Lathom Junior School is a large, friendly, multi-ethnic, inclusive junior school serving a diverse community in East Ham, in the London Borough of Newham, East London. Our school is a magnificent Victorian school building, built in 1897 – we are very proud of it. We work in a Hard Federation with our feeder Infant School (Altmore)
We have five-forms of entry throughout our school. Children transfer into Year 3 from our feeder Infant School, and transition is a high priority – not only in the context of ‘moving up a year group’, but also moving school sites, developing new relationships and becoming familiar with new routines. Staff manage this transition effectively – they know children (their families) and children’s needs very well and identify, adapt and use resources creatively.
Staff ensure continuity of provision for children and with the support of our specialist SLT, identify and deliver specific training, to ensure that the needs of particular children are supported, and targeted strategies implemented as quickly as possible.
Partnership is an important and effective aspect of our work, examples include: the positive relationships we have with our families – parents want their children to learn well, to develop positive learning behaviours and attitudes, they are very supportive of the school; effectively adapting advice and strategies from specialist learning support services – ensuring that our children with SEND make expected (and often accelerated) progress; being a member of the E6 Partnership, working together with 10 local schools to support moderation of standards in a locality context; participating in peer reviews with colleagues in other LBN Primary schools; partnership working with a number of Teaching School Alliances; engagement with our local Library Service – promoting Reading Challenges; participation in the Young Voices children’s choir (singing at the O2 arena); working with West End in Schools – enabling our children to perform alongside professional performance artists; Chess in Schools, the WE organisation, etc. all offer our children experiences and opportunities that excite and motivate them. An exciting development (during lockdown and since fully re-opening) has been our partnerships with a range of online learning support providers.
It is a pleasure to talk about our children’s behaviour – towards each other and their enthusiasm for and engagement in their learning. They respond positively to the range of exciting and challenging opportunities planned by staff.
All children demonstrate very positive attitudes towards their learning and each other – they continue to have the desire to learn well, and show pride in their achievements. These achievements are celebrated in weekly assemblies.
Our school reflects the multi-cultural and rich diversity of our local area. As a school we recognise that our context means that we need to think creatively and do things differently. We are outward looking, and enthusiastically seek strong partnerships with a range of providers and agencies which play an important part in our offer to our children and their families.
Not only by direct support with individual/groups of children, but also through training delivered to our staff, which they use to enable access and inclusion for all children in their learning.