St Bernard's Roman Catholic Primary School

St Bernard’s R.C. Primary School is a warm, friendly and nurturing environment, underpinned by a strong Catholic ethos and high aspirations for all. Our vision is to help every child achieve their full potential, equipped with the tools for lifelong learning and future success. With a team of outstanding teachers and support staff, we give every child the opportunity to grow, learn and be challenged. Our Christian faith permeates all aspects of school life, supporting the spiritual and moral development of children alongside their academic achievements. With our holistic and inclusive approach, we celebrate the uniqueness of every individual, giving pupils the motivation, skills and confidence to fulfil their aspirations both within and beyond the school gates.

At St Bernard’s we strongly believe in providing the children with exciting, creative and meaningful learning experiences, which build their enthusiasm for learning and challenge them to achieve.

Striving for excellence in teaching and an enjoyment of learning is at the heart of everything that we do. We nurture and develop resilient, resourceful, confident learners who gain a sense of who they are, and how they can thrive in the wider world. With Christ as our light we constantly strive to be the “best that we can be”, embracing and celebrating the uniqueness of each individual.

Strong, effective partnerships with parents, carers, the parish and the wider community enrich the learning experiences we offer.With Jesus as our guiding light and central to all we do, we offer a rich, exciting and creative education that allows each child to grow in formation. Respect, communication and confidence is at the heart of our curriculum.

St Bernard’s is a joyful, aspirational community rooted in faith.At St Bernard’s we strongly believe in providing the children with exciting, creative and meaningful learning experiences, which build their enthusiasm for learning and challenge them to achieve.

We want to enable children to become resilient, resourceful, confident learners and gain a sense of who they are, and how they can thrive in the wider world. With Christ as our light we constantly strive to be the “best that we can be”.

The school has a Nursery and Reception intake in September each year. We use your child’s age on 1st September to work out their curriculum year group.Nursery is for Children aged 3 on this date. Reception is for Children aged 4 on this date.Admission to nursery does not guarantee admission to Reception.Offer letters for both Nursery and Reception places are made in the Spring Term each year.During the summer term we will then help your child to get to know the staff at school and their new environment through a series of parents meetings, home visits and transition events.There will be further forms/online registration to complete, to ensure the school has all of the necessary information about your child. We will also ask about personal circumstances as the school relies on top-up funding from the government in order to maintain free places.

At St. Bernard’s R.C Primary School we aim to create and maintain a safe learning environment where all children and adults feel safe, secure and valued and to know they will be listened to and taken seriously.We have developed a safeguarding policy which ensures that all adults in St. Bernard’s R.C Primary School are working together to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. This is integral to all activities and functions at the school.

Our approach to working with parents and carers is one of transparency and honesty and our responsibility is to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children in our care. We aim to do this in partnership with our parents/carers. In most cases parents and carers will be informed when concerns are raised about the safety and welfare of their child.

Our rich curriculum embraces our Catholicity at its heart and complies with the Religious Education Directory requirements.Children currently follow the ‘Come and see”scheme alongside the ‘Caritas in Action’ programme which looks at the social teachings of the church. Each term begins with a focused day to introduce the key messages to be explored.

All classes also have planned acts of collective worship on a regular basis. As the children progress through the school they take pleasure in planning these for themselves.We plan our work in 5 areas along the guidelines of the ‘5 W’s framework’; Word. Worship, Witness, Welfare and Welcome and you can see below a brief overview of each area.

Our job in school is to ensure all the children within our care achieve their very best and to do this we offer a broad and balanced curriculum, delivered through high quality teaching and learning.We deliver high quality teaching to all of our pupils but for some, or all, of your child’s time here they may require additional help and support. This booklet will guide you through the types of support we can offer your child and who within the school will help you in this process.

Nursery and Reception follow the EYFS Programme of Study. The work the children undertake is based very much upon self initiated learning which encourages independence and discovery.Early years learning concentrates on 7 areas split between prime and specific areas of learning. With Jesus as our guiding light and central to all we do, we offer a rich, exciting and creative education that allows each child to grow in formation.Respect, communication and confidence are at the heart of our curriculum.

The Governing Body has 12 members varying from support staff, parents and members of the local community. We work as a team with the Head Teacher for the benefit of all the pupils and staff.We are all volunteers and have a diverse background, from education, to business owners accountancy and police. We’re here to give the school a strategic direction and to act as ‘a critical friend’ – helping to guide the school to improving the standard of education for all our children. We don’t get involved in the day-to-day operation of the school, but set the criteria by which the school is managed.

We ensure that local and national government legislation and targets are adhered too that we spend our school budget wisely, that the safety of everyone is paramount, and that the curriculum is delivered for the benefit of all the children.Governors both support and challenge the Headteacher and senior staff to ensure that the school performs as well as it should and that all pupils have the very best opportunity to learn & grow.

Working very closely with the Head Teacher, the Governing Body is ultimately responsible for the curriculum delivery, the school’s finances, personnel matters and also maintaining the school premises. The Head Teacher, with her staff, is responsible for the planning, teaching and monitoring of the National Curriculum and the day-to-day running of the school. The Governors, Head Teacher and staff work in partnership to promote the aims of the school.