Welcome to Rotherfield Primary School. Rotherfield aims to grow children’s futures by providing a high-quality education, where every child achieves their full potential.
We will do this by providing:
- A rich and diverse learning experience
- A safe, inspirational environment where children can flourish
- High standards of teaching and achievement
Along with all other maintained schools in England, we are required by the government to teach the revised National Curriculum, which began in September 2014.
Here at Rotherfield children follow the Letters and Sounds scheme to learn to read and write using phonics. Phonics lessons play an essential role in reading and writing and are embedded in the curriculum from Nursery onwards. In Key Stage One, children are streamed for Phonics and their reading is assessed on a half-termly basis. This ensures targeted learning and fluid progression. Letters and Sounds aim to produce competent readers who read for enjoyment and discovery about the world around us.
During Phonics lessons, children are taught to:
- Learn to read and write using graphemes (letter sounds)
- Decode words effortlessly, spell and handwrite
- Comprehend what they read
- Read with fluency and expression
- Write confidently using oral rehearsal
- Work effectively with talk partners to articulate their learning at every step
Children are encouraged to use their phonic knowledge to read and write during the Literacy Hour. At the end of the Year, 1 child will take a National Phonics Screening Check, where their class teacher will formally assess their phonic knowledge. This is a national test that all children in year 1 will participate in.
It aims to build children’s speaking and listening skills in their own right as well as to prepare children for learning to read by developing their phonic knowledge and skills. It sets out a detailed and systematic program for teaching phonic skills for children starting by the age of five, with the aim of them becoming fluent readers by age seven.
Rotherfield Primary School (previously Rotherfield Street School). Much of Rotherfield street was built in the 1840s when the Islington market was located just north of it. Until the 1860s the terraces of houses had their names. The beautiful terrace opposite the school was part of Sussex Place.
In 1990 London Boroughs took over from the ILEA and in the following year, it was necessary to renew the roof. High winds disturbed the tiles and blackboards (remember those?) were used to shelter children as they were evacuated from the building. As well as the Dining Hall building, recent developments required in the interests of security and safety have included the fire escape and the new reception area. Removal of the outside toilets enabled the provision of an edible garden, which greatly improves the visual amenity as well as providing a valuable educational resource. In 2012 the school was given day-time access to the green space in front of Rotherfield Court.
The final reorganization came in 1999 when the two Rotherfield schools were amalgamated to form Rotherfield Primary School. The delegation of funding to schools had made it increasingly cumbersome to maintain two schools, and Islington had decided that as one head resigned or retired amalgamations should take place. Moreover, there are educational advantages in a single staff team working together with scope to move from one age range to another.
