St Mary's Church of England Primary School Moston

We are very pleased to have this opportunity to inform you about the work and aspirations of our school. Our mission is to be a loving Christian community, where everyone is valued and successfully achieves their full potential.

A loving Christian community, where everyone is valued and successfully achieves their full potential, We aim to achieve this by;

• Creating a caring and well-ordered school where pupils, regardless of sex, race or disadvantage can learn and play in a happy, safe and secure environment. Ensuring our Staff and Volunteers are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children.
• Encouraging pupils to achieve the highest standards possible in all they do and to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural attitudes, values and beliefs based upon Christian ideals and standards and including a respect and understanding of other people's religions and cultures.
• Teaching a broad curriculum which meets the needs of all of our children. This includes the core and foundation subjects of the National curriculum together with Religious Education according to the Manchester Church of England Diocesan Syllabus and the Governors Health Education Syllabus.
• Helping children foster an enjoyment of the learning process and develop enquiring minds capable of independent thought and the ability to question and argue rationally and to apply themselves responsibly to tasks.
• Building links with both the Church and Local Community and creating a spirit of co-operation and support for all partners.

We can only succeed in all this by:

• Creating a close working relationship with parents and to recognise the importance of this relationship in achieving the highest quality education.
• As parents and carers we really need you to be part of our vision by supporting your school and your children through the work that we do and the challenges we will set the children.
• We believe in an open door policy. Please feel free to contact us at school if you have any concerns about your child or the school.
• We hope the time you and your children spend here as part of our school family will be a happy one.

At St Mary’s we aim to provide all our children with a rich and varied curriculum that enthuses and engages them. We believe children learn best when they enjoy what they are doing and are provided with memorable experiences. We seek to help all our children to experience success by providing appropriate challenges to prepare them well for their future lives. To enhance the children’s learning we supplement our teaching with out of school educational trips and visits as well as inviting expertise from outside of school, such as sports coaches and music professionals.

Our work as a school is based upon a strong foundation of Christian values, evident in the strength of the relationships that exist between all members of the school community. As a Church School we have a Christian outlook and ethos, which we continue to celebrate and develop. We trust you will encourage your child to take a full and active part in the joint initiatives of the School and Church. This is as much a part of a child's education as other subjects within the curriculum.

The governing body is made up of volunteers, some nominated by the diocese, the parochial church council, the Archdeacon of Rochdale, some elected by parents, the local authority, and members of the school staff. We meet as a full governing body once a term, and then there is a Finance Committee and a Curriculum Committee, which also meets once or twice a term, and a Pay and Appraisals Committee. Occasionally we will meet in smaller groups for a particular purpose, as needs arise.

All children are expected to extend their learning experiences at home. Working at home is of great value in completing and reinforcing work done in school and helps to establish the self-discipline of individual study.In the Nursery class English and Number tasks are sent home on a weekly basis.In the Reception class, work at home is focused on reading practise and word building, using a range of learning material to widen experience of different texts. In addition, additional English and Number tasks are sent home on a weekly basis.

All Infant and Junior classes are set homework tasks in Maths and English alongside reading practise and spelling lists. These tasks are to be completed in the children’s yellow homework books unless otherwise instructed. The children are also given a ‘homework grid’ at the beginning of each half term. These grids consist of a range of homework tasks connected to their topic. The children have the half term to choose at least two of the tasks, although there is an expectation that they work through them progressively over the weeks rather than leaving it until the final week.

The internet is a fantastic place overflowing with knowledge, games and communities of people, and, just like pupils across the country, the pupils here at St Mary's Primary School spend a great deal of time using the internet within school and at home. This is why it is important pupils at St Mary's, learn how to be safe when browsing online and becoming members of online communities.In school, children learn about E-Safety through a scheme of lessons. We also encourage parents/carers to talk to their children about how to behave safely when online, to ensure pupils remain safe when browsing at home.E-Safety does not just encompass Internet technologies but also electronic communications such as mobile phones.At home, sometimes children can be given unsupervised access to the internet. This, potentially, allows them to access all kinds of society (both good and bad) and bring them virtually into their homes.