Goldstone Primary School & Little Owls Nursery

Goldstone’s Enhanced Curriculum

At Goldstone we offer a broad and balanced curriculum like lots of other schools in Hove – but what makes us special is the huge range of extra activities which gives all children the opportunity to ‘have a go’ and try something new; these activities and a wonderful caring staff help make this school a great environment to be a part of.

For our children we offer:

• New Reception children get a range of settling-in activities before they have even started Goldstone, including a teddy bear’s picnic and story time settling-in sessions in school and a welcome event at the weekend in Hove Park to meet other children and their parents;
• We have a wonderful wild area and living classroom/allotment area; this is supervised by a horticulturalist (paid for by the PTA/FrOGS) who also runs a gardening club;
• We offer a large range of sports clubs before and after school including netball, football, hockey, basketball, athletics, yoga, running, tennis, karate and fencing;
• Children’s mental wellbeing is vital and in the Sunflower room we have 3 inclusion mentors and a school counsellor;
• We have specialist teachers who lead music, Spanish, arts and PE lessons; we also have a well-staffed reading centre (praised by Ofsted) offering additional reading support;
• Every half term/term – depending on the children’s learning topic, we offer many immersive educational trips. We have visitors coming in with hands-on history experiences or science demonstrations.  We also offer 'Big Camp' for Year 4 and a residential trip for children in Year 6;
• All children get the opportunity to learn at least two musical instruments - currently harmonica in Year 2 and Year 5. They can also learn one of many instruments taught by peripatetic teachers including guitar, violin, keyboard, drums, trumpet, French horn, flute and clarinet. We have clubs for ukulele, guitar and harmonica. All this alongside our orchestra and choir (the Goldtones);
• Children can be involved in both our Christmas and summer shows, choir/orchestra performances or when they reach Years 3-6 they can participate in the Christmas Cracker and Summer Sizzler talent shows;
• We are part of the wider arts community and always participate in the Brighton Festival’s Children’s Parade and the annual Let’s Dance event at the Dome;
• For our older children, we offer the opportunity to build a Goblin electric car and race it or go scuba diving, participate in a life-saving surf course and improve their cycling confidence with a ‘bikeability’ course;
• We also have a school council that has representatives from each class from Year 1 to Year 6 – this gives the children to chance to share their views about improvements they would like made;
• Since introducing chess to our curriculum we have seen many children grow to love the game and compete at a high level. Last year we won a national school award.

We want parents and carers to be a part of Goldstone and get involved in school life, so for our parents and carers we offer:

• New Reception parents/carers get a welcome evening before their children start Goldstone, where they can meet the staff, their class teacher and governors, watch a fashion show showcasing the school uniform and try some of the school lunch meals;
• Reception parents are offered sessions on mark making and reading;
• Three parent/carer evenings - one each term - to discuss how your child is progressing (parents are always welcome to talk to teachers at the end of the school day or by email);
• Opportunity to attend an assembly and weekly award ceremony on a Friday;
• For Reception, Year 1 and 2 – parents/carers are invited into the classrooms for weekly reading mornings;
• Parents/carers from Year 1 to Year 6 are offered curriculum meetings each term to discuss the new learning topics; 
• We have an open-door policy for parents/carers to pop in and discuss issues with members of the senior leadership team;
• Parents/carers are invited to attend the Parent Forum every half term to raise any issues;
• We regularly arrange sessions for parents/carers to understand more about internet safety and how to help their children and also offer sessions on the Just Right approach for parents with children on the autistic spectrum;
• We have a weekly parent/toddler play group;
• Parents/carers are invited to attend the annual healthy school picnic and have a healthy snack made by their child;
• We have an amazing PTA (Parent/Teacher Association) called the FrOGS who run so many wonderful fundraising events such as discos, fairs, film clubs but also have given up their spare time to help decorate the school or work on the living classroom.

Happy, supported staff make Goldstone a great environment to work in, so for our staff we offer:

• Extra access to training or CPD activities as we are part of two teaching alliances (Sussex Coast and Sussex Downs);
• We always carry out performance appraisals for teachers and teaching assistants to help support and develop their career and are part of the Hove Partnership of schools which can help with career development opportunities;
• Staff team building activities;
• We have a very diverse staff community with lots of social activities helping to build our community spirit;