St. Thomas Moorside - Prospectus

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St Thomas’ Moorside C.E. (V.A.) Primary School

Headteacher: Mr A. J. Laskey B.Ed (Hons), NPQHColeridge Road, Sholver, Oldham, OL1 4RL

IntroductionSt Thomas’ Moorside is a lively primary school where as friends and family we work together to provide a stimulating, enthusiastic and caring environment where everyone can experience personal success.In June 2008 Ofsted praised St. Thomas’ as “a good school with outstanding features”. We believe that we are particularly skilled at caring for and involving all children in the life of the school. The overall personal development and well-being of learners, the care, guidance and support of learners and pupils’ behaviour were all considered to be outstanding by Ofsted in our 2008 inspection.

At St. Thomas’ we are healthy.We are very proud of our Healthy School status and our Platinum Healthy Tooth award. Our pupils learn about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, balanced meals and daily exercise.

Our children are encouraged to make healthy choices and only healthy snacks are allowed during school time.

Breakfast is available in school from 8.30am; parents and pupils are welcome. School serves healthy meals at lunchtime. If you require a menu please ask the school office.

Children can drink water in class when they are thirsty throughout the day. School water bottles can be bought at the office.

In Early Years ‘Forest School’ is part of the curriculum that enriches children’s learning. The outdoors makes the learning holistic, but yet meets the needs of the Early Years statutory curriculum.

We offer a wide range of ever-changing sporting activities at St. Thomas’ as part of our PE and extended-schools programmes. Examples include:

Football Swimming Cricket Athletics Gymnastics Dancing Chess

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Seeking the best for everyone

At St. Thomas’ we learn to stay safe.Our children learn how to keep themselves and others safe and how to recognise and respond to danger, but ensure that calculated risks can be taken to further their confidence and development. We encourage all our children to discuss and explore their rights, responsibilities and personal safety through a wide range of curricular and extra-curricular activities. Examples include;

Personal, Social and Health Education Philosophy for Children (P4C) Safer cycling Road safety officers Regular visits from local community policing team and fire service Yearly visits and residentials at Oldham’s Castleshaw Centre

At St. Thomas’ we enjoy and achieve.As part of our ethos, we expect and enable every child to achieve their best.The school follows the Foundation Stage Curriculum in Nursery and Reception and the National Curriculum for years 1-6.

Years 1-6 follow a planned curriculum that provides progression and continuity to learning. At St Thomas’ we aim to educate the whole child and offer an enriched and diverse curriculum that covers all aspects of children’s learning. This type of curriculum leads to your child having an enriched and exciting time as they learn. It also provides children with the skills for learning and later life.

Ofsted said; St Thomas’ has “an extremely good curriculum, not only in subjects such as literacy and numeracy, but also in art, design & technology, music and physical education. There are also lots of extra activities provided after school”.

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At St. Thomas’ we make a positive contribution.We encourage our children to be responsible, caring members of our community.We help them to develop their social skills and discuss their opinions and ideas with others. Our school has:

The Always badge behaviour system School council Eco-school council Community Cohesion Events Philosophy for Children (P4C) Charity fundraising activities Forest School activities Class prefects

In the wider community we link with another Oldham Primary school and we teach Spanish as our Modern foreign language.

St Thomas’ is a welcoming school and encourages parents to get involved. A parents’ forum and Friends of St Thomas’ group meet regularly as opportunities for parents and staff to discuss and share ideas and raise money for the school.

From St. Thomas’ we will achieve economic well-being.We work hard to expand our children’s knowledge and experience of the world around them and the possibilities it offers.Learning activities include:

Progressive reward systems in school valuing achievement and effort Curriculum projects about those who work in our community Visitors to school who model positive contributions to society Prefects and monitors chosen to take responsibility of parts of school life

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ICT at St. Thomas’

All of our children from Nursery to Year 6 have access to computers in school. Every classroom has an interactive whiteboard and wireless internet access. School also has a wide variety of ICT equipment such as digital cameras, roamers, remote controlled and programmable toys.

School accesses Education City and Espresso learning platforms, these enable children to reinforce all curricular areas through ICT.

Creative Arts at St. Thomas’

We are committed to enabling children to express themselves creatively through art, music, dance and drama.

In our 2008 Ofsted inspection, the quality of our art work in school was described as ‘Stunning’.

A specialist music tutor provides weekly sessions with all classes to deliver an enhanced music curriculum. We have a school choir and recorder groups. School regularly employs drama and dance coaches, both for in-school and after school sessions.

Religious Education

Our school uses the Manchester Diocesan syllabus for RE, which develops knowledge and understanding of the Christian faith and allows us to explore and appreciate other faiths, traditions and beliefs.

In line with the requirements of the Education Reform Act, our children take part in a daily assembly. This includes acts of Christian worship such as prayers and hymns. Parents have the right to withdraw their children from R.E. and worship. This should be discussed with the Head teacher.

Additional Educational Needs

Our school adopts a fully inclusive approach to children with additional needs. Our full additional educational needs policy is available to parents on request.

At St. Thomas’ we aim to provide support and full access to the National Curriculum for our special needs children. We also aim to provide an environment where physically disabled children can move around safely and access the curriculum appropriately.

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Attendance ProceduresSchool day

Early Years Nursery will be collected after lunch at 12.00noon

Morning 8.50am 11.30am

Lunch 11.30am 1.00pm

Afternoon 1.00pm 3.15pm

Infants Years 1&2

Morning 8.50am 12.00noon

Lunch 12.00noon 1.00pm


Juniors Years 3,4,5 & 6

Morning 8.50am 12.30pm

Lunch 12.30pm 1.15pm


Attendance Children’s attendance and punctuality is monitored closely. If your child is having problems with either of these areas, then it is best if you inform the school. This is so we can effectively liaise with the borough’s Attendance Improvement Service. Repeated or excessive unauthorised absences may lead to the issue of warning notices, fines or court action.

Absence We ask parents to telephone on the first day of absence before 10.00am. School should also receive a letter explaining their absence on the first day of your child’s return.

Lateness If your child arrives late to school, then you or your child must sign the late book in the main entrance. If your child arrives late after registration then they will be given a late mark in the register. Registers close at 9.30am, after which point a child is given an absent mark for the morning session.

UniformThe Governors of the school expect children who attend St Thomas’ to wear a school uniform. The uniform is as follows-Grey or black trousers, shorts, skirts or pinafore dresses and a plain white polo shirt. Red and white checked summer dresses are also appropriate. Red sweatshirts with the school logo are available from the school office (printed logo) or Top Form on King Street (embroidered logo). Children should have a pair of indoor shoes/pumps in school at all times.

For P.E, black shorts and a plain white T-shirt are required. In the juniors a plain dark coloured tracksuit may be worn for outside games. These items of clothing need to be in school in a pumps bag (available from the school office). Sports bags must not be brought into school. All items should be clearly marked with your child’s name.

For safety reasons children are not allowed to wear jewellery in school. This includes earrings and studs. However Junior children can wear a sensible wrist watch.

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Admissions

The school Governing Body is responsible for managing admissions in line with the school admissions policy, which is available on our school website www.st-thomas-moorside.oldham.sch.uk. We welcome visits to the school to discuss individual needs and circumstances.

Child Protection

We take the protection of our children very seriously and will always investigate any concerns that we have, informing the relevant authorities if we feel this is required. Within the confines of the local authority child protection procedures, wherever possible we will try to keep parents informed at all stages of our procedures.

Safety

For practical safety reasons we ask;

At the beginning and end of school, children only enter and leave school by the doors allocated to their class. Parents wait outside for their children, unless they need to enter the classroom to speak to the teacher. Children in Early Years and Key Stage 1 must be collected from school by a responsible adult. They will not be allowed to walk home alone or with older children. Parents must always inform school if someone dif-ferent will be collecting their child. School will not allow children to be collected by adults not listed as contacts unless notification has been given.

Charging Policy

We will sometimes ask for a voluntary contribution towards the cost of school trips and events in school time. Children will not be prevented from taking part if contributions are not forthcoming, but if we do not raise enough contributions to cover the cost of the trip or event, we reserve the right to cancel it.

Residential trips and events during the school holidays may attract charges, but will not be compulsory portions of the curriculum.

Hate and Racist Incidents

School has a legal responsibility to report all hate and racist incidents to the Local Authority.

Any such incidents are followed up thoroughly and parents are contacted if their child is involved.

Complaints

If you are concerned about anything involving your child or the school, please contact your child’s class teacher. If you require further discussion, the Headteacher or Deputy Head will make every effort to meet with you straight away.

We hope that any concerns you may have about your child’s education at the school can be resolved in this way. However, should you feel further investigation is required, the procedures are as follows.

Formal complaint to the Governing body. In this instance you would put your complaint in writing to the Chair of the Governing Body at the school address. Formal complaint to the Local Authority (LA). If your complaint remains unresolved then you may complain to the LA. The matter will be dealt with by a designated officer whom you should contact you through the Clerk to the Governors.

Governors

The school governing body works very closely with the Headteacher and staff. The governing body comprises;

5 Parochial Church Council/Diocesan Governors

1 Parent governor

3 Staff governors (including the Headteacher)

1 Henshaw Trust governor

1 Local Authority governor

1 Foundation ex-officio governor (Vicar)

The governing body is here to support the development of the school. We are always looking for governors as willing volunteers are hard to find. It is an important job, but very rewarding. Your skills can be a valuable asset to the running of the school. If you wish to become a governor then please speak to the Headteacher.

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St Thomas’ Moorside C.E. (V.A.) Primary SchoolColeridge Road, Sholver, Oldham, OL1 4RL

Tel: 0161 6249290Fax: 0161 6204706

Email: [email protected]: www.stthomasmoorside.co.uk

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Documents

St. Thomas Moorside - Prospectus