Why is Primary School so Important?

Throughout the pandemic the focus of many educational ministers and headteachers has been the secondary pupils and particularly those children in heir examination years. While it has been important to focus on these children and ensure they received the help they needed to remain on track for their external examinations, I cannot help worry about the lack of interest in primary children and their progress. This concern has been exacerbated recently when talking to examination boards and a group of parents who said they were not worried about primary children and that they could ‘catch up’.

This is not only short sighted, but also fundamentally flawed. If you are going to build a house, you don’t forget about the foundations and just hope that they miraculously materialise by the time the bricks and mortar are being put into place.

At Kings Monkton School, I fundamentally believe that the primary years are the most important in a child’s education. Primary schools teach foundational literacy and numeracy skills which are used across all subject areas. Without these basic abilities, all subject areas become inaccessible to the child. Gaps appear which can affect a child’s learning in multiple subjects, such as English, history, geography, science, maths and IT.

It is simply too late to catch up at secondary school and the child’s learning will never reach its full potential.

The Institute of Education study found that the quality of teaching children receive is more important than their gender or family income. They went on to say attending a good pre-school and primary has more impact on children's academic progress than their gender or family background

That is why at Kings Monkton School we prioritise the learning environment of our primary children, a much as we do for our older children sitting examinations. All our lessons ae live streamed so that children can access the class even if they are unable to physically attend school. We focus on the importance of developing a passion for reading, and every child has one-to-one daily reading sessions, as well as group and class reading activities. We encourage all types of reading and literature and work hard to develop creative writing and imagination in our young learners. An example of this is our 500-word competition we have just launched over Easter, where children from across the primary school are invited to submit their own stories to a panel of judges, who will then choose the most creative and fun and turn it into our primary play for all the children to act in. The author of the story co-writes the play with our Librarian and helps out with direction and casting.

It is important that we recognise that Secondary school is a big jump for children, with more subjects and more teachers for them to get used to. Gaps in their learning can make the transition to secondary school even harder, and can cause them to fall further behind, which then affects their confidence level. At Kings Monkton we prepare our children for this transition, through offering secondary style lessons in Art, DT and cookery throughout Year 6, as well as running literacy and numeracy projects with our Heads of Core from the secondary school. By the time the children are ready to move into Year 7, they have experienced a range of secondary lessons, know the geography of the school well and have developed important relationships with our pastoral and wellbeing team. This ensures there is no gaps in learning between Year 6 and 7, and our children's learning needs are understood and met as they make this important move.

So, as we head towards the first summer examinations for our Key Stage 4 and Post 16 pupils since 2019, it is important that we do not forget the most influential and informative years of our education and recognise the how essential a good primary education is. With class sizes of 18 and a focus on developing the foundations of literacy and numeracy within our children, at Kings Monkton School we know our children will not be concerned about ‘catching up’ but will be leading the way as we enter a post pandemic world. Kings Monkton School ensures that our children can be the best they can be.

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