Growing Together Through Christ St Benedict s Catholic Primary School Draft Strategic Plan 2017-2022 DFE: 933 3358 URN: 123840
Version This version was reviewed at the Governing Body meeting of Spring term 2, amended following that review and is presented to the Governing Body for final approval on Summer term 1. The next review is due by: Summer term 1 2018 Foreword We are pleased to present our long-term strategic plan for St Benedict s Catholic Primary School. Our intention in developing the plan is to set out and communicate our vision, ethos and long-term direction for the school, so that we are all clear on where we are going and what we are trying to achieve. We are proud of the school s achievements and values and look forward to continuing with the excellent progress made in recent years to make this a truly outstanding school. We would welcome any comments or suggestions. Jon Stratford (Chair of Governors) and Cindy Stockting (Headteacher) Contact details: stbenedicts@educ.somerset.gov.uk Contents 1 Plan development and review.. 1 2 School context, history and development 2 3 Vision, Mission Statement and Values 3 4 Overarching Approach 4 5 Strategic Priorities. 5 6 Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation. 6
1 Plan development and review 1.1 What and who? The strategic plan is a high level long-term plan, extending over a period of 5 years, from 2017 2022. It sets out the school s vision, values and long-term strategic priorities. It is aimed at the key stakeholders in the school, children and their parents, staff, governors and other stakeholders. The plan is developed through discussion by, and consultation with, staff, governors, parents and pupils. It is informed by school self-evaluation. School self-evaluation may also lead to amendment of the plan during the year. The plan incorporates the school s response to the recommendations made in its last Ofsted Inspection Report (Dec 2015) The strategic plan is complemented by the School Development Plan (SDP), a shorter-term operational plan extending over a period of 1-2 years. The School Development Plan is developed by the staff team and sets out in operational terms how the long-term strategy of the school is to be achieved. 1.2 Review and revision of plan The plan will be reviewed annually at the first Governing Body meeting of the Summer school term. It will be revised every three years, whilst maintaining a long-term perspective, extending over 5 years. 2 School Context, History and Development 2.1 Brief description St Benedict's is a one form entry Catholic Primary School on the edge of Midsomer Norton, near Bath. The school is just in Somerset and comes under the Somerset County Council education service. St Benedict's is a voluntary aided Catholic School and offers a Christian teaching and learning environment of the highest quality to children between the ages of four and eleven. We have strong links with the Downside Community in Stratton-on-the-Fosse.
2.2 Community As a faith school, St Benedict s serves a large section of the community around Midsomer Norton including many villages from Peasedown St John, across to Holcombe and down towards Shepton Mallet. St Benedict s is a Catholic Primary School where every child is valued. Within the happy and caring school community, each child is encouraged to achieve his/her potential. We have about 40% Catholic children and therefore have a significant number of non-catholic children whose parents wish them to attend a school based upon church values. Our Catholic principles are very much lived out in the day to day life of our school and are evident in the behaviour and attitudes of the whole school community. 2.3 Performance history, Ofsted rating In the school s last inspection, December 2015, the school maintained its Good status achieved in January 2011. HMI noted that the school was responding to a dip in writing in 2015 and that measures were in place to increase progress and attainment for all children ensuring that we work hard to close the gap for some of our vulnerable groups of children. HMI identified the following Next Steps for our school: Leaders and governors should ensure that: Lessons are sufficiently challenging to ensure that all pupils, including the most able, make good progress Leaders monitor the learning and progress of all pupils rigorously to ensure that all pupils and groups of pupils make good progress, particularly in writing and mathematics Teachers consistently apply the school s agreed approaches to marking and feedback so that pupils learn from their mistakes and successes in their learning. 2.4 Background and Current Position We are confident that our school community is led by a governing body and leadership team who have a clear vision for our school and the ability and experience to secure the commitment of all stakeholders to that vision. We value all contributions and will make every effort to celebrate our successes. We will act with integrity and consistently in line with our agreed vision, setting clear goals to structure the strategic intentions. We will reconsider and revise the vision where necessary and encourage a visionary approach at all levels. St Benedict s continues to be a good school constantly striving to be better. We have made considerable progress over the last few years in improving our teaching and therefore our learning through the introduction of more rigorous and informative assessment processes alongside the introduction and embedding of key learning initiatives such as Talk 4 Writing and Singapore Maths. However we will continue to strive to ensure that the next five years are as productive as possible. As a community i.e. governors, parents, staff and pupils, we continue to develop our core values and these form the basis of all our planning and review.
As a leadership team we have a real sense of responsibility that as leaders we will keep abreast of new educational theory and practice. However, we will always ensure we act in the best interests of our children and the community we serve. 3 Vision, Mission Statement and Aims 3.1 Vision We are a family and are proud of all we achieve. As a Catholic school, the Gospel values permeate and can be clearly seen in all that we do with the children in our care at the heart of all our endeavours. The school as a Catholic community embraces the key components of what it means to lead a Christian life: Welcome, Worship, Word, Welfare and Witness, using these as a way of being a community and living the mission of the Church. Families of all faiths are welcome in our school and we find many send their children to us because they see the value in the Catholic ethos we provide. We recognise the benefits of collaborative and community work and seek to develop a more Christ-centred society through our links with the Downside and local parish communities. We provide an environment where children can grow as healthy as possible, can learn at school, receive protection, have their views listened to and are treated fairly. There is a clear sense of belonging for children, their families, staff, governors and other members of the community. All members of the school community are confident, relaxed, happy and engaged in their own and others development; recognising individual s talents, gifts and achievements. Staff ensure pupils are stretched by outstanding practice and pupils grow academically, spiritually and socially. 3.2 Mission Statement Growing together through Christ Our Mission is to provide a Catholic education that allows children to grow into happy, confident individuals, fully equipped to take their place in God s world, now and in the future. We will do this by: providing a rich and varied curriculum that encourages every child to achieve their fullest potential. visibly loving life, loving one another and loving God striving for excellence in all that we do welcoming children from all faiths and backgrounds. At St Benedict s we will: always try our very best look after each other have fun learning and playing together
The St Benedict s experience Growing together through Christ 3.3 Aims We aim: To provide the best and most memorable experiences for the children we serve; To help them to achieve high and to aspire to ever greater heights; To give them the skills to build on and expand their knowledge and understanding of a rapidly changing world; To prepare them for life in modern Britain and the global society beyond; To inspire in our children a lifelong love of learning; To foster in them the imagination, independence, confidence and resilience to deal with life in a positive and productive way; To maintain high standards of behaviour and high expectations where everyone feels respected; To help them grow and learn together in the knowledge that they are loved by God. We aim: To ensure our academic and spiritual learning environments are of the highest quality To foster a learning community for all To provide a place where all feel safe and valued To create a space where God s vision is realised to benefit all To honour God through our actions 4 Overarching Approach The key aim of this strategic plan is to build human capital in the workforce in order to achieve all our priorities. This human capital will look like: High levels of professional expertise and technical skills Leaders and staff will have the right values and attitudes to drive outstanding behaviour to set the culture of the school. To this end, we will define and embed the values and attitude we expect governors and staff to both exhibit and refer to while working at St Benedict s. In line with Catholic ethos we will draw upon the teachings of Jesus Christ in doing this.
Once we have identified and agreed on these values, we will embed them by ensuring we put them at the heart of our policies and ways of working e.g. The way we recruit staff The operation of the school s Performance Management process The way we deliver our leadership The way we manage underperformance and disciplinary matters The way we manage governing body meetings etc. Governors and the Senior Leadership Team will ensure constant reference is made to St Benedict s underpinning values. This will include encouraging a two-way dialogue with staff and parents in which it is made clear that we seek feedback at all levels on how we exhibit our values. St Benedict s Values: Pursuit of excellence High levels of humility and empathy Resilience Integrity/moral courage Character/sense of humour Humanitarian approach/philanthropy Underpinned with Christian / British Values: Democracy Rule of Law Individual Liberty Mutual respect Acceptance of those of other faiths and beliefs This values-based leadership approach will be underpinned by other school initiatives e.g. Growth Mindset. We have identified six priorities around which we will structure our School Development Plan. They are: 1. To further develop the distinctive Catholic nature of the school 2. To develop and embed sustainable, high quality and robust leadership throughout the school 3. To prioritise excellence in staffing 4. To build a culture of success and achievement 5. To develop an aspirational and inspirational curriculum 6. To ensure excellent communication around the school We will deliver these priorities through our School Development Plan and other activities.
5 Strategic Priorities 5.1 To further develop the distinctive Catholic nature of the school We enable children to play a key role in the worship and Catholic life of the school We model Gospel Values and the teachings of the Catholic Church We ensure the same quality of provision in and approach to the teaching and learning of Religious Education, that is applied to other areas of the curriculum, whilst recognising its unique place in the curriculum of a Catholic school. We promote a culture of success and achievement in Religious Education We support all staff in their role as educators in a Catholic school. The same rigour around progress, attainment and assessment as seen in other core subjects Training/support/mentoring available for staff and being accessed Induction Pack in place around Catholicism, Religious Education teaching, ethos and values for new staff Children taking an interested, active role in worship and Catholic life eager to progress, develop and live their faith. 5.2 To develop and embed sustainable, high quality and robust leadership throughout the school Governors contribute to the strategic direction of the school, ensuring clarity of vision and ethos. We engage in active succession planning at all levels We engage with Catholic leadership programmes as recommended or provided by the diocese. We engage with mainstream leadership programmes to ensure professional development. We use mentoring and coaching approaches to develop leadership potential. We employ appropriate use of 360⁰ staff analysis to establish effective working practices.
We provide leadership opportunities for staff who demonstrate initiative, drive and vision. Opportunities in place for staff to change year group to develop skills and flexibility Programme in place and accessed to provide opportunities for middle and senior leadership with support as required Engagement in wider professional development e.g. diocesan initiatives Regular well-being survey across all staff taken, assessed and acted on. 5.3 To prioritise excellence in staffing We actively manage the recruitment, management and retention of staff to build staff capital. We build the capacity of staff to implement a cohesive school-wide approach to teaching and learning, including classroom management that supports a creative, engaging and challenging learning environment. We expect staff to reflect confidently on their own learning and identify their development needs. We support the development of robust and effective performance management and continuing professional development opportunities for improving teaching, based on identified needs of staff, as well as the needs of the school. We will introduce behavioural interview techniques to ensure the right attitudes as well as expertise is built into staff capital. We will establish a Growth Mindset learning culture across the school We work closely with our Catholic Hub to develop staff capital through collaborative approaches and training. We will further establish coaching to support staff in developing their enterprise skills e.g. initiative, risk taking, problem solving and creativity. Interview questions (and responses) will establish desired attitudes, expertise and mind-set across the staff body Training and support in place and being accessed to develop staff capital 5.4 To build a culture of success and achievement in all areas of learning We develop educators who believe that all pupils can achieve and be successful. We believe every child should continually aspire to further develop and extend their learning as well as become confident, independent and resilient learners.
We monitor and evaluate pupil progress data to track pupils progress and we challenge, not just identify, underachievement. We maintain a focus on closing the gap between vulnerable pupils and their peers, as well as challenging the underachievement of all pupils. We set inspirational, yet realistic, targets for each pupil so that they can make the best possible progress. Assessment and tracking used effectively to close gaps and ensure all pupils achieve their potential 5.5 To develop an aspirational and inspirational curriculum We plan a curriculum that is based upon the provision of a breadth of opportunities; a creative and challenging curriculum, with key skills at the core, enriched by visits and experiences. We create learning experiences which bring together all the areas of the curriculum and present these in topics which are designed in partnership with the children, which are fun, exciting, relevant and engaging. We deliver a curriculum that provides highly positive, memorable experiences and rich opportunities for high quality learning; has a very positive impact on all pupils behaviour and safety; and contributes very well to pupils achievement and to their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. We develop children s confidence and expressive skills through a curriculum which supports the arts at its heart and encourages our pupils to express themselves through a wide and diverse range of artistic media. We offer a variety of extra-curricular activities to channel the personal development of individual pupils, including a wide range of sport, music, drama and art. Excellent range of extra-curricular activities always available Diverse, creative and challenging curriculum in place, incorporating Outdoor Learning and Forest School and Growth Mindset 5.6 To ensure excellent communication around the school We work to strengthen partnerships between school, parents, parishes and the local community. We engage with all members of our community through: surveys (pupil, parent, staff, governor); newsletters and the website.
We ensure regular dialogue through a robust meeting structure: Governors, Senior Leadership Team, teachers, Learning Support Assistants, Midday Supervisor Assistants, parents and school council. We ensure good communication and understanding of our school through link governor visits. We will implement a system of exit interviews. Regular surveys of all stakeholders in place Good governor/school links embedded Good communication between school and all stakeholders in place Evidence of exit interviews carried out after leaver has secured a new post 6 Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation 6.1 Implementation of the Plan The strategic plan sets out six strategic priorities and gives long-term direction for implementation. The School Development Plan (SDP), developed by the staff team, describes how this strategy is to be implemented in the short to medium term. 6.2 Monitoring The governing body monitors the development and implementation of the School Development Plan. It is presented to the governing body at the start of the academic year, reviewed formally by the Senior Leadership Team half way through the year and monitored by governors through link governor visits. 6.3 Evaluation The governing body will use Ofsted inspections and School Education Partner (SEP) visits and reports as a key evaluation tool.