Light Oaks Junior School is a larger than average junior school, with three classes in each year group. We specialise in educating children from 7-11 years old and work closely with the Infant School with whom we share the site.
We hold the Emotionally Friendly Schools' Silver Award, the Platinum Schools' Games Mark for PE, The Fair Trade Achiever Award, One Education Silver Award for Reading and the UNICEF Rights Respecting School Silver Award. We definitely need a bigger trophy cabinet for all the other awards and trophies we win across the year!
In 2023-24, we are working hard to acheive the Emotionally Friendly Schools' Gold Award, and we are hoping to become a School of Sanctuary with our work on diversity, Children's Rights and the welcome we provide for pupils joining us from other countries.
We believe in learning through enjoyment and fun, but we also instill in our children the values of RESPECT, RESILIENCE and RESPONSIBILITY which are our school values and around which we base our behaviour policy. We put the wellbeing of every member of our school community at the heart of all we do and have developed a number of systems in school that directly impact on children's wellbeing such as our outdoor therapeutic play area, the Th.Inc Room and our Wild Crew and Wild Tribe Woods adventures! We also now have an ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) trained member of staff to support pupils in our new therapeutic space.
To support this ethos we employ a valued team of hard working, committed staff who always put the needs of the individual child at the forefront of everything they do. We strive constantly to develop the individual strengths and talents of every child, supporting any needs that a child may have with structured and personalized support. We encourage children to have high aspirations and dreams for the future, fostering their progress and supporting them to reach their full potential academically, socially and emotionally. We put wellbeing at the heart of all we do, and dedicate almost two hours a week to ensure pupils become well-rounded, happy indivuals and ready for the next stage of their education with dedicated wellbeing lessons, assemblies and enrichment. High schools comment on the maturity of our children when they arrive in Year 7, and how well they cope with the transition to their new school. This is especially important for pupils returning after the pandemic, many of whom are more anxious, fearful and are struggling with big or difficult emotions.
Visitors to the school always comment on the calm and purposeful working environment, our friendly and polite pupils, and the positive atmosphere we strive to develop. More than that, though, they feel the 'buzz' we all - both pupils and staff - have for learning.
Our mission is to develop confident, happy children who are passionate about learning and are ready for the next step on their journey through life; we recognize how special each child is and see the potential which they all have to make a difference to our world. All of our pupils are valued and we work hard to ensure that they all do the very best they can whilst they are with us, and once they leave.
Zandra Wilkinson
Headteacher
