West Leigh Infant School

West Leigh is a large infant school with approximately 360 pupils on Roll. In each year group there are four classes of thirty pupils. 

For more information see Southend’s Primary School Admission booklet 2021 https://www.southend.gov.uk/downloads/file/6395/primary-school-admissions-booklet-2021

If at the closing date for applications, there are not enough places for all those who have expressed a wish to have their child admitted to the school; places will be allocated using the admission/oversubscription criteria as below. This will not apply to children with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) or Educations, Health and Care (EHC) plans.   They must be admitted to the named school.

1. Looked after children and previously looked after children

2. Pupils who live in the catchment area who have a sibling attending the school or West Leigh Junior School

3. Pupils of staff at the school

4. Pupils eligible for pupil premium who live in the catchment area

5. Pupils who live in the catchment area

6. Pupils who live outside the catchment area who have a sibling attending the school or West Leigh Junior School

7. Pupils who live outside the catchment area

This differs from year to year, some years over 10 children have been admitted other years 0 children. This year we have been informed has a lower birth rate so we expect children from outside catchment will be admitted.

West Leigh Infant School was last inspected in October 2018. The school was judged to be good. The area identified for improvement was; to improve boys’ progress in writing so that their attainment is in line with that of girls.

Hot school dinners are prepared on site in our kitchen by our highly skilled cooks. The lunches are well balanced and provide the children with nutritious and tasty ‘home cooked’ meals. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are all eligible for free school meals under their entitlement to Universal Free School Meals.

Children have a choice of three meals everyday and choose their option in every morning. Dietary needs are catered for, our catering team work with parents to make sure all dietary needs are met.

Children can bring their own packed lunch if they wish.

We are proud to be able to offer a range of extra curricular clubs and activities. Some of these are provided by school staff and these are complemented by additional clubs run by external providers. The range of clubs on offer continues to develop and we are always thinking of new and exciting opportunities which the children would enjoy.

We offer an extensive range of sports clubs, football, tennis and multi skills and in addition we offer choirs, recorder, French,  art, sculpture, flower arranging, sewing, puzzle club, comic club to name just a selection.

The range of clubs increase as the children move further through the school and it is our aim to encourage the children to try different clubs at different times in order to extend their range of interests. 

The link between home and school is an incredibly important one at West Leigh Infant and from the moment your child starts at our school we provide opportunities for you to get involved in your child’s learning. Teachers are available at the gate at the end of every afternoon and once a month we hold an ‘Open Class’ session where parents and carers are invited into the classroom to look at books and see the work that the children have been doing. 

In addition, the Senior Management Team are present on the gates at the beginning and end of every day to greet the children and answer any questions you may have. 

We recognise and value the important role parents play in education as they know their child best. Consequently, we encourage parents to engage in an active partnership with the school. This results in a positive impact on the child’s development and parents that feel secure to share important information, seek advice, help and support should they need it. It helps the child to feel safe and secure while in the setting if they see that their parents feel comfortable there. It creates a shared level of expectation, improves the child’s outcomes and ensures every child has their individual needs met. The success of this strong partnership is based on a two-way flow of information, knowledge and expertise.

Transition begins early in the summer term when the Reception team arrange to visit all of the local preschools and nurseries to talk about the children who will be joining us. We hold the first of our parents’ meetings in early July to allow new parents to meet the leadership team and the classroom teachers, welcome them to the school and share the arrangements. Following that, over the course of the summer term, we hold a number of stay and play sessions, some of which parents attend with their children and others that the children attend on their own to become familiar with the setting. 

In September on their first day the children attend with a parent for a thrity minute interview and play.  The children then start on a phased basis for two weeks doing half days in school in groups of 15, then a week of  half days with a lunch before starting full time by the end of September. This allows us to get to know the children really well in smaller groups before we move to full classes.

The curriculum at West Leigh Infant is broad, vibrant and exciting.  The learning is organised into half termly themes which link the learning from the core and foundation subjects in a way which makes it memorable, enjoyable and fun. We make the most of school visits and visitors to bring the learning to life and there are lots of opportunities for the children to share and develop their knowledge in a cross curricular way.

The children are taught in mixed ability classes.

At West Leigh Infant, we are able to have use of the Junior school pool. The children get the opportunity to swim throughout Y1 and Y2.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) applies to children from birth to the end of the reception school year. In our school, children join our EYFS for their reception year. We follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and support children through the Development matters statements.

We strive to create a rich and stimulating learning experience for all our children every day. We plan activities across all seven areas of learning through focus activities, independent and supported learning in provision areas in both the inside and outside classroom. We choose resources to enhance the provision areas  which provide additional learning experiences for our children. We always use high quality books to support learning across all seven areas of learning and use 'Talk Boost' techniques to support communication, language and social development. Writing opportunities are planned for and regulalry changed to engage learners in all continuos provision areas. We use children's interests to engage them in learning alongside immersing them in new experiences. Additional learning challenges encourage independence and allow staff to direct specific learning axctivities at different levels for our learners. Children will be supported to take risks in an environemtn which offers stimulating resources and encourages exploration.

Our focus is to secure learning and development in the three prime areas of learning - personal, social and emotional development; communication and language and physical development as well as begin teaching children through the four specific areas of learning - literacy; mathematics; expressive arts and design and understanding the world.

Learning to read is one of the most important things children will learn at school. Everythng else depends on it, so we put as much energy aas we possibly can into making sure that every single child learns to read as quickly as possible. We use the Read Write Inc. (RWI) phonics literacy programme which helps all children to learn to read fluently and at spedd so they can focus on dveloping their skills in comprehension, vocabulary and spelling. We want children to love reading - and want to read for themselves. This is why we work hard to make sure children develop a love of books as well as learning to read.

As a school we use the Maths No Problem scheme of work, the children learn new concepts through concrete examples first of all, then they move on to using pictorial representations and finally representing their work abstractly. The focus is very much on practical activities and talking about maths before moving on to more formal recording activities. 

Children with special needs will be supported within the classroom, with appropriate teaching materials, learning aids and equipment. The additional support of the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator will be used when appropriate. Where children need support beyond the normal teaching programme, they may be withdrawn individually or in small groups from the classroom to work with the SENDCo or Learning Support Assistant in our Additional Classroom 'Little Rays'.