Prospective Parents September 2024
Welcome to Lapal
Hello and welcome to our school. My name is Mrs Turner and I have the privilege of being the Executive Headteacher here at Lapal. We are lucky to have a lovely school building, nestled in superb grounds which incorporate a large field, several woodland and wildlife areas and a pond. We have extensively re-modelled our classrooms so that our children learn in warm, bright and well-resourced surroundings.
We appreciate that choosing a school for your child can be both daunting and exciting, so we have put together this page to give you an insight to our happy and welcoming school. In September, once our new pupils have settled into school, we will start inviting families to attend our open days, which will be detailed at the bottom of this page. In the meantime, we hope that this website page and the rest of our school website provides you with a ‘flavour’ of what life is like for children here at Lapal.
Our school prospectus can also be found here.
We have also attached a list of frequently asked questions to provide further information about our school. If you have any additional questions that we haven’t answered, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at school@lapal.dudley.sch.uk or by calling the school office on 01384 818200.
What our parents say about us
We always welcome parent feedback and provide opportunities throughout the year for parents to share their views with us. Here are a few quotes from our current parents.
“Loved the video of the teacher’s introduction. Our daughter was nervous before this.”
“The welcome booklet was very useful and we enjoyed the all about me sheet and decorating mini-me.”
“The Tapestry videos were in particular very helpful to help my son see his new setting and teachers.”
“It was well organised, staffed, informative and reassuring visit – thank you!”
“Meeting the teacher really helped * to settles her nerves. It was really beneficial for us to see her classroom as we talk about what she did after school and refer to the different areas.”
"Thank you for the kinetic workshop. * has been telling us about the animal poses and scared and brave monkey. She enjoyed writing in the rice :) We look forward to supporting this learning."
"* enjoyed watching Miss Hopkins and joined in with the actions and sounds really well. He had fun looking around the house for objects beginning with ‘d’. It was great to see an example session, thank you."
What OFSTED say about us
Lapal Primary School was inspected by Ofsted on the 8th and 9th February 2023. It was confirmed that Lapal Primary School is ‘Outstanding’ in all areas: Leadership and Management; the Quality of Education (curriculum and teaching and learning outcomes); Behaviour and Attitudes; Personal Development: Early Years, and Overall Effectiveness. Please click here to learn more and read our full Ofsted report.
Our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), we strive to nurture inquisitive minds, develop confidence through independence and most importantly, foster a love of learning as children make great steps in their personal, social and academic development throughout the Reception year.
The EYFS curriculum is skills based, and our highly trained staff creatively plan and support children to develop these skills and build knowledge through real life experiences. The staff also plan opportunities to explore children’s areas of interest via topics and innovative learning hooks such as investigating dinosaur bones, caring for chicks and watching them hatch and holding a fairy-tale ball to name just a few!
Within our daily learning, children choose to move freely between indoors and outdoors, having access to both our canopy and woodland area, and are taught through a mixture of adult directed and child initiated learning. We welcome visitors from our local community, plan exciting trips such as visits to the farm and enjoy sharing our learning with our families through parent/carer curriculum workshops and performance assemblies. Please watch the video to explore our learning environment.
Our Curriculum
At Lapal, our priority is for our pupils to love learning through a broad and balanced curriculum which is exciting and constantly developing. We are committed to inspiring and developing confident, independent individuals who take ownership of their learning and are well prepared for the next stage of their education journey.
As our children move from Reception into Year 1, we work hard to ensure a smooth transition for all pupils. The Year 1 teaching team continue to nurture the children’s interests and individual learning styles as the children get used to more whole class learning.
In both Year 1 and Year 2, the children continue to have daily phonics lessons in order to help them to embed their core reading and writing skills. Typically, English and Maths are taught in the morning and afternoon sessions are full of exciting and engaging lessons across the curriculum, including subjects such as Science, History and Art.
The breadth of study increases further in Key Stage 2. Children start the formal learning of German and go swimming as part of our Physical Education curriculum.
All children have the opportunity to learn to play instruments such as the recorder or keyboard as part of whole class music tuition in addition to those offered by peripatetic music tutors that teach on site.
Academic Achievement
We are a successful primary school whose pupils achieve well above the national average. In 2019 we were top of the school league tables for all schools within the Dudley borough, building on our third place the previous year. To see our most current data please follow this link.
Our Wider Curriculum
At Lapal, we extend our curriculum in order to provide a wide range of opportunities for pupils. We take our children on trips related to their topics in order to enhance their learning experiences, these include: Cadbury’s world, Kinver rock houses, the Black Country museum, Hartlebury museum, the seaside, and the farm. We also enrich our curriculum by organising experience days, recent themes have included a visit from a fire engine, science workshops, an America day and work with a graffiti artist.
Every year each child has the opportunity to perform. During Reception and Key Stage 1 (year 1 and 2), the children work towards a nativity performance and take part in the local Harvest and Spring Music festival. Years 3, 4 and 5 host a production at the end of the spring term and Year 6 perform at the end of the summer term. Key stage 2 pupils also lead a carol service at our local church in December.
Children are able to take part in a wide range of clubs during and after school. These range from sports such as Netball, Dance and Football, to Art, Science and Board Game clubs. The clubs are delivered by both school staff and external specialised staff in order to offer children a broad range of opportunities.
Our music leader has developed an established school choir and school band, we have won the Merry Hill choir competition for the past 4 years, competing against many schools from across the West Midlands. Our pupils have also had opportunity to perform Dudley town hall, local residential homes and at other events as part of these groups.
Throughout the academic year we participate in various events, such as Parliament week, fair trade fortnight and World Book Day.
Each teaching the children about new skills and the world in which we live.
Click here to see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding joining Lapal.
Open Days
Please see below dates for our open event sessions, for children due to start Primary school next academic year (September 2024). If you would like to attend one of sessions, please contact the school office on 01384 818200 or school@lapal.dudley.sch.uk, stating when you would like to attend. Numbers are limited on each session so places will be given on a first come first served basis.
At this time, we are asking that no more than 2 family members attend each session as we are needing to limit numbers.
Where possible could younger siblings not attend.
Dates:
Monday 25th September – 9.45am FULL
Tuesday 3rd October - 1.00pm FULL
Monday 9th October – 1.00pm FULL
Wednesday 18th October – 1.00pm FULL
Friday 10th November - 9.15am FULL
Thursday 16th November - 5pm - 6pm
Wednesday 22nd November – 1.00pm FULL
Friday 24th November - 9.15am FULL
Thursday 30th November – 9.00am FULL
Monday 27th November - 9.15am FULL
Friday 8th December - 9.15am
Monday 11th December - 1pm