Portway Infant School
Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.
Forest School were lucky enough to visit the local nature reserve, Charlton lakes. We took 12 year 1’s bird spotting on the lakes. We saw mallards, swans and a moorhen. One of the female mallards was very friendly and wanted to join Portway! We enjoyed the sunshine along with some mindfulness before we walked back to school. It was a wonderful afternoon.
On Saturday we hosted our first workshop of the year, with some of our Year 2 children and their families. The weather was glorious and it really felt like spring.
We had a number of drilling activities on offer, including making spinning drums and spinning discs, using the hazel that we have on site. The children and their families could also had a go at sawing some wood for our fire.
After exploring the woodland we lit the fire and toasted hot cross buns which we enjoyed with a cup of hot chocolate, it was delicious.
Miss Birmingham
Forest School Lead
We took 12 children from Year R to our local nature reserve Charlton Lakes, on Tuesday afternoon. The lakes are just a short walk from school which gave the children lots of time to have a chatter about what birds they might see on the water. When we reached the pontoon the children were given binoculars and an identification guide to help them with their bird spotting. The firm favourite were the diving ducks. We were even lucky enough to see two swans.
Before leaving the lakes we stopped for some mindfulness breathing exercises, to help keep us calm and relaxed.
Everyone had a wonderful afternoon.
Miss Birmingham and Mrs Newth
Click the link below to read our Ofsted article in the Andover Advertiser.
Outstanding Ofsted rating awarded to Portway Infant School | Andover Advertiser
On Saturday Portway welcomed Year R families for some fun and exploring time in our wonderful woodland and grounds.
As always we start with a safety briefing, our Portway children are experts at this as our very first session in Year R is around safety and hazards. After our safety briefing families were free to explore and take part in some woodland crafts. We were able to offer Hapa Zome, clay imprinting using the natural flora that we have on site and autumn mobiles. Our children were very excited to show their parents around the forest school site enjoying den building and bug hunting together. Towards the end of the session we gave everybody an opportunity to toast crumpets or brioche rolls on the fire.
Miss Birmingham
Forest School Lead
Dear Parents,
We received the final copy yesterday and are now permitted to share with you the outcome of our long awaited two day inspection that took place on 14th & 15th May 2024. The report will be published on the Ofsted website within five working days.
The inspectors concluded that Portway Infant School is Outstanding in all areas – Quality of Education, Behaviour & Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership and Management and Early Years, resulting in an Overall Effectiveness of Outstanding for the school.
We are delighted to have retained our ‘Outstanding’ grade and thrilled the hard work, dedication and professional standards of the Portway team, and the unwavering support and commitment from the Portway community, have been validated through an extremely rigorous process.
Over the last 10 years only 28% of previously Outstanding schools retained their Outstanding rating. Overall the number of schools with an Outstanding grade is falling as those previously exempt, as we were, are inspected for the first time in more than a decade. Current Ofsted data shows the number of Outstanding Primary schools nationally has dropped to 12% and this is expected to fall further as more exempt schools are inspected. I share this data to emphasise what an achievement it is to maintain such high standards consistently year on year and achieve a second Outstanding judgement, in every area, particularly at a time when the benchmark for ‘outstanding’ is at the highest level it has ever been. We are immensely proud of our achievement.
The final report is attached and you will see it opens with a quote from a parent. We were so pleased to see this because it reflects the much valued partnerships we have with parents.
Please take some time to read the report, it reflects our whole school community working together to give our children the education they deserve.
We are delighted with the inspection outcome, however, please be reassured we will continue looking for areas to improve - as recognised in the report, “…(Portway) are unwavering in their determination to provide the very best education to all pupils.”
May I again take this opportunity to thank you all, not just for your support with the inspection but your continued support. So proud to be Portway!
You can view our latest Ofsted report by clicking here: Ofsted Report - May 2024
On Saturday some of our year R families visited our Forest School site for some fun and woodland crafts. We were lucky with the weather as it was slightly overcast but dry.
Our morning started with a brief introduction into Forest School and a safety brief, all of our Portway children knew the rules. The first demonstration was Hapa Zome which is a Japanese ancient art form of leaf bashing. We talked a lot about knowing what we are picking and identifying leaves and flowers before we pick them. We also talked about not picking wild flowers as in some cases they are protected by the Wildlife and Countryside act. Families also had the opportunity to make spring mobiles and clay flower prints.
Our final activity was toasting brioche buns (link to Paris Olympics 2024) on the open fire. They were enjoyed by all, along with a hot chocolate!
Miss Birmingham
Forest School Lead
Today 12 Year 1 children had a fabulous walk to Charlton Lakes. We took a moment to enjoy a game of pooh sticks on the bridge before walking around to the pontoon. Using our bird identification sheets and binoculars we spotted some coots and moorhens. Whilst we were there we were lucky enough to spot two adult swans along with their 6 tiny, grey, fluffy cygnets, which made everyone smile. We stopped at the basketball court for our mindfulness activity before heading back to school.
Some of our Year 1 families joined us on Saturday to enjoy a morning of fun in our Forest School site.
We started our morning with our safety brief and a demonstration on how to make our woodland crafts. We used drills, secateurs and vegetable peelers to make an African hand drum and nails, pliers and hammers to make string nail art. Some of us even made jewellery using elder beads.
Everyone enjoyed a cup of hot chocolate and some toast cooked on the fire.
Miss Birmingham
Forest School Lead
Forest School took 12 Year R children to the lakes today. We were lucky enough to have beautiful sunshine for our walk. On the way we stopped on the bridge for a quick game of pooh sticks. We had time stop on the pontoon to use our binoculars to discover what birds were living on the lake. We spotted mallard ducks, elegant swans and coots. On the way back to school we took a moment to practise our mindfulness and our breathing exercises. Everyone had a fabulous time.
