Frodsham Church of England Primary School
Dear Parents,
Welcome to Frodsham Church of England Primary School. We consider our popular school to be a very special place where children develop a love of learning and grow into confident, enthusiastic young people. Our last Ofsted inspection in February 2020 judged the school to be good. We were particularly proud that the inspectors found the behaviour and attitudes and personal development of our children were outstanding. We were delighted that our last Church School (SIAMS) inspection (October 2017) continued to judge the school as outstanding.
Frodsham CE Primary is a very happy school and children and staff enjoy working in the friendly and caring atmosphere that the school generates. We are proud of the inclusive nature of our school where every child is valued as an individual and recognised for their unique talents and gifts. We aim to make everyone's time at Frodsham CE Primary an enjoyable and rewarding experience full of happy memories. Every child is provided with the opportunity to develop academically, creatively, socially, spiritually and physically, including a sense of responsibility for themselves and others.
This prospectus is intended to give you a taste of just what it means to be a member of our school family. Further information is also available on our website.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us, if you require any further information.
Mrs L Kirby
Headteacher
Our Mission and Aims
Love each other, as God loves us. John 12:15
At Frodsham CE Primary School we endeavour to:
• Create a warm and welcoming ethos centred on shared Christian values.
• Develop happy, confident and resilient children who show respect for themselves and others, and make a positive contribution to their community.
• Make learning fun inside and outside of the classroom by providing a broad range of exciting and rich learning experiences which challenge and motivate all children.
• Recognise every child is unique, meet their individual needs and celebrate their achievements.
• Encourage all to be the best they can be.
Our core Christian values are:
Love
Respect
Kindness
Community
Faith
Resilience
‘Children thrive in this caring and nurturing school.’ Ofsted 2020
Being a Church School
We are proud to be a Church of England School and believe this is what makes our school distinctive and our ethos so special.
Jesus is at the very heart of all that we do and both children and adults follow in his footsteps to live out the Christian values of love, compassion, respect, peace and forgiveness. We welcome families, whatever their beliefs, or non faith, as part of our school family.
We have very strong links with St Laurence Church and Reverend Elaine Atack is a familiar face at school. We welcome members of the parish who volunteer in school and we regularly visit church as part of worship or our RE lessons. We celebrate all Christian festivals throughout the year as well as regular Eucharist services in school and at church.
In addition to our links with St Laurence Church , we also have international links with our partner school in the Solomon Islands. As a school we have been delighted to welcome visitors from St Francis Vaturanga School and have enjoyed sharing and learning about each other's faith and cultures within worship.
Within our RE lessons, we learn about the Christian faith as well as Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam and Humanism, visiting their place of worship. We develop the children’s respect and tolerance of other cultures and religions through the many opportunities for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.
Our school was judged outstanding in our last SIAMS inspection. One recognised strength was: ‘Behaviour is of the highest standard because Christian values are deeply embedded and followed by all pupils. They have a significant impact on achievement in that all children are striving to do their best. Christian values contribute to an atmosphere for learning in which the potential of everyone is fostered.’ October 2017
Teaching and Learning
Curriculum
We believe our fantastic children deserve the most exciting and engaging learning experiences that will develop their skills to become independent learners. Teachers carefully plan activities that will challenge children and wherever possible we encourage children to direct their own learning through questioning and deeper thinking.
At Frodsham CE we are incredibly lucky to have such extensive grounds which include a woodland area, a pond, a bird hide, allotments and an outdoor classroom.
Teachers endeavour to utilise these to inspire the children’s natural curiosity when exploring and learning about the world around us including regular forest school for all classes.
Behaviour
Behaviour in our school is outstanding. The children are keen and highly motivated to learn. They are thoughtful and caring towards each other and describe our school as ‘one big family’. They feel safe and listened to and we are fortunate that any incidents of bullying are rare. Bullying of any kind is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in our school.
The children devised the following rules:
· Be a friend.
· Show respect.
· Always try your best.
‘Teachers manage pupils’ behaviour well. Pupils’ learning is not disrupted. Pupils concentrate and work well together. Their behaviour is exemplary.’ Ofsted 2020
Attainment
In our school, children consistently achieve high standards with many performing above age related expectations. We strive to ensure all children make excellent progress across the curriculum. Attainment at the end of each stage is consistently above national standards.
Our staff are committed and dedicated to meeting the needs of all pupils, whatever those needs may be. We are lucky to have a healthy budget and recognise the importance of investing in additional support to help all children achieve. We identify children who are more able and ensure they are provided with appropriate challenge and enrichment, appointing specialist teachers when needed. We are well staffed with experienced and highly qualified Teaching Assistants who regularly work alongside children who may need extra support and intervention. Children with special educational needs and disabilities achieve well: ‘These pupils receive high-quality support. Teachers adapt the curriculum to meet their different needs .’ Ofsted 2020 Supporting children with their mental health and wellbeing is a priority and we also have 3 Emotional Learning Support Assistants and a dedicated ELSA room.
Sport
We are so proud that our dedication and commitment to sport has been acknowledged through our achievement of the PLATINUM School Games Mark. This reflects the wide range of sports pupils participate in including at an inter school competitive level.
Previous achievements have included achieving gold medals in local tournaments for football, girls’ football, cross country, sportshall athletics, volleyball, cricket, gymnastics, hockey and netball with many teams going on to compete at the District and Cheshire School Games Finals.
Enrichment Opportunities
Residentials and Trips
Each term children have the opportunity to attend an exciting school trip and we have three residential visits: Y2, Y4 and Y6. We recognise children are motivated by hands on, practical learning experiences that enrich the curriculum. It is a joy to observe children grow in confidence and self esteem as they face new challenges and discover new experiences.
On our trips, we are always so proud to receive such positive comments about the behaviour and manners of our children and these visits are always the highlight of the year for the children.
Opportunities to Shine
We love to perform throughout the year at Frodsham CE and there are regular opportunities for all children to shine. We especially enjoy performing at the community events we are invited to. We have specialist music teachers teaching a wide range of instrumental lessons. All children in Y5 learn a stringed instrument for a year. Many children from Y2 upwards learn an instrument whether it is guitar, violin, ukulele, keyboard or a woodwind or brass instrument or singing. Our Christmas and end of year performances are a real highlight, especially performances by our wonderful choir.
We have high expectations for our children and encourage all of them to embrace responsibility. Their favourite role is being a ‘Big Buddy’ in Year 6 to our new Reception children where they demonstrate just how kind and helpful they are to others.
Other roles include being elected onto our School Council to be the voice of the pupils and work alongside staff and governors to make improvements to our school. An ethos group focus on the school’s Christian values and making a difference to our community. Also, to ensure children have active, happy playtimes, we have a Sports Crew who organise games. We also have very dedicated Safety and ECO Officers.
Enrichment Opportunities
After School Clubs
A real strength of the school is the wide range of after school clubs we offer, either provided free of charge by staff or at a cost by external providers. Over the year, children have the opportunity to take part in fencing, hockey, tag rugby, volleyball, gymnastics, multi skills, netball, tennis, dynamo cricket, golf, badminton, running, athletics, or football or more creative clubs such as street dance, drama, Lego, art and craft, choir, as well as Mad Science, Digital Wizards, computing, baking, homework, chess. We receive much positive feedback from children and parents about our after school clubs. ‘The amount of after school clubs is impressive and I want to thank the teachers for their time running these clubs.’ ‘Extra-curricular clubs are outstanding! Huge thank you to staff for this!’ (Parents’ annual questionnaire comments)
Kids Activity World
Our popular and well attended out of school club provides wrap around care during term time and the school holidays. The club is for children from the age of 4 years, until Year 6. The aim of the club is to provide affordable high quality care that is enjoyable for the children and easily accessible for parents. Staff motivate children through free play and fun activities, which contribute towards a child’s overall development.
Open from 7.30 - 9.00am and 3.00 - 6.00pm term time and 7.30am - 6.00pm holiday time.
Our Community
Parents
We love to support our local community and get involved in as many Frodsham events as possible such as the Christmas Festival and Remembrance Day as well as exciting events further afield like the Cheshire Show and Young Voices. As well as having strong links with our Parish, we have friends at Frodsham British Legion and Frodsham Foodbank who we regularly support. The children are always keen to raise money for a number of charities especially those which mean a lot to our school family.
From the very beginning, we want to work in partnership with you, involving you in your child’s education as much as possible.
We recognise good communication between home and school is vital and we have a number of ways we share information with parents including our website, Twitter, fortnightly newsletter, text messages and playground notice board which is updated weekly with events. We hold two Parents’ Evenings a year and provide a detailed end of year report but throughout the year our staff are keen to meet with parents as and when needed. Feedback from parents say “staff are caring, friendly and approachable.”
We welcome parents to come in and volunteer in school whether it is listening to readers, accompanying trips, helping with art and design technology activities or sharing their talents in lessons or after school clubs.
Our successful and hard working PTA raise funds to provide extra equipment and resources for school as well as the little extras which the children really appreciate. We also like to hold events which are just for fun and an opportunity for our school family to come together and socialise.
The PTA is always keen to welcome new members.
Our Classes and Staff
Class
Teacher(s) Teaching Assistants
Headteacher Mrs L Kirby
Nursery Mrs L Rogerson
Year R
Mrs N Evans
Year 1 Miss S Riddiough
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Mr Z Coates
Miss J Kelly
Mrs H Griffiths and Mrs Palfreyman
Mrs S Parkin
Year 6 Miss B Cartwright
Sports Coach Mrs R Williams
Lunchtime
Mrs Rowlands
Mrs Ryder
Mrs Hunt– Chambers
Ms Osborne
Mrs Kavanagh
Mrs Arnold
Mrs Richards
Mrs Gardiner
Mrs Fray
Miss Forster
Mrs Barlow
Mrs Davies
Mrs Hargadon
Mr Keelan
Mrs McIntyre Homes
Ms Frood
Ms Hawitt
Mrs H Griffiths is our Deputy Head Teacher/ SENCO
Mrs H Kaur School Business Manager
Mrs V Singer is our Admin Officer
Mr P Higginbotham is our Site Maintenance Officer
A Final Word
What our Y6 children say:
“It’s a really nice school: lots of kind children, amazing teachers and it’s welcoming.” Evie
“You can participate in lots of fun activities, learning and you get lunch!” George
“There’s lots of kind people; the teachers are nice and you make a lot of friends.” Robert
“It’s a wonderful school and I would prefer to be nowhere else and I just want to stay here for the rest of my life.” Bella
From one of our parents:
“My children have always enjoyed coming into school here - which I think is the most reassuring sign for any parent! They’ve also made fantastic progress academically, had some amazing extra curricular experiences and formed lots of friendships along the way. They have both really benefited from the buddy system they have here too. The teachers are very approachable and really care about them. I really couldn’t have asked for a better primary school for my children and can’t recommend it highly enough.”
In our July 2024 Parent Questionnaire, 100% of parents said their child was happy at Frodsham CE and 100% said they would recommend the school to another parent.
