Our Classes

Our primary phases of education are broken down as follows:

• Foundation Stage includes Nursery (2-4 year olds) and Reception
• Key Stage 1 includes Year 1 and Year 2 pupils.
• Key Stage 2 includes pupils of Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6.

Foundation Stage

We are very fortunate to have such a wealth of experienced EYFS staff within our team.  Our Early Years Foundation Stage caters for children aged 2 - 5 years old. We have different rooms for different ages, which can really benefit children and enable us to target specific stages of development.  We are also so lucky in that we can also come together to mix and learn from each other due to the vast spaces our school offers, for example in our outdoor provision or in our bike yard or soft play room.  Our Foundation Stage consists of:

• Caterpillar Nursery (aged 2-3 years)
• Rainbow Nursery (older 2 year old's - younger 3 year olds)
• Butterfly Nursery (aged 3-4 years)
• Blueberry Reception Class (aged 4-5 years)
• Strawberry Reception Class (aged 4-5 years)

We boast small class sizes with a higher teacher to child ratio within our school.  Currently our Reception classes have approximately 16 children in each class.  Our children are always busy exploring, investigating and learning both inside and outside the classroom.

 Year 1 & 2

In Key Stage 1, we have four classes:

Cherry Class – Year 1 – Mrs Harrison / Miss Storey
Pear Class – Year 1/2 – Mrs Williams / Mrs Scott
Peach Class – Year 2 – Mrs Laws

Please take a look at our wonderful learning!

View Our Curriculum section for further details of our learning.

View Our Learning 2023/2024 section to find out about our exciting topics this year in Year 1 & 2.

Year 3 & 4

We have four mixed Year 3/4 classes. Our teachers are Mrs Short, Miss Smith, Mrs Connolly and Mrs Dodds.

View Our Curriculum section for further details of our learning.

View Our Learning section to find out about our exciting topics.

Year 5

We have two classes. In Oak class, our teachers are Mrs Close and Mrs Dunn. In Beech class, our teacher is Mrs Tyrens.

View Our Curriculum section for further details of our learning.

View Our Learning section to find out about our exciting topics. 

Year 6

In Year 6 we have two teachers; Mrs Rafferty and Mrs Gardner.

View Our Curriculum section for further details of our learning.

Find out about Our Learning here.

Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones provision is a self-funded SEMH SEN base to support children with complex needs who may find the mainstream classroom overwhelming. The base is a 12 place KS1 (Years 1 and 2) provision that helps with the transition from EYFS to KS1. Within Stepping Stones there are 2 experienced staff both of which have expertise in dealing with children with attachment needs, ASD, ADHD, global delay and learning difficulties. Places within Stepping Stones vary and very much depend on the needs of the child. Some only access the Stepping Stones curriculum on a Thursday and Friday focusing on a specific area of identified need by the cohort (e.g. emotional regulation), others may access the provision whole time for a full term and other children may need a longer placement, some children only attend for afternoons – spaces are dependent on the needs of the child. The main aim, where possible, is to integrate children back into the mainstream classroom with a tool kit of resources and strategies to help them continue to flourish and develop.

The children have access to the full curriculum and they are taught it at their own pace; there is a focus on social and emotional skills. The philosophy is to enable the child to be emotionally literate, resilient, confident and we usually find that once a child has these elements in their tool kit, the academic side of the curriculum flourishes. The base utilises lots of parental engagement where parents are encouraged to actively take part in lessons, help with coffee mornings, stay and play and generally celebrate their child’s successes as they venture through their time in the provision.

The Nurture Hub

Within Durham, we have a number of schools successfully running nurture groups in their schools with positive outcomes consistently shown for the children and young people with social and emotional needs. In light of this, four Nurture Hubs have been developed across County Durham, and we are incredibly proud to be one of them.

The aim of the Nurture Hub is to promote the use of nurture principles in schools across County Durham. Alongside this we have also opened up spaces within our school Nurture Groups to allow children from local schools to access a Nurture Group where one is not available in their current school.  

Aims of Nurture

At Pelton Community Primary School , we believe all children should achieve their full potential through an inclusive and supportive approach. Our Nurture Group provides further opportunities for pupils to develop positive, secure relationships with teachers and peers in a supportive environment.

The Nurture Group aims to support our children to develop their self-esteem, confidence, and social skills. Within the group, there is a special emphasis on developing genuine and supportive relationships and pupils are given the time they need both to listen and be listened to. This work enhances relationships within their classroom and supports children to be in a ready to learn state.

Children are given opportunities to talk through and reflect upon any uncomfortable feelings. Children are given support to find ways to verbalise challenges they may face on a day-to-day basis and offered strategies to manage and cope with these. 

A whole school approach

At Pelton Community Primary School, we believe that Nurture is not just about the groups that we run but also an important framework for working with children across our school. We adopt a nurturing ethos across our whole school community and promote this approach in other schools, to support the work our Nurture Groups do. We closely follow the 6 principles of Nurture.

Implementation

• Children that would benefit from access to our Nurture Groups are identified by staff within our school.
• For pupils accessing the Nurture Group from external schools, the pupil’s school will identify their needs and request support through the Primary Inclusion Partnership. One outcome of this may be accessing a Nurture Group within a Nurture Hub.
• Group dynamics are carefully considered when creating an effective Nurture Group.
• We work closely with parents, senior leaders, staff teaching teams and wider professionals so we are able to tailor support within the nurture group to provide the best outcomes for the pupils.
• We will always discuss the aims of the work with parents and carers before a child accesses a Nurture Group.
• The diagnostic tool “The Boxall Profile” is used to identify individual needs of the children. This will inform targeted support and help track progress across the sessions.
• Nurture involves active listening and response. There is an emphasis upon adults engaging with children in reciprocal shared activities such as reading and play.
• Nurture is a place where small achievements are praised, success is recognised and built upon. In addition, efforts will be recognised and emphasised during more challenging tasks; with a focus on how we can learn through practise, mistakes, and small steps.
• Children will access three sessions weekly, each session lasting a minimum of two hours.  This will be offered from one to four terms.
• It is important that every child maintains their sense of belonging to their usual class and we therefore ensure that a child does not miss out on special outings, visitors or school events with their class peer group.

Measuring the Impact of Nurture

• Our aim is for children that access Nurture to view their time there as positive and for them to be present, happy and engaged when there.
• We value student voice so the feedback we gather will feed into our provision.
• The impact of the work will be explored through seeking feedback from teachers, parents, carers, and external professionals.
• We also gather data from a Boxall Profile which is completed by the child’s class teacher and nurture staff following the intervention. This will highlight the specific areas progress has been made.
• Daily class records are also kept and should note an increase in behaviours associated with self-confidence, emotional awareness and positive interactions.