Welcome to Collaton St Mary CE VA Primary School 2010
We are proud of our church school distinctiveness and the values that we promote that exemplify our school mission and aims. We place each child’s well-being and learning at the heart of all we do. We are committed to providing inspiring and meaningful learning experiences underpinned by core skills and a wide range of opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom so that our children grow to be successful learners, confident individuals and responsible citizens able to make a positive contribution to the world in which they live with all its opportunities and challenges.
As we look back to the beginning of the academic year, we are delighted that the children who joined our Reception Class in September have settled so well and are thriving with us. We were privileged to be invited to the Local Authority Early Years Transition Conference to share with others the arrangements in place to help each child make such a successful start to school life.
As the New Year begins we have much to celebrate from last term. One event in particular strengthened our global link with Peru when headteachers from the Cusco region of Peru visited Torbay and provided some invaluable learning experiences for our children. These included teaching a traditional Peruvian dance and helping the children to consider the role of Peruvian children in work that supports the family unit – very different from their own experience. As well as considering difference, the children were able to think about aspirations and values held in common helping them to recognize that whilst miles away from a very different culture, there exists bonds of common humanity. To raise funds for our partner school, some of our children along with Peruvian children contributed pictures to a calendar for 2010, reflecting different ways we travel to school. These were sold at our Christmas Fair raising £100!
We have spent the second half of the Autumn term reflecting, as a community, upon the values we place at the heart of our school giving it a distinctive character. Using the new Values web site www.christianvalues4schools.co.uk and exploring a range of values through the curriculum, worship and activities with parents, we have been able to identify the five values that our school community thinks are the most important. To find out more, take a look at our Learning Platform homepage.
We have continued to enjoy working in partnership with others this term; not only our Humanities Partnership with Churston Ferrers Grammar School that facilitated our Peruvian visit, but developing our sporting links with PCSC to enable us to offer enhanced opportunities including gymnastics, netball coaching and orienteering. We have continued to receive support from the Food for Life organisation as a flagship school and in particular have participated in Plant a Tree Week to introduce organic fruit trees to our grounds. We have begun to consider how we will develop our growing potential further so that all children have an opportunity to participate in this enriching activity. Through 2010, we aim to foster a national partnership with an inner-city flagship school to share our experiences and learn from each other’s contexts.
This term, we continue building our curriculum providing inspiring experiences for our children. Early Years and Key Stage One will be working on Science, Design and Technology theme entitled: ‘Wheels, Wings and Watery Things’ and the Key Stage Two theme entitled: ‘Race to the Summit’.
Penny Millington
January 2010