OUTSTANDING – CSI Report 5th May 2023
Diocesan inspection report said:
“Leaders and governors are inspirational in promoting the school’s mission. They are deeply committed and passionate and constantly support everyone. The school seeks to work well with the local parish and show a commitment to its mission. The school promotes parental engagement; they are highly supportive of developing their child’s vocation.
One parent commented, ‘The school’s ethos supports and reflects the Catholic faith. Christ is at the centre of everything that they do.’
Staff speak highly of the care and love that leaders demonstrate and told inspectors, ‘Our school promotes a love of faith which is engaging and inspiring for all our children. Our Catholic ethos is intrinsic in all that we say and do.’ There is an open-door well-being policy, and staff feel confident they can readily access support. One staff commented, ‘St Mary’s is a wonderful place where strong relationships are formed, and everyone is respected.’ Governors make highly significant contributions, effectively evaluating with rigour, analysis, and targeted improvement.”
OFSTED report said:
“There is a strong sense of pastoral care across the school, which reflects the school’s Catholic values.
Leaders promote pupils’ personal development well. They teach them how to be responsible, active citizens. Pupils raise money for charity or make donations to organisations in the local community.
Parents and carers value the opportunities available to their children. A comment made by a parent reflects the views of many others: ‘My child is not just learning academically, but also spiritually and how to be a kind and caring person.” OFSTED December 2022
Our Mission at St. Mary’s
The Catholic Life of the school is given the highest priority where the development of an authentic Catholic ethos is actively sought by all. Children are empowered to have a thorough understanding of the Church’s liturgical year, its seasons, rites and symbols. Within the school community, prayer has a profound and visible effect on the development of all pupils and staff irrespective of ability or faith background. As a school, we promote a love of faith; engaging and inspiring our children to take responsibility for promoting the Catholic ethos of our community whilst seeking to lead and develop this further. Developing a greater understanding of vocation is fundamental in giving our children a meaningful reason to live out their faith. Teachers ensure that children are provided with opportunities to develop their thinking and respond to questions of faith. Our school celebrates, develops and enhances the Catholic Life of our children and ensures our Catholic ethos underpins all that we do and strive to achieve.
Christ has no body on earth but ours.
Ours are the hands with which He heals.
Ours are His eyes, His feet, His lips.
Ours are the hearts through which He loves.
Teresa of Avila
Our Curriculum – Catholic Social Teaching Coverage
Our whole school curriculum is centred around the principles of Building the Kingdom and Catholic Social Teaching. In principle, this means bringing the unchangeable values of the Gospel into an everchanging modern society. Our curriculum and pedagogical approach provides our children with a foundation to make the world a better place. Our children realise that they are not too young to make a difference and that each individual’s unique vocation is not for the future but for now. All of the children’s learning leads them towards answering one of these Big Questions at the end of each learning block. Please see our ‘Curriculum’ page to view our overviews and find more information.
A massive thank you to all who came in their odd socks today for Anti-bullying Week this week – the theme for this year's campaign is to choose respect. Odd Socks Day is a day when we embrace other people's differences. Thank you to the Guardian Angels for their mini assembly on Monday telling us all about this important week. #catholiclifestm … See MoreSee Less
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For our first catholic life pledge, Year 1 have been in search of peace in and around our school. They found it in our school chapel, prayer garden, the library, our reading village and in nature. We recognised how everyone's idea of peace is different. We linked this to world mental health day and how important it is that we take time, daily, to find peace in our busy lives. The children recorded their ideas about peace and we hope you enjoy sharing these, as a family, over half term. #year1stm #catholiclifestm … See MoreSee Less
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R.E homework project
This half term, Mrs. Wrigley is setting a homework challenge, based around the season of creation. This year the season of Creation theme is ‘Hope and Act with Creation' and the symbol ‘The First Fruits of Hope’, inspired by Romans 8:19-25 ,will be our guiding inspiration to show Stewardship.
Your task is to show you engage and are grateful for God’s creation and you can do this is any way you like!
Some ideas you could do are:
– Go on a litter pick in your street and local area.
– Plant trees/plants in your garden.
– Make bird feeders for birds in your garden.
– Make recycling posters to post/display in your local area to show the importance of recycling to sustain God’s creation.
– Go on a nature trail and pick things up on the way to make a collage with.
– Create a ‘Creation Stick’. For this, you choose a large stick and attach some selloptape. As you walk, you pick things up that you appreciate about God’s creation to add to your stick.
– Write a prayer about the importance of looking after God’s creation.
– Create a piece of artwork about the importance of God’s creation.
These are just some ideas of what you can do but we would love to see how creative you can be!
Please send photos to your class teacher via Class Dojo and ask for these to be sent to Mrs. Wrigley or on the first Monday back bring your project to Mrs. Wrigley’s classroom.
The winners will be announced in Merit on the first Friday back!
Thanks,
Mrs. Wrigley
Please follow the link to watch a video about the season of creation:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=StUFcBnxsjw
#catholiclifestm #restm … See MoreSee Less
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🙏🏻✝️ Thank you to Father John for celebrating today’s Mass with Year 5. Father John spoke about Pope St John Paul II and told us all about his life. ✝️🙏🏻 #year5stm #catholiclifestm #prayerandliturgystm … See MoreSee Less
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Thank you to Sam from Dougie Mac who came in to present us with a cheque for the £379 that St. Mary's families raised during the coffee morning so a big thank you to everyone for your continued support and generosity!
After half term, the children will be given a Dougie Mac charity bag as part of Dougie Mac's 'Bag it… bring it!' incentive. In the bags, you can put in items that you no longer use, such as: clothing, shoes, accessories, toys, electrical items, homeware, CDs, DVDs and vinyl.
When you have filled the bag, please send it in with your child on or before 25th November as this is when Dougie Mac will be collecting them.
Thank you!
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Thank you to Year 2 who have shared their Catholic Life Pledge in assembly today. They explained how, as part of their Geography fieldwork, they did a survey of the litter on our school grounds. After this, they decided that action needed to be taken and that we needed to stop littering as part of our Stewardship Catholic Social Teaching. #catholiclifestm #year2stm … See MoreSee Less
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Thank you to all of our St. Mary’s families and parishioners who joined us at the family mass this evening. It was lovely to see so many past and present pupils and teachers. A special thank you to the children who led us beautifully in our readings, bidding prayers and offertory procession. #catholiclifestm #prayerandliturgystn … See MoreSee Less
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What able young people ! Well done!
Well done
Lovely mass xx
Please don't forget about our family mass on Saturday! We would like to see as many families and parishioners as possible to support the children!Our first family Mass will be held on Saturday 19th October at the usual 5:15pm mass at Holy Trinity. Our children will be leading the Mass and it would be lovely to see parishioners and St. Mary’s families there to celebrate with us. #catholiclifestm #prayerandliturgystm … See MoreSee Less
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Jade Freeman xxx
Thank you to our children who joined us at the combined schools’ mass. It was lovely to be a part of such a wonderful and spiritual celebration. #catholiclifestm … See MoreSee Less
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