St Chad's Roman Catholic Primary School

A Proud Catholic School. We seek to live out the values of Jesus Christ and promote these values by our words and deeds recognizing that every child is unique and is created in the image of God. Jesus told us to ‘Love one another as I have loved you’ and this reminds us every day to go the extra mile for the children within our care. We have a strong partnership with our parents and carers’, the parish and the Oratory of St. Chads.

St. Chad’s is a warm, friendly happy school where everyone treats each other with the utmost respect. We offer our children the opportunity to develop a closer relationship with God, as they grow in faith as unique young people.

Our dedicated team of teaching and support staff set high expectations of themselves and of the children.They work hard to provide a challenging curriculum that engages all pupils, stimulating their interests and joy of learning. Children are constantly aware of the importance of their parents and teachers working together. It gives them the security and confidence which they need if they are to develop good attitudes to learning, and to become part of the faith community.

The wonderful children at St. Chads positively embrace their learning and are continually striving to surpass their best. They have boundless energy and enthusiasm and an eagerness to learn new things and make progress.The primary years are very special ones and we assure you of our very best efforts to make our children’s years at St Chads School as happy, productive and memorable.

The DfE have recently reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

It is important to emphasise that British values as defined by the Government are already at the heart of a Catholic school through it’s adherence to Gospel Values. This is made clear in the document, ‘Christ at the Centre’ written and published initially by the Archdiocese of Birmingham and latterly adopted by the Bishops’ Conference for England and Wales for Catholic Education. This document states that ‘Gospel Values’ are best defined by the Beatitudes.Actively promoting these values means challenging pupils, staff or parents/carers who express opinions contrary to fundamental British values, including ‘extremist’ views.

At St Chad's we aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum that meets the needs of all pupils. Each area has specific goals called the Early Learning Goals which children are expected to achieve by the end of the Reception year.

We deliver the curriculum using the guidance document called Development Matters in the EYFS. This guidance provides development statements from Birth to 60+ months and it is our Long Term Plan. In the Nursery activities focus primarily on the 30 to 50 months development statements and in Reception the focus is on the 40 to 60 months development statements.

To ensure the children become independent readers we use the computer program "Accelerated Reader." The children select their book at their level and when finished they take a short quiz - passing the quiz is an indication that the child has understood the book. Since children are reading books at their own reading and interest levels, most children are likely to be successful and enjoy the books and quizzes. Best of all they learn and grow at their own pace.We encourage all children to read to an adult for 10 minutes a night and have their reading record signed for the next morning.

Here at St Chad's RC Primary School we have a fantastic connection with St Chad's Church. We enjoy celebrating events in the Christian calendar and consider it important to worship as a whole school. Not only do we visit and celebrate at Church but also at school! Father Chris and Brother Gerard make regular visits to us both for masses and to visit each class.Year 3 have a particular connection with St Chad's as they will be making their Holy Communion and have been making monthly visits to attend several mass'. Brother Gerard has been visiting Year 3 and helping then to understand their sacraments and teach them the important formalities of attending a mass.

Here at St Chads we are very lucky to have such a great team of governors who are dedicated to all aspects of the school. With regular meetings the governors take pride in ensuring the children receive the best possible education.

At Saint Chad's, we pride ourself on living our life with the 5WS at the core of everything we do, we hope that all visitors are welcome in our school and enjoy finding out more about our values.We have raised money for countless charities, including CAFOD and St Joseph's Penny which comes under the Caritas umbrella. Caritas are a big part of what we do and they even sponser our sports kit.

We often collect and give food to the Lally Centre and think of lots of creative ways to fund raise money. In the past these have included: sponsered danceathons, bake sales, own clothes days and St Joseph's penny collections.We aim to mirror Jesus and ensure we are Witnesses to our faith, we always try and stand up for what is right even when it may be a difficult thing to do.