Birdsfoot Lane, Luton, Bedfordshire, LU3 2DN

01582 591386

Warden Hill Junior School

Inspire, Believe, Achieve

School Awards

We are very lucky here at Warden Hill Junior School to have staff that regularly go above and beyond to improve our school environment, communications and knowledge as well as that of the wider community.  Here is a brief look into some of our recent efforts and awards we have have been accredited.

 

Music Mark

At Warden Hill Junior School we have a strong tradition of Music teaching and we are delighted to be a recognised member of Music Mark thanks to our commitment to Music in the school curriculum.

Along with other members, we aim to improve the musical outcomes and opportunities for all the children in our school. This involves our provision of specialist Music teaching to all children in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 through our partnership with Luton Music Service, high quality singing and a range of performance opportunities.

 

Sainsbury's Sport Award

The Sainsbury’s School Games Mark is now in its 5th year and continues to reward schools for their commitment to and development of competition, school sport and physical education. There are certain criteria that have to be meet to gain the levelled awards. We currently hold the Gold Award in the school games, which means we have achieved the following:

  • provide all students with two hours of physical education and school sport per week as well as providing children with the opportunity to engage in after school and before school sporting clubs
  • engage at least 50% of students in extracurricular sporting activity every week
  • use the Sainsbury’s School Games formats to provide the opportunity for both boys and girls to take part in the appropriate level of competition; Intra-school level 7; Inter-school level 6.
  • use the Sainsbury’s School Games formats to provide the opportunity through inter-school competition (Level 2) for both boys and girls to take part in ‘B’ -team standard competition.
  • promote the Sainsbury’s School Games to parents and the local community at least once every fortnight
  • using sports coaches to ensure specialist sports are being taught by external professionals
  • regularly feature match reports and competition results on the school website and in the local press.
  • engage at least 10% of students in leading, managing and officiating Sainsbury’s School Games activity
  • utilise sports coaches to support school sport.
  • have active links with at least 5 local sports clubs. These include Active Luton and Luton Town Football club to name a few
  • having a council made up of children from across each year group

A huge well done to all staff, coaches also to our Sports Councillors and pupils, who have worked very hard to gain this award.  If you would like to find out more about this programme from a  parent's perspective please visit the School Games website.

International Schools Work - eTwinning

Huge congratulations to Miss Hussain and her pupils whom over the last  year have been working on a very exciting project, in partnership with a school based in France.  Both schools have been sharing class activities and have really enjoyed learning together.

Class 11One of the many activities involved in gaining this award was for the children to write letters to their pen friends during PSHCE.  They described school French Schoollife in England and wrote about our town. The aim of this activity was for the children to be able to express views from their perspective. This also gave our friends in France an idea of what it is like to be a child living in Luton. Letters were scanned into a digital form and then shared with our French friends. The school in France then made a display of our letters.

We also held an Anglo-French Day with all pupils involved.  Activities included learning to sing both our own and the French National Anthem, having a French style picnic on the school field, speaking as much French as we could during the day and then sharing moments of our day back with our partnership school.

In June 2015 Miss Hussain and her pupils' gained the eTwining Quality Award Label for 'New Beginnings: global citizenship through an inspiring curriculum' project.  In August an Intermediate International School Certificate was awarded and most recently the European Quality Label for the excellence of the work in the eTwining project "New Beginnings: creating global citizenship through an inspiring curriculum" was awarded. 

   
National Quality Label
   

 

Families First

Mrs Bithrey and Miss Stinton have been working hard collating the work done within the school and recently achieved the Families First Quality Award provided by the Family and Childcare Trust and National Association of Family Information Services (NAFIS).  To gain this award we needed to demonstrate and evidence the ways in which we keep our parents and families at the centre of all we do.  We needed to show how we support children throughout their education and work in partnership with others to provide access to information, advice and support.  

During our assessment, Tim Swithenbank described the school as;

'a highly performing school with excellent links to its Infant and secondary schools as verified by its families who have benefited from the transition support into and out of the school.  All the staff have a child-centred approach that was demonstrated by strong leadership by the Head, meeting and greeting children all by name, in the morning and in the grounds when school finished for the day.  The emotional well-being of the pupils was complimented by the resources provided for learning at home as well as at school.  Families requiring additional support were accommodated in a seamless fashion and events such as open assemblies attracted strong attendance for the school.  Development in parent forums alongside the outstanding fundraising by Friends' of Warden Hill shows a genuine and proactive side to working with families'.


 

Modeshift Stars Travel Award

 

Modeshift STARS is a national schools award scheme to recognise schools that have demonstrated excellence in supporting cycling, walking and other forms of sustainable travel.  Mr Hayden and his team of Travel Buddies, with the additional support of Mrs Turner and Mr Noon (Sustrans School Officer, Luton), have been working hard to promote alternatives methods of travel.  Helping to improve the fitness and well-being of pupils and staff, having a positive effect on our local environment, easing congestion during peak times on our road networks. To find out more about the fantastic work Mr Hayden and his team do please visit the Travel Buddies section of our site.

The scheme encourages schools across the country to join in a major effort to increase levels of sustainable and active travel in order to improve the health and well-being of children and young people.

 

Sustrans Silver Award

 

We have achieved a Sustrans Silver School  Mark, which is recognition that we have successfully embedded the promotion of sustainable travel into our school and continue to do so. A huge thanks to Mr Hayden for all the hard work you have put into benefiting our students.  

"Sustrans has been crucial in developing and sustaining cycling in our school, helping to reduce car journeys and congestion during the school run. With the help of our Bike It officer cycling has become a valued and enjoyable element of our school curriculum."
Mark Welch, Headteacher, Warden Hill Junior School, Luton.

To find out more about the Sustrans scheme and what it means to be a Bike It school, please click here.