused on these ideas during a British Values and Equality Week.
Celebrating the children’s successes
It is important that the children feel proud of what they achieve and so we celebrate their successes. Celebration Assemblies are held weekly and the children get to take their certificates home. The children also get a special mention on the school Class Dojo page to enable the whole school comunity to celebrate with them.
Individual Key Targets
All children get 3 opportunities over the course of an academic year to choose a persnal target for themselves to work on. These do not need to be academic, and we encourage children to think about extra-curricular activities that they would like to get better at such as riding a bike, swimming or gymnastics. They set an Autumn target, which is then reviewed and changed in the Spring term, and then finally again in the Summer term. These are displayed in classrooms and a copy is sent home for parents to see what target their child has chosen.
Class Mission Statements
All our classes have written class mission statements based on the school mission statement. The children all signed up to their class mission statement. These are displayed in teh classrooms, but also in the foyer at the entrance of the school (opposite the school office)
Class Induction Booklets
We like to make everyone who is new to our school feel welcome and happy. Each class create a class induction booklet to showcase the amazing things each class enjoy doing. The booklet says who the teachers are, and they are full of photogrophs and pictures detailing the learning environment and activities that the classes enjoy. These are displayed in each classrioom, and they are in the entrance foyer opposite the school office for any visitors who may wish to look through them.
Following the School Rules
We know, that when everyone follows the school rules our school becomes a happy and safe place in which to learn. Teachers use Dojo points to reward good behaviour, good effort in class, and for producing work of a good standard. When a child reaches 20 Dojo points they get a prize from the prize box and then teh points start over again.
We also have our 'Good to be Green' charts in every class. We love it when we all stay on green because each day we stay on green earns us 5 minutes of Golden time on Friday afternoons. If we have been on green everyday in a week, we gain a bonus 5 minutes which means we get 30 minutes of Golden time!
Links with PSHE
We want our school to be a happy and safe place where everyone can reach their potential. To help with this, we have our school rules to follow, our reward systems, and our weekly Jigsaw sessions. These sessions help us to feel like we belong to the school community, and that we have valuable contributions to make in ensuring our school is successful. Jigsaw helps us to support one another and realise that we are part of a wider world.
To help us, each class chooses 2 children per day to be the Investors in Pupils VIP's. These children are chosen to be the role-models for the day to help the whole class to follow the school rules, and to contribute to the school day. They wear a VIP badge which shows everyone at school that they are the VIP for the day. This makes the children feel very special for the day.
Staff Shout-Out!
At Cottesbrooke Infant and Nursery School, we also value and appreciate the staff who work tirelessly to make our school the wonderful place that it is. We have a staff 'shout-out' board in the corridoor outside the staffroom for anyone who would like to make a special mention of a member of staff. This helps to show our appreciation and makes staff feel valued at our school.