North West London

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW Highlighting best practice

Family focused The strong community philosophy at Fairway is greatly enhanced by having a well-respected children’s centre and nursery on site. Local families have access to an array of services such as antenatal, baby and toddler groups, employment advice, health checks, adult learning and access to the early years foundation stage provision. Partnership working is a real strength, with a multitude of services being delivered under one roof. Key stakeholders include Health, Barnet & Southgate College and members of the voluntary sector. We are able to provide tailored family support to those that require advice, guidance and reassurance. An exciting development is Fairway’s strategic role in the creation of a “0 to 19 Hub” in the west of the borough of Barnet. This new way of working promotes an integrated approach linking services across the age range. The goal is to deliver a seamless experience for children, young people and their families and to support access to services. With children’s centre services and the nursery provision starting from two years, we have the capability to know a child and their family from pre-birth and now into adulthood. I am incredibly proud to be the head teacher of Fairway School and Children’s Centre. Our success is testament to the hard work and dedication of every member of our school community. We continually reflect upon and strive to improve our practice. We are quick to respond to the ever-changing needs of our children and their families, always striving to be creative in our thoughts and actions in order to constantly deliver excellent education to all.

Sustainable travel champions

reading, writing and mathematics. We believe we have a duty to ensure that children become literate and numerate as early in their education as possible. At Fairway, we aim for morning sessions to be devoted to the teaching of the key English and mathematics skills. We deliver a systematic and synthetic phonics programme to our children from the age of three years. Many of our children say that the phonics session is the best part of their day because it’s fun and active. Our children are assessed regularly for English and mathematics and, where possible, this information is used to place them into small groups according to individual learning levels. These groups may cross traditional age group settings. In this way, all children receive focused teaching specifically matched to their current learning levels. These groups are organised across the school and trained teaching assistants are effectively deployed to support the delivery of the school’s English and mathematics programmes. This means that children are often taught in groups that are significantly smaller than the average class size. Our staff are excellent role models for the children and maintain high expectations for all children, all of the time.

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Partnership working is a real strength, with a multitude of services being delivered under one roof

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18 | FAIRWAY SCHOOL & CHILDREN’S CENTRE