St Mary's Catholic Primary School

St Mary’s is a Catholic school which seeks to live out the values of Jesus Christ. We promote these values by our words and deeds, and Catholic doctrine and practice therefore permeates every aspect of the school’s activity. We provide a Catholic curriculum, which is broad and balanced, recognising that every pupil is unique and is created in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Our curriculum is designed to enable every pupil to discern their vocation and to be well-equipped to follow it as active citizens in service to the world.

Democracy is an intrinsic part of the structure of St Mary’s. From their first days in the school, the children are invited to have a voice and share their views and offer feedback on their experiences.

As well as offering feedback, pupils are asked to share their ideas and help to shape the future of the school. Examples include pupils being involved in the recruitment of the staff members and deciding on the names of the school house teams.

St Mary’s encourages its pupils to become involved in the school council and other leaderships areas such as the chaplaincy team who focus on development of the community.

The school invites year 6 pupils to put their names forward to be house captains and the rest of the school helped to develop the job description and person specification for the role. The prospective captains hold a 'hustings' and pupils vote the successful candidates. Invited speakers and class debates are commonplace.

The voice of the children is incredibly important and they have even voted on a new school jumper!

In May, the school celebrated the shared values of the Commonwealth whilst enjoying a range of creative and sporting activities linked to the member nations.

The children began their day with assemblies focused on Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law and then experienced workshops that celebrated the diversity of the Commonwealth. Two high-profile athletes, Dr Emmanuel 'Mani' Nartey (Ghanaian Judoka) and Siobhan-Marie O'Connor (Olympic and Commonwealth swimmer), shared inspirational stories and talked of their experiences.

Ex-pupil and Olympic swimmer, Siobhan-Marie O'Connor, spent time talking with the children about her experiences of the Commonwealth from the 2018 games which were held in the Gold Coast. She has agreed to be our St Mary's Sports Ambassador.

St Mary’s encourages all pupils to be independent learners and from their first few days in our Reception class they are being nurtured in the skills of evaluation, reflection and review. We believe in active formative assessment strategies and plan opportunities for pupils to grow their independence and take more ownership of their own learning journey. As well as supporting their academic studies, we develop personal reflection through class-based sessions, collective worship and through prayer and retreat opportunities. Our school aims to help pupils focus on their own vocation beyond primary school through close work with partner schools.

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School embarked on a full review of its behaviour policy starting with a governor review of its aims and objectives. Teaching and support staff working together to share experiences and successes thus revising the policy which was then taken to the pupils for discussion and feedback. The new policy reinforced a consistent approach across the school with clear rules based on the new school ‘golden rules’. Each class also sets its own classroom charter which complements the whole-school rules. Throughout their times at the school, pupils have the opportunity to explore the need for rules with specific focus in RE when contemplating the 10 commandments and the Precepts of the Church. Our youngest learners meet members of the local police team on an annual basis and we have also welcomed representatives of the transport police team into all of our classrooms. Our school’s Christian values inspired the development of the Rule of Law in English Law which is held in high esteem across the world.