At George Carey Church of England Primary School, children are at the heart of everything that we do. We pride ourselves in our child-centered approaches and the pupil's voice is valued. We are located within the Rivergate Community Centre at the heart of the Barking Riverside development an area that continues to grow. As such we are at the center of this new, rich and diverse community.
We deliver much of the curriculum through a cross-curricular topic-based approach using Cornerstones. Specific details of what that means for each year group can be found on the Cornerstones part of the website. Mathematics is generally taught separately and independently from the topics of the Cornerstones. As a Church of England Primary School, much of our teaching is explicitly Christian and we promote Christian values throughout all that we do. We follow the Diocese of Chelmsford R.E. curriculum. Children learn about other world religions as well as Christianity, promoting tolerance and understanding between people of all faiths and also those with no strong religious beliefs. We believe that the curriculum should be rich and stimulating and that children should be excited and engaged in their learning. Learning does not necessarily have to take place within classrooms and we aim to exploit the learning opportunities offered by our grounds and in the local environment. The most important underlying principle of a curriculum is to help children learn. We believe that a successful curriculum is brought to life by high-quality teaching, inspirational learning activities, and opportunities to listen and plan for the developing interests and motivations of children.
Cornerstones Curriculum is delivered through a range of inspirational yet rigorous learning projects. These are based on the National Curriculum but bring learning together in new and exciting ways. Each project combines different strands of learning so that children learn more holistically and start to challenge themselves and learn problem-solving skills as they create truly fantastic learning opportunities.
Science should be fun and practical with hands-on activities, using scientific vocabulary and theory as to how, why, where, and when. We want the children to be motivated to ask questions of a scientific nature and to have the opportunity to experience science firsthand, in line with the National Curriculum. Science is integrated into our Cornerstones Curriculum. This enables children to meet science in the context of a wider topic. For more information on the specific content of our science curriculum please see the Wider Curriculum page or ask a teacher.
The agreement sets out the school’s commitment to your child and the action parents should take to support us. We take seriously our responsibility to offer your child a good education and so the agreement also outlines the school’s roles and responsibilities and contains the key principles, rules, and expectations by which the school operates.
The SLT and Governors at George Carey Church of England Primary School have planned to use the Sports Premium this year to enrich the P.E. curriculum for a large number of children using the Sports Premium. The funding represents £10.00 per child plus £16,000. This complements additional money from the overall school budget, which is used to provide a wealth of sports and physical activities for all children. We believe that the funding should be used to involve and interest children in a variety of physical activities and the aim is for children to take up sports and games for the long term, which in turn will give them good attitudes to exercise and help to make them more active, stronger, leading to better health and fitness.
The development of the Rivergate community was first conceived approximately 20 years ago as part of a plan to develop the Thames Gateway to the East of London along the North bank of the Thames. This has been one of the biggest development projects in Europe. Opened in September 2011, the school, along with the Rivergate Centre, was the first community building completed within the new development.
The school is named after George Carey, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, who was born and raised in Dagenham. Lord and Lady Carey formally opened the school on 27th March 2012. George Carey School was set up as a Voluntary Aided School within the Diocese of Chelmsford under the umbrella of the Church of England. The school was designed and conceived as a community facility that could work in partnership with the Rivergate Centre.
The school was first open to pupils on 12th September 2011 with 250 pupils on roll and a staff of 35. Since then we have grown to over 600 pupils with a staff of 90, and we are still growing. We had an Ofsted inspection in October 2012 after just 13 months of being open. It was a major achievement to achieve an overall grade of ‘good’ after such a short period. We are now looking to the future and have set a strong ambition towards ‘outstanding’ provision shortly.
