SCHOOL REPORT: Newlands Primary School

In the last three years Newlands Primary School has transformed into a modern building filled with new facilities and endless opportunities for pupils.

There are currently 395 children attending the school in Millbrook who are encouraged to follow the school’s motto of being on a ‘Learning Journey.’

The school’s logo is a ship, to encourage each pupil to reach for a brighter future.

This is all part of head teacher Karen Mellor’s plan to support children who may be living in less affluent areas of the city.

She said: “The children coming to Newlands have a real variety of backgrounds and we work hard to support every single one of them as best as we can.

“We try to offer children support clubs, even friendship clubs if they are having trouble mixing with others and the family is always included and encouraged to invest in their child’s learning journey.”

Mrs Mellor joined the school at the beginning of 2013 and since then has helped the school achieve a good rating from Ofsted with many facilities and services being rated as outstanding in the report.

The school was given a £7.5 million boost in 2011 which is now being used to offer two classes in each year group from reception to Year 6, spacious school grounds which were supported by Sports England and include a football pitch, pond, allotment and multi-use grounds that will eventually be opened up to the Millbrook community as well.

Clubs include a variety of sports like football, netball, badminton, dance and gymnastics which are all taught by a sports specialist and there is also a Parent Learning programme run by teachers which asks parents to come in and learn with their children and feel included in their education.

Mrs Mellor added: “We really wanted to make this a community not just for the pupils but for people living in Millbrook as well.

“For the children we like to look at activities and physical things they can do to learn because it helps them in later life to stay healthy and at the moment it keeps them engaged in what they are doing so having such massive grounds is brilliant.

“I’m so proud of everything that has changed. We’ve got a great team of staff who are really strong and hard-working. We are a real team here at Newlands.”

History is a big part of the school curriculum and whenever possible teachers try to devote one day to doing lots of fun lessons focusing on the topic.

Here the whole of Year 3 are learning about ancient Egypt.

They spent the day dressed up, learning how to build a pyramid out of sand, making bread and learning about all the country’s hidden treasures.

 As an eco-friendly school, teachers try to encourage pupils to think about their environment and also look after it. 

The Eco-Warriors club is a group of pupils from different year groups who dedicate their break or lunch time to picking up litter, cleaning the playground equipment or helping tidy the lunch hall. 

Mr Reynolds is the site manager who leads the club and he recently encouraged pupils to draw designs for the Southampton City Council Bin It to Win it competition.

Newlands submitted more than 200 drawings which will be considered as the character for a Recycling Rewards Scheme in schools.

The reception classes are able to enjoy open learning where they can go freely between both classrooms or outdoors to learn through play as well as keep to a timetable of maths and English. 

At Newlands teachers are keen to keep children active so a lot of the learning is done through physical activities like riding a bike or using their hands. 

Mrs Karen Mellor (above)  said: “I can honestly say our children bring a smile to my face every day. I am proud of them, our staff and the community we are part of.

"At Newlands we are all on a journey where we think positively and aspire to follow our dreams. We are passionate about giving our children the best teaching and learning opportunities and a highly enriching and nurturing curriculum.

"We offer a wide variety of trips, visits, visitors and theme days to bring the curriculum to life for our children and to contextualise their learning.

"By immersing the children in their cross-curricular learning challenges we are able to allow them to apply their skills and improve outcomes.

"We are lucky to have an amazing new-build school, wonderful facilities and extensive grounds. Our environment has been key to raising aspirations for our children.

"Our recent rapid improvement is down to the commitment of a team of highly skilled leaders, teachers and support staff who are determined to open doors for our children, to challenge them further and to support them to be the best learners they can be.

"We invest heavily in staff development and have embedded coaching as a strategy to empower and enable staff to be the fantastic reflective practitioners that they are.

"I am very proud of Team Newlands and the journey we are on. Our children are a credit to us all.”