St George s Roman Catholic Primary School Prospectus www.st-georgesrc.wilts.sch.uk
Welcome We are very proud of our beautiful school which is a friendly, happy and caring place where everyone feels valued; children, parents and staff. We ensure that all those in our school enjoy being a part of a community and feel a personal commitment to St George s, all working together. We are a Catholic School. We uphold the beliefs of the Church and our ethos is embodied within Christ s teachings. We are also an inclusive school, so everyone is welcome in our school community, and we embrace diversity. We are always delighted to show visitors around and our children are always happy to answer any questions! Admissions St George s is a Catholic Voluntary Aided primary school, which was established by the Church within the Diocese of Clifton to serve the parish of St George, Warminster and the pastoral unit of St Bernadette s, Westbury. Most of our children come from Warminster, Frome, nearby villages and the local military community. The governing body, acting in accordance with the Code of Practice and the Clifton Diocesan Policy Statement, is responsible for the admission of pupils. Their admissions policy is included in the back pocket of this prospectus and is additionally available from the school office. Ethos and aims Mission statement Our aim is to provide the highest possible standards for the children in our care. The whole child is important to us and we aim to develop our children intellectually, emotionally, socially, physically and spiritually. We help every child to reach his or her potential, whether it be academically, in sports or the performing arts, such as Music, Dance, Drama, Art and as good citizens in society. Respect and love for everything in God s world is a main part of our ethos and we encourage children to think and evaluate, to reflect and communicate. We want children to have fun learning! I have lots of friends. Jessica, pupil
My favourite subject is art. You can be really creative. Grishma, pupil Curriculum Policy Life within our school is governed by the Christian values embodied in the Catholic Faith. We aim to develop good Christian values throughout the school based on the teachings of Christ as told in the Gospels. We hope to develop in the children a love for God through prayer, faith and respect. We also aim to help the children to: + develop the skills and attitudes required to excel in learning. This includes lively, enquiring minds, with the ability to question and discuss rationally and the ability to apply themselves mentally and physically to the task in hand; + acquire understanding, knowledge and skills relevant to adult life and future employment in a fast-changing world; + use language persuasively in both reading and writing and use number work effectively and confidently; + develop personal moral values, respect for religious values and understanding of each others races, religions and ways of life; + understand the world in which they live and the inter-dependence of individuals, groups and nations; + value human achievements and aspirations; + find pleasure in learning and experience success; + develop creativity and aesthetic awareness. Learning and teaching We always have fun. We like practising dance and showing the head teacher. I like it when we learn and when we do our maths. Bruna, pupil Teaching the whole child Although our children do achieve good standards in the core subjects (English, Maths and Science) which are usually above the national average, we believe in supporting and teaching the whole child. This means focusing on a broad curriculum where children are encouraged to excel in all subjects from RE, History and Geography, to PE, Art, Music, French and Drama. Any child who has a specific learning difficulty is provided with extra support according to their individual need, as is a child who is very able, gifted or talented. I like history. There are lots of things I can learn. Jay, pupil Traditional values within modern education Our values are traditional, but our approach is innovative and we use technology such as ICT and interactive whiteboards in every classroom, and have close links with our secondary schools. We work hard on creating an environment in which every child feels safe, happy and valued. Within this our talented and experienced teachers provide stimulating national curriculum lessons that are fun and engaging. These include special theme sessions, such as History Days, Maths Challenge Days and Science Days, as well as visits from external providers such as theatre companies who are able to add another dimension to our teachers classroom practice.
School community School trips School trips are a great way of learning about the environment around us and all children are taken on class trips throughout the year. Every child in Year 6 is given the opportunity to take part in a residential trip for a week in an outdoor centre in the South West, which offers a great selection of activities for the children from orienteering to archery, horse riding, mountain biking, high-rope walking, Morris dancing and bivvy building! Houses and School Council We operate a House system: Eagles, Owls, Falcons and Kestrels, and points are accrued over the school year, celebrating with a winning House trophy at the end of the Summer term. There are two House Captains, one boy, one girl, for each House and children are divided vertically into Houses throughout the school, keeping families together! We have an effective and child-elected School Council who work in the Cluster Schools Councils and a Head Boy and Head Girl. The children s views and opinions are valued. Pre-school As a primary school, we cater for children aged between four and 11 years of age. We also have a pre-school on site which separately admits children from the age of two and a half. We enjoy a close relationship with the pre-school and for many of our children the step from preschool to primary school is a smooth transition from one part of our school campus to another. I like having my sister in the pre-school. Izzie, pupil Wrap-around care and clubs We aim where possible to support both our school community and the wider community. In school this includes providing wrap-around care with a daily Breakfast Club and a range of after school clubs including athletics, band, choir, cookery, cricket, dance and drama, football, gardening, gymnastics, hockey, netball, tag rugby and table tennis. Outside school we enjoy strong links with our Parish and regularly celebrate Mass with our priest in school and we visit our Parish Church on Boreham Road for celebratory Masses. We also work with people from the Beckford Centre, a day care centre, and we visit local Retirement Homes every Christmas, carol singing. St George s also benefits from a very effective and vibrant PE partnership with a cluster of local schools, including the secondary school Kingdown with whom we share extensive playing fields. When we moved south, my children did not want to leave their old school and their friends. The lovely atmosphere of St George s with friendly teachers and children helped them to settle in well. They really blossomed before my eyes and today I have some of the happiest children in the world. Sarah, parent
Music and sport Our children enjoy specialist teaching in Music and PE and no child leaves our school without being able to swim. Many children enjoy inschool tuition in keyboard, woodwind and brass instruments. Strings including violin, viola and guitar lessons are offered in school by external music providers. A specialist music teacher teaches music to every class each week. A musical Dance and Drama production is performed every year, as is a Christmas Carol Concert/Nativity and an Easter Passion of the Lord. We are proud of the fact that, despite being a relatively small school, our sports teams regularly win trophies when competing against other schools in a range of sports including football, gymnastics, hockey, netball and swimming. Friends of St George s The Friends Association is the development of a more traditional parent teacher association and is open to all families with children at the school, parishioners and others. Funds raised by our Friends have contributed to the outdoor play equipment, sports kit and other pieces of equipment that provide opportunities for our children to learn and enjoy. My school is special because everyone is friendly. I liked it when we won the hockey tournament. Andrea, pupil It s very special. We have lovely fun things like the adventure play area. Matthew, pupil Activities and opportunities
Dining Our school dinners are legendary! All meals are cooked from scratch and prepared from fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Our school cook is so good, she also prepares her well-loved meals for other local schools. The dining experience is a relaxed and enjoyable one for our children. All dine together, both school meals and packed lunches. The children sit around circular tables and are encouraged to chat (not shout!) while listening to background music while they eat. Grounds St George s is a town school with a village feel. We enjoy beautiful grounds with a wonderful adventure play area, conservation area, a quiet garden, playgrounds and extensive playing fields which we share with Kingdown School. We continue to invest in our outdoor space and believe in a good balance of both indoor and outdoor learning opportunities. Prayer Room Our Prayer Room is a lovely oasis of calm space. The children are free to visit it any time they wish to have a period of quiet reflection. They may leave prayers or thoughts on post-it notes attached to our prayer wall or, should they have a concern that they wish to discuss with a teacher, they may leave a note or their name in a worry box. Our facilities I just love my job. I love this school. It has great teachers and children. I like to please the children and once I have finished serving their lunch I always walk around the dining hall to see what they are eating and whether something is popular or not. Veronica, cook
St George s is a Catholic Voluntary Aided primary school. We enjoy a real family atmosphere which has deep foundations within a strong and caring Christian Community. The Catholic Faith is central to the day-to-day life of our school and to all aspects of the curriculum; it is not an added extra and regularly features Mass and Collective Worships. Families of all faiths are welcome in our school and we find many non-practising Catholics send their children to us because they see the value in the Catholic ethos we provide. We place importance upon prayer and gospel values as well as RE lessons, acts of worship and assemblies. Our Catholic faith can be seen all around us, from the songs and hymns we sing, to the colourful displays of Christian parables on our walls and our beautiful icons of Jesus, Mary and St George. At the heart of our faith is our love of God and each other. Our children learn a strong moral code and how to care for their friends. This is enhanced through our curriculum, our attitudes and our reflective areas, including our peaceful prayer room. We have a friendship bench and friendship buddies. If you don t have anyone to play with at playtime, you can sit on the bench and one of the buddies will come over and find children you can play with. What it means to be a Catholic school Thomas, pupil
St George s Catholic Primary School Woodcock Road Warminster Wiltshire BA12 9EZ Warminster Station B3414 Battlesbury Barracks Battlesbury Hill Telephone 01985 218284 admin@st-georgesrc.wilts.sch.uk www.st-georgesrc.wilts.sch.uk Warminster Boreham Road St George s Primary School Written and designed by walkerjansseune.co.uk Photography by Clive Garrett River Wylye Henford s Marsh