Here you will find a brief summary of what Milton Abbot Primary School is all about. There is also more information in the About Us drop down menu on this website. For any further queries, do please contact us, we would be delighted to help.
Milton Abbot School is set in a rural village on the edge of Dartmoor but has all the benefits of two nearby towns and a city only a short coach ride away. This means we make regular visits to the Church, Village Hall and Climbing Barn up the road as well as great use of the surrounding countryside for camping, geography, history, muddy walks for charity and our Countryside Stewardship Project with a neighbouring farm. However, we also head into town or the city for swimming, theatre trips, and other visits linked to our carefully designed curriculum. All of which enriches the happiness and learning of our children: how do we know, they tell us! We regularly listen to what our children have to say, either through the Pupil Parliament and Curriculum Council, or just by talking to them on the playground or in the classroom. The warm, happy and purposeful atmosphere is always noted by any visitor to Milton Abbot School but don’t take our word for it – come and see for yourself, visits are always welcome.
OFSTED SAID:
“Parents and pupils alike are positive about the school. Pupils say that there is never any bullying and that behaviour in lessons and social times is positive. Pupils told me that they feel challenged in all lessons.”September, 2019
Our curriculum has been designed, organised and planned to ensure every child receives an engaging and purposeful blend of academic and personal development, with a strong focus on communication skills, self-care, ethical knowledge and creative thinking. In practice, this means our curriculum places equal importance on core and foundation subjects, with the development of expressive skills threaded throughout: we want our pupils to speak up, speak out and speak clearly. As part of this, our curriculum teaches pupils, through experience and opportunity, as well as provoking debate, to develop their own ideas, views and opinions. We believe that through the curriculum we can impact on how they feel about themselves, so that they feel clever, confident and ready to tackle any challenge they may face.
OFSTED SAID:
“Reading is a key driver in your curriculum design and the early signs are that the curriculum is having a positive impact in developing all pupils’ knowledge across a range of subjects.” September, 2019
Being a small school with a family feel, allows us to work closely with our parents and the benefits of this are endless for the children. We work hard on our communication, through letters and Facebook, but parents particularly value our Class Dojo system, which is a secure online messaging service that shares class learning but has individual messaging services. We also have weekly ‘Open Mornings’ on a Friday, where parents are invited to view their child’s learning and leave ’Wow’ slips of appreciation if they wish to. We listen to our parents as part of our ongoing desire to improve. Better never stops!
OFSTED SAID:
“Parents are particularly positive about the communication between home and school.” September, 2019
Learning Behaviours - Learning for School, Learning for Life
We aim to develop key learning skills and attitudes, including independence, perseverance, curiosity, listening and self-awareness. We recognise and reward efforts throughout the school week linked to our Class Dojo interactive online system and celebrate these in assembly. Hoot, our school PTFA, invest in high quality books for us to give as prizes to our termly ‘Reading Champions’, as we believe book ownership is an essential ingredient to our reading success… not to mention a few other exciting initiatives!
Milton Model Citizens - Care for the World We Share
Our goal is to develop the ‘whole child’, leading our children to show mutual care and respect for each other, adults, their school and the world around them. Our pupils take on a different responsibilities during the school week and are passionate about making a difference to the climate and the local area. Pupils who demonstrate outstanding learning behaviours can earn Achievement and/or Positivity Points, and we seek to recognise consistently high standards through our Milton Model Citizen Scheme, which includes enjoyable benefits, including going to the front of the dinner queue and having a picnic with Mr Luxford!
OFSTED SAID:
“Pupils say that there is never any bullying and that behaviour in lessons and social times is positive. Pupils told me that they feel challenged in all lessons." September, 2019
We share high aspirations across school for our children, with a key goal being to challenge every child in class. For those higher attainers, we tailor our teaching to ensure we are ambitious and do not ceiling learning – if they show us they know then away they go! Every child is also invited to record their talents and passions beyond the National Curriculum, which we then seek to nurture and grow through a range of exciting opportunities and experiences. These include art workshops, forest schools, numerous sporting tournaments, a choir and many more planned from music to mountain-biking. We also have two productions during the year to enable our performers to shine and every child to build their confidence.
We have talented teachers who care and take the time to know every child. They are fully committed to recognising and developing the potential in every child. This is outlined in our ‘Every Child Achieving Policy’.
We are extremely proud of the extra care and services we offer to our families, for our families. This includes a Breakfast Club, an After School Club (known as The Big Activity Club) and an extremely popular, thriving Pre-School for nursery age children, as well as a whole host of other clubs, from football to cookery or table-tennis to our very popular choir! All our food is cooked onsite by our wonderful kitchen manager.
