Below you will find some examples of words that are used in the school environment, both on this website, in the school and in other educational establishments with an explanation of what they mean. We hope you will find this guide helpful!
| Achievement | Describes both attainment i.e. the level achieved and the progress you have made from a starting point. |
| AfL | Assessment for Learning – is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. |
| ASD | Autism Spectrum Disorder |
| Attainment | The actual result attained by the pupil. |
| Attainment Targets | A general defined level of ability that a pupil is expected to achieve at each key stage in the National Curriculum. |
| Blending | To draw individual sounds together to pronounce a word, e.g. f-l-a-p, blended together, reads flap. |
| Core Subjects | English, maths and science: all pupils must study these subjects up to Key Stage 4. |
| CPD | Continuing Professional Development |
| Creative Curriculum | There are numerous interpretations of the concept of ‘the creative curriculum’. In some schools it means topics or themes, in others it means asking children what they want to learn. At Thorndown we do both. |
| DBS | Disclosure & Barring Service – refers to the new agency created out of a merger between the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), its full title is The Disclosure and Barring Service. The checks and information provided will remain the same but will be branded DBS Checks. |
| DfE | Department for Education |
| Differentiation | A wide variety of teaching techniques and lesson adaptations that teachers use to pupils of differing abilities in the same class. |
| EAL | English as an additional language |
| EBD | Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties |
| EHC Plan | Educational Health Care Plan – An education, health and care plan is a document that says what support a child or young person who has special needs should have. |
| EWO | Education Welfare Officer |
| EYFS | Early Years Foundation Stage – A framework of care and Education for children from birth to five years of age. This stage typically means Nursery/Preschool and Reception Classes. |
| FFT | Fischer Family Trust |
| FSM | Free School Meals |
| FTE | Full Time Equivalent |
| HLTA | Higher Level Teaching Assistant |
| HMI | Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools |
| ICT | Information and Communication Technology |
| IEP | Individual Education Plan for SEN pupils |
| Inclusion | Removing barriers to learning so all pupils can participate at their own level. |
| INSET | In-Service Education and Training – Training for staff which takes place during the school year. |
| ISA | Independent Safeguarding Authority |
| ITT | Initial Teacher Training |
| IWB | Interactive Whiteboard |
| Key Stage One | Age 5-7 (Years 1 and 2) |
| Key Stage Two | Age 7-11 (Years 3, 4, 5 and 6) |
| LA | Local Authority |
| LAA | Local Area Agreement |
| LAC | Looked After Children |
| MLD | Moderate Learning Difficulties |
| NAHT | National Association of Head Teachers |
| NASUWT | National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers |
| NGA | National Governors’ Association |
| NLE | National Leader of Education |
| NPQH | National Professional Qualification for Headship |
| NQT | Newly Qualified Teacher |
| NUT | National Union of Teachers |
| Ofsted | Office for Standards in Education |
| PE | Physical Education |
| Performance Table | Published by the DfE to compare school results. |
| Phonics | Phonics refers to the method for teaching speakers of English to read and write their language. It involves connecting the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters (e.g that the sound /k/ can be represented by c, k, ck or ch spellings) and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations of unknown words. In this way, phonics enables people to use individual sounds to construct words. For example, when taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, one can build up the words “tap”, “pat”, “pats”, “taps” and “sat.” |
| PPA | Planning, Preparation and Assessment time to which teachers are entitled. |
| Progression | Pupils develop academically and personally from year to year and from one key stage to the next in a way which builds on what has already been achieved. |
| PRU | Pupil Referral Unit |
| PSHE | Personal Social Health and Economic education |
| PTA | Parent Teacher Association. We call ours FOTs (Friends of Thorndown School) |
| QTS | Qualified Teacher Status |
| RE | Religious Education |
| SACREs | Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education |
| SATs | Standard Attainment Tests/Tasks – National Curriculum Tests and Tasks which take place at the end of Key Stage 1 and at the end of Key Stage 2. |
| SCR | Single Central Record – Schools must hold a single central record of all adults working with pupils. The records hold security and ID checks among other specific information. |
| SENCO | Special Educational Needs Coordinator |
| SIP | School Improvement Plan |
| SLE | Specialist Leader of Education |
| SLT | Senior Leadership Team |
| SMSC | Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (development) |
| TA | Teaching Assistant |
| Transition | The movement of pupils from Key Stage to Key Stage or school to school and the procedures associated with it. |
| VCOP | Vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation pupils are expected to use in their writing. |
