Goodrich is a large, friendly school where children have made outstanding progress over the last four years, being in the top 2% of schools in the country for progress in all core subjects between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in 2015/6 once again.
The school, which was built in 1886, is made up of four buildings. Over time there have been schools for all ages on this site, including a secondary girls school, a one-form Infants school, and even adult education in the Lythgoe building.
We are now a three-form entry primary school, with a bulge class in Year 6 who will be moving on to secondary school in July. We are the most over-subscribed primary school in Southwark with about 600 applications for 90 places, but there is a waiting list and spaces do become available as people sometimes move out of London.
Our aim remains: 'High Standards for all' - and academic achievement is our main focus, but we want to provide a well-rounded education of the highest quality. The school ethos is forward-thinking, friendly, and tolerant. We place great importance on Art, Music, and PE alongside the core subjects of English, Mathematics, and Science. Our broad and balanced curriculum is what is needed to effectively prepare children for life in modern Britain.
We want your children to enjoy their time at Goodrich and by the time they leave to be equipped with a whole range of skills that they will need in later life. We aim to help all our children to feel comfortable and at ease with growing up, and to exemplify tolerance towards others. Above all else, we hope that they look back at their time in the school with a real sense of achievement and enjoyment.
Goodrich aims to be an open school, encouraging parents and carers to take as wide an interest and involvement as possible because we know that children make faster progress when we work in partnership.
The physical environment is constantly improving as this is very important for the children. This year we aim to redesign the front of the school as a learning garden and to move the pond to the front of the house. We also plan to install new windows in the nursery and to develop a wonderful bespoke ceramic and steel water channel for Early Years water play in the nursery outdoor area.
The curriculum is designed to develop the whole person - knowledge, skills, understanding, and attitudes, and it is broad, balanced, and has a clear progression in terms of subject knowledge and skills.
We have our Mathematics and English bespoke schemes of work. The mathematics curriculum was written by Nigel Bufton, ex-HMI for mathematics in England, and trialed and developed here. It has been adopted by over 60 schools across England from Devon to Lewisham. Alongside the scheme of work, we have our half termly tests for each year group -one arithmetic and one reasoning- which enable us to moderate teacher assessment with age-related expectations.
The English curriculum was written in conjunction with an English adviser and it revolves around key texts which cover every genre. It too has been adopted by other schools in different parts of the country.
The wider curriculum is very strong, especially in Art, Music, and PE. Specialist teaching has helped to raise standards and improve teacher subject knowledge. We encourage the use of expertise beyond the classroom to break glass ceilings in terms of standards.
All subjects make use of the external environment, from the Early Years going outside to play and learn every day, to older children drawing local buildings in Art or visiting local places of worship.
Art is outstanding with very high expectations and good use of materials from the kiln to weaving to the double primary paint system, but drawing is the key skill and it is taught well.
Areas we want to develop next year include Dance, writing our History and Geography curriculum, use of IT in music, and carpentry.
We also teach Mandarin and the curriculum has an international dimension with visiting teachers from China through the Confucius Institute, who teach Mandarin, kung-fu, and Chinese dance. Over several years there have been small group visits to China.
British values are explicitly taught through the curriculum and implicitly through the PSHE provision and the day-to-day relationships and structures of the school.
