SCHOOL - ST MARY’S C of E PRIMARY SCHOOL REPORT 2016
BelieveInspireAchieve!
School events and Curriculum
As always, it has been a very busy year at the school! The most important event of 2016 was the school’s conversion to Academy Status on 1st February. St Mary’s is now part of the St Edmundsbury & Ipswich Diocesan Multi Academy Trust (MAT). We are pleased that during ever-changing times in education we have been able to secure our place in the church’s ‘family’ of schools. Throughout 2016, we have developed strong links to other church schools in the MAT, sharing good practice and striving to improve the schools collaboratively. This is a historic change for the school as we are no longer a Local Authority ‘maintained’ school. We were delighted to welcome a former Headteacher, Mr Mann, into the school on our first day as an academy. He was able to share stories about the school’s history, but also talked about ways in which the school and its values would remain the same.
As we are a church school, we are now waiting for our SIAMS inspection (Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools), which we are subject to in addition to Ofsted. A lot of work has been done to prepare the school for the inspection, including introducing new materials and approaches for Collective Worship; implementing new units of work for RE; monitoring standards and completing a ‘Self Evaluation Form’. Our Governors have provided a great deal of support in helping to prepare, such as visiting school to observe Worship or talk to the pupils. The inspection is likely to take place early in 2017.
The Parent Support Group have organised some very successful events to raise money for the school, including discos, the Easter tea party, the Summer Fete and the Christmas Fete. These events were very well attended and raised significant funds for the school. In 2016, their contributions havepaid for Mathletics subscriptions for all of the children. Mathletics is an online maths resource, which is a fun way to engage all the children in their maths learning. They have also helped us buy new reading books and paid for a Year 6 trip to London.
We have also supported a number of charities through collections, special events and activities during the year. For example, we have been delighted to support the NSPCC (two fundraising campaigns), Toilet Twinning in Chad, the British Heart Foundation, the Poppy Appeal, Operation Christmas Child, Children in Need, Sports Relief and FIND amongst others.
Thank you to the pupils and staff for all efforts in preparing three wonderful productions. There were many memorable performances in the Key Stage 2 production in the summer term. It was a very entertaining show, full of sound effects, comedy and catchy songs. Both the Key Stage 1 and the Early Years Foundation Stage children took part in plays at Christmas. In both productions, the costumes, sets and dancing were brilliant. The children had a lot to learn and sang really well. Thank you to all the children for their super performances. Also, a huge thank you to all the adults involved as organising these productions is very hard work!
We have been very pleased for our Key Stage 2 children to be involved in a pilot project, called ‘Lead Now’. Four schools in the UK and one school in Africa are participating in the project. ‘Lead Now’ aims to develop children’s personal leadership skills. First children learn to lead themselves, recognising their own potential and setting goals. Then children learn to lead others and devise projects to improve the community. We are always looking for different ways to develop children’s character and skills; ‘Lead Now’ has helped to us to provide rich, broad development opportunities for the children.
The children enjoy so many exciting opportunities and experiences! We have welcomed lots of visitors into school to support the curriculum. One of the exciting visitors in 2016 wasSiya Twani, who visited the school to talk about diversity and understanding other cultures. Siya led an assembly for the whole school and then ran workshops for groups in Key Stage 2. It was great fun – the children particularly enjoyed learning music and dancing from Africa. It was also fascinating hearing Siya’s life story, including meeting Nelson Mandela, and what it was like growing up in South Africa during the time of apartheid. The main themes were about tackling prejudice and not judging people on their appearance. The children learned a great deal and it was a thoroughly enjoyable, captivating experience. Another wonderful visitor was Peggy the ‘reading dog’. Children love to read to Peggy because she listens so well and helps to build up their confidence. Many thanks to Mrs Young for bringing Peggy into school! Other special experiences included workshops with the Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra, a clarinet performance with the County Music Service and the ‘Sing Suffolk’ project. We enjoyed a great ‘street party’ for the Queen’s birthday as well as an Easter tea party. The children had a banquet on a ‘castles’ them day and another ‘street party’ to celebrate VE Day as part of a history project.
We have implemented new RE units of work across the school during 2016. Thanks to Helen Matter, the Diocesan Schools Advisor, for lots of support in tackling these units, which are exciting, interactive and challenging for the children. Feedback from the children indicates that they enjoy RE much more!
We were pleased to receive external accreditation for our curriculum provision during 2016, achieving the School Games Bronze mark for PE and the Bronze ‘Linguamarque’ for our teaching and learning in Modern Foreign Languages.
Also, the children’s education has been enriched by a number of visits. For example, the children visited Colchester Zoo,Landguard Fort, Ipswich Town Football Club, Pipers Vale Gymnastics Centre, the Ipswich Regent Theatre,Hedingham Castle, Bradfield Woods, the Science Museum in London and Colchester Castle. The Year 6 children went on their annual residential trip to Norfolk, where they stayed at Kingswood for the first time. The children had to show perseverance and courage while participating in a range of adventurous activities, such as fencing, caving, abseiling and climbing. Also, the group took full advantage of the fine weather and enjoyed lots of beach activities, including beach art and rock pooling. Throughout the trip, there was a particular focus on collaboration and developing team-skills. Thanks to all the adults who accompanied the children on their adventure! Various visits to St Mary’s Church have contributed to the children’s spiritual development.
Once again, children have participated in many sports events during the year, such as basketball, athletics, swimming, cricket and rugby sports festivals.
We have continued to work hard to engage parents in children’s learning and develop better partnerships. This year, we have run successful ‘sharingcafés’ for maths, French and art. The cafés are informal and enjoyable opportunities for parents to share activities with their children and find out more about the curriculum in school.
School Performance
Pupils take national tests in Years 1, 2 and 6. Pupil achievement in the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check was slightly below the national average, with 75% performing at the expected level. This was a very small cohort of children, affected by pupil mobility mid-year.
In Year 2, 68% of children were at the expected standard in reading, 68% in writing and 79% in maths. Results were better than the national averages in writing and maths.
In Year 6,73% of pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, 77% in writing and 58% in maths (better than the national average in reading and writing). 58% were at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths combined, which was better than the national average. 77% were at the expected standard in the Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar test, which was better than the national average.Theprogress children made from their starting points in reading and writing was also above the national average.
We also report on pupil achievement in the Early Years Foundation Stage. In 2016, 69% of our pupils achieved a ‘Good Level of Development’, which equalled the national average. During 2016, we have focused our efforts and resources on improving maths and reading across the whole school.
Staffing
During 2016, two teachers completed their first year as Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs). They are both firmly established in our school community and have remained with us permanently. One of our regular volunteers now has a contract as a Teaching Assistant. At the end of the summer term 2016, we said goodbye to a Teacher and a Teaching Assistant, both of whom were long-standing members of staff. Thanks to both of them for their long service to the school and we wish them all the best for the future! In the autumn, we appointed a new Administrative Assistant to start working for us in January 2017. Also, during the autumn, our Deputy Headteacher agreed to go on secondment to another school as an Acting Headteacher for the spring and summer terms of 2017.
Premises
We are always seeking to improve the school building and grounds. The most important project involved converting a little used room into two new rooms: a new finance office and a new Pastoral Support Room. The Pastoral Support Room has been an incredibly important addition as it is so useful to have a dedicated space in school for meeting children’s personal needs and looking after their emotional wellbeing. Our Pastoral Support Worker is based in this room, where she supports individual children and small groups, meets with parents and works with external agencies and professionals. The pastoral care we provide is at the heart of the school’s caring ethos and having the space set aside for this has had a huge impact on our work with vulnerable children and families.
The spiritual garden project to the rear of the school was just about finished by the end of 2016, with some new seating on the way! It will be an ideal space for enjoying class Worship and other reflective experiences outside. The project has taken a long time to complete but the final result looks lovely!
Church links
St Mary’s school continues to have very strong links with St Mary’s Church and, indeed, all the local churches. The Inspire Project, led by Trish Pitt, has continued to reinforce the links between the school and church, with the children enjoying workshops at the church on themes such as Easter and Epiphany. The Epiphany workshop included Bible readings, writing prayers, making mobiles and exploring the journey of the wise men through a labyrinth. Our children are very familiar with the church and we are lucky to be able to use it as an exciting learning resource.
The older children enjoyed a trip to the Baptist Church to learn about prayer. Also, a number of our children attended an RE enrichment event that we organised for the pyramid of schools. This was supported by St Mary’s Church and hosted by the URC. A superb visitor, Victoria Bush, led workshops on prayer writing. It was a really powerful day and we plan to publish the children’s prayers so that they can be used by the local schools.
Classes have continued to take it in turns to visit St Mary’s Church on Fridays to participate in the ‘café’ service, for which our children created the Order of Service. The children enjoy the chance to meet other people in the church community.
Children have been learning about Christian values and how these apply in their everyday lives. We follow the ‘Roots and Fruits’ document, which focuses on a different Christian value each half term. Our school values are illustrated through Bible stories in whole school Worship and then class Worship is used to relate the values to the children’s own experiences. Worship remains a strength at the school and we have welcomed many guests to lead Worship, including David and Wendy Atkins, Reverend Daniel Thompson, Canon Dr John Parr, Reverend Bryn Rickards, Pastor Greg Frost, Pastor Chris Todd, Philip Mann, Jackie Cork, Father Peter Brett, Cat from the Christian Youth Ministry, Brian Hempstead, Reverend Joyce Willis, Reverend Barbara Challis and Helen Matter, the education advisor from the Diocese. The children respond really well in Worship and clearly value these experiences.
Throughout the year, we have held services at St Mary’s church, including at Easter and Christmas. Also, children represented the school at the church’s Harvest Festival, sharing their work from school.
Andrew Frolish
Headteacher