Welcome to

Holy Spirit Catholic &

Church of England Primary School

Welcome – we hope you enjoy finding out about our school!

I have the privilege and joy to be Headteacher of the Holy Spirit Catholic and Church of England Primary School. Our school offers a faith education based upon the Christian values of both Catholic and Anglican churches. We are very proud of our inclusive nature at Holy Spirit; our aim is to provide a happy school where children, families and colleagues feel welcome and valued.

We work closely with the Catholic Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes and the Anglican Parish of St.Chad’s. We are well supported by Father John Feeney and Rev. Aline Watts - they are active members of our community and regular visitors to our school.

We place a strong emphasis on making learning fun, and our children enjoy coming to school; all are loved and respected. We encourage children to take an active role in their development and provide a motivating curriculum which delivers learning through interesting topics and activities. We strive to raise aspirations, create successful learners and have high expectations of our everyone in our school.

We know our children and families well and work in partnership to help improve outcomes for our children. There are many opportunities throughout the year for families to become involved in school life and find out what their children are doing!

If you are interested in finding out more about Holy Spirit please come and visit us to experience what we have to offer you and your child ~ I am sure you won’t be disappointed!

Looking forward to meeting you soon,

Amanda Donelan

Headteacher

Mission Statement

The school team have written and adopted the following mission statement which is at the core of everything we do every day.

To teach and encourage the celebration of the Anglican and Catholic faith and thereby promote a good Christian Community, at the centre of which is the worship of God.

To develop and teach a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum, appropriate to the needs of the individual child and to acknowledge and develop fully each child’s potential within a caring environment.

To work towards each child’s realisation of self-esteem and to recognise the contributions which can be made by all children in the use of their individual talents and qualities.

To value the contribution of each staff member and encourage them to undertake training for their own development and the good of the school.

To foster an openness in communication and relationships within the school and community in the decision making process.

To forge links between home, school and parish and within the world wide community.

Faith in Achievement

“In the living love of Jesus, we try to love tenderly, act justly, walk humbly with God”

Partnership With Parents

It is important that parents and staff work together to ensure a

child’s development in school. Our school prides itself upon

being a warm, friendly place where families are valued and

welcomed. We have an open door policy and encourage families

to talk regularly with staff about any concerns or share news and

successes.

We are delighted to extend this partnership to our youngest members by opening the Holy

Spirit Playgroup; a voluntarily run play session for parents with children aged from birth to

pre-school. School staff often attend to meet up with families and get to know children

before they even enter school! We offer home visits for our youngest children as they

begin school and an induction that is individual to each child.

Once your child had started school, we organise two parent

evenings each year for families to discuss their children’s progress.

During these meetings parents and pupils will talk with the class

teacher and complete pupil reviews so that we work in partnership

to identify children’s strengths and areas for development or

further support. At the end of the school year a written report

summarises achievements and offers targets for children to work

towards.

The school has an active Parent Council, which is an open meeting for parents to meet with

school staff each term to find out what the school is working towards, voice their opinions

and make suggestions about how we can work together to make improvements. We work

hard to listen to families and be open and honest in all our responses. We also host an

annual open week when families can join in with their child’s class and find out what really

goes on in school!

We have developed a positive behaviour management system which recognises good

behaviour with praise, stickers, house points, certificates and activity time. If at any time a

child’s progress or behaviour causes concern, the school will work with the child’s family to

address the matter. Families are encouraged to assist in school with various activities and

outings. We hold a weekly Catholic Mass and an Anglican Eucharist as well as several

special occasions and events throughout the year which you are welcome to attend.

The Curriculum

Younger children’s needs are met through an active Early Years Foundation Stage

which provides supported, directed and independent tasks for children to learn.

Teaching and topics are fun, lively and engaging so that our children can develop

socially, emotionally and academically without even realising! Good use is made of

the outdoor area and children are encouraged to be creative problem solvers who are

motivated to try new things and curious about the world around them.

We have developed our own Curriculum to meet the needs of our KS1 (Infant) and KS2

(Junior) children. Our focus for younger children is to develop the core skills of

language, reading, writing, spelling and mathematics and foster a love of learning;

enabling them to become confident and resilient.

Learning is planned around topics to interest the chil-

dren and our core learning is evident in every les-

son—we even learn maths when we do P.E!

As children grow older we introduce more breadth into their learning; our focus

in Years 3 & 4 extends core learning and provides further knowledge of science,

history, geography, art & design, music and physical education. We use ICT to

make learning exciting and prepare children for the

ever changing world they are growing up in. The final Years 5 & 6 give our pupils the

opportunity to become more responsible for their learning; to aspire to high

expectations and ensure they are ready for secondary

school.

Every child is given targets to work towards and can talk

about what they have learnt and know their next steps.

We celebrate children’s learning in a termly assembly

when they tell the whole school what they have learnt. We believe that this

motivates children and encourages them to take responsibility for their learning. The

practical activities we provide enable young minds to develop problem solving and

creative thinking skills. We have invested in wireless networking and the

refurbishment of classrooms to enable active learning and the use of technology

to equip our children for their future.

Teachers continuously assess every individual so that pupils may achieve their full

potential. We are always seeking to challenge and interest our pupils and our

reflective practice ensures that the school is constantly moving forwards. Our

curriculum is further enhanced by educational visits and residential trips, visiting

theatre companies, artists and musicians and our strong links with local

secondary schools who offer specific subject teaching and opportunities to visit

and use their facilities and expertise.

Homework

Children benefit from linking their learning in school with what they do at home. This

may be sharing a reading book at home each day or completing Maths and English

tasks and activities appropriate for other curriculum areas. The frequency of these

tasks will depend on the year group involved and guidance is given as to expectations

and timings.

Extra-curricular Activities

Our school staff offer children a wide range of out-of-school

activities so that they may extend their skills and have fun outside

normal teaching hours. At present these activities include; seasonal

sport (hockey, netball, football, tennis), ICT club, choir, board games,

family church, craft and cookery. We run an after school activity

every day of the week!

We also have visiting music specialists available to teach a variety of

instruments and techniques. We have enjoyed many successes on

the sports field with several teams reaching county tournaments.

We work with local sports coaches and football academies to

provide our children with specialist input.

Staff recognise how much children gain from participating in

activities outside the classroom and endeavour to provide a broad

range of activities that foster team work and co-operation as well as

leadership skills. Older children are encouraged to participate in a

residential visit where they experience outward bound activities,

whilst younger children have the opportunity to participate in day

trips linked to the topic they are learning.

We believe that these sorts of events develop relationships amongst children and teaching

staff and are a positive enhancement of our curriculum.

Special Educational Needs

We consider every child to be unique and understand that each individual has their own

strengths. To ensure that we meet the needs of every pupil we identify those children who

may need more support in their learning. We then plan individual programmes of work

and provide specialist classroom assistance for children who may need additional help or

enrichment activities for those who are identified as gifted and talented.

The school is fortunate to have well qualified Teaching Assistants who work alongside

children in the classroom and also deliver specific programmes of support on a one to one

basis. We have invested in a Reading Recovery Teacher who is able to offer early

intervention to ensure that children have the best possible chance of accessing the

curriculum. We also have Higher Level Teaching Assistants who work with small groups of

children outside the classroom providing specialised teaching and learning experiences.

Our school has a focus for Speech and Language Therapy; we were the first primary school

to have been trained by therapists to deliver programmes in school which are then

assessed by therapists on school visits—none of our children attend clinic appointments as

all of their language support is delivered in school. We have shared this good practice with

other schools across Wirral.

Another strength is the support we provide for those children with English as an Additional

language and we have been identified by the local education Authority as a school of ex-

cellence for settling children who are new to the area and supporting their families.

Our main aim is that children feel happy, secure and loved in our school so that they can

achieve the very best outcomes. Our children flourish in our supportive, challenging

school.

Our Churches

We are a Voluntary Aided Catholic and Church of England Primary School under the direction

of the Catholic Diocese of Shrewsbury and the Anglican Diocese of Chester. This means that

our school has a commitment to fostering self worth and value amongst

everyone who passes through our door. We work hard to establish an

atmosphere of calm and understanding where our children feel secure and

cared for. We are an inclusive school and welcome children and families

from every faith. The school’s chair of governors is our priest, Father John

Feeney and he is supported by our vicar, Aline Watts who is vice chair.

Together they are involved in the daily lives of our children and their families.

We welcome families to join us for Collective Worship on Tuesday

mornings and both Parishes offer support to families in whatever way

they can. This ranges from charitable care and providing courses for

parents, to developing extended hours and flexibility to support the

needs of families. Children are offered preparation classes to for

communion and both members of the clergy are in school early on the

morning of their services should families wish to see them. Many of

our children choose to be baptised or receive First Holy Communion

within our school service and we are privileged to share this special

time with our families.

You can also contact Father John Feeney or Reverend Aline Watts via the school or at the

following e-mail addresses:

J.Feeney@zen.co.uk alinewatts@tiscali.co.uk

Caring for our Children

We consider ourselves to be a very caring school and take pride in how we care for our look af-

ter children. We have been awarded several commendations for our work including:

School Dinners & Healthy Eating

We are a healthy eating school. We teach children

about food and how to look after themselves and

encourage them to be active and healthy. Our school

meals are provided by Metro

and have a daily choice of

main meals accompanied by

a salad bar for children to

help themselves to. We

provide school milk and we

have water coolers in each

corridor. Our younger children receive a piece of fruit

every day and toast is available for every child to

purchase three times per week.

Rights Respecting School

We have been awarded with the NSPCC RRS award

for the work we do with children to help them

understand their rights and their responsibilities to

themselves, others and the wider world. This ethos

permeates throughout our school day.

ECO School

We are also an ECO school and children learn about

protecting their environment

and how to look after their

locality. We have a school

allotment and classes all have

the opportunity to grow their

own produce.

Rewarding Children

We focus on rewarding positive behaviour and have

regular opportunities to celebrate success. Children

are encouraged to behave well and try of their best

every day. If they succeed in doing so, they are

rewarded by participation in Golden Time

activities at the end of the afternoons.

We have a weekly whole school celebration assembly where we come together to recognise children’s

achievements. Individuals are rewarded for their effort, academic progress, their ability to care for others and

their contribution to the life of the school. Classes compete for the best attendance and House points are

totalled to find out which group has excelled themselves during the week. We expect high standards from the

children and feel that their efforts should be praised. We also reward children for good manners and playing

kindly by giving them a seat on the top table at lunchtime!

School Uniform

School uniform can be ordered from Tesco, either online or in any store or from the school shop

on Birkenhead market.

Boys wear navy or grey trousers or shorts

with a yellow or white polo shirt and navy

blue sweatshirt.

All sweatshirts and polo shirts are embroidered

with the school logo.

Girls wear navy or grey skirts or

pinafores with a yellow or white polo shirt

and navy blue sweatshirt or cardigan.

Yellow or blue summer dresses are worn in

warm weather.

PE Kit

Navy or black shorts and a yellow or white

embroidered T-shirt with black plimsoles or

trainers are worn for PE.

Kit bags can also be

purchased in school

colours.

Additional Items

Reading folders, caps and legionnaire hats

embroidered with the school logo can be

purchased. Also available are waterproof

fleece jackets and outer fleece jackets.

Children can purchase water bottles from

the school reception to be kept in their

classroom.

Please ensure that every item of clothing is clearly named

—we cannot be responsible for un-named property.

Additional Information

Please find the following documents enclosed:

School Admission Form

Earl Years Leaflet

OfSTED Report

Holiday Dates

School Organisation

2013—2014

Headteacher Mrs Amanda Donelan

Deputy Headteacher Mrs Joanne Cartmell

SENCO Mrs Anne Porter

Foundation Stage— F2 Miss Nikki Holmes Teacher

Mrs Ali Lakin & Miss Monique Liversidge Teaching Assistants

F1 Miss Joanne Dawson & Mrs Claire Holmes Teachers

Mrs Jackie Kelly Teaching Assistant

KS1

Year 1 Miss Clodagh O’Sullivan Teacher

Mrs Margaret Allman Teaching Asssitant

Year 2 Mrs Joanne Chapman-Roberts Teacher

Mrs Cath Pendleton Teaching Assistant

KS2

Year 3 Mrs Joanne Cartmell Teacher

Miss Sharon Bunnell Teaching Assistant

Years 4 Mr David Ravenscroft Teacher

Mrs Lisa Brandrick Teaching Assistant

Year 5 Mr Michael Duggan Teacher

Mrs Lianne Derbyshire Teaching Assistant

Years 6 Mrs Sandra Burrows Teacher

Family Liaison & PPA cover EYFS & KS1 Miss Sarah Head KS2 Mrs Therese Malley

Number on Role & Attendance

We are able to accept a maximum of 30 children into each year

group. Once children are of legal school age (from the

September following their fourth birthday) they must attend full

time school every day. We ask parents to telephone to report

absence and illness and children must be signed in and out of

school for medical appointments. Children must not take family

holidays during term time and permission for exceptional

circumstances must be sought from the Headteacher.

Contact Details

School Administrator : Miss Kate Roxburgh

School Business Manager : Mrs Elaine Hughes

Holy Spirit Catholic & C of E Primary School

Gardenside, Leasowe, Wirral, CH46 2RP

Tel: 0151 638 5180 Fax: 0151 6388700

E-mail:schooloffice@holyspirit.wirral.sch.uk

School Timings School opens 8.55am Morning Break 10.30—10.45

Lunch FS 11.30am KS1 11.45 am KS2 12.00pm

School Closes 3.30pm

Nursery Morning session: 8.55am —12pm Nursery Lunch Session: 12-12.30pm Nursery Afternoon Session: 12.30—3.30pm