In order to help pupils succeed, schools have a vital role to play in supporting pupils to be resilient and mentally healthy. At St. Mary’s we aim to support all our pupils effectively especially when children are struggling with particular problems.
A key to supporting children who are struggling with their mental health is to provide them with support from trained professionals. At St. Mary’s, our pastoral team will refer pupils and families to specialist mental health professionals however we also provide support to pupils through our trained teaching assistants.
A number of our team are trained in ‘ELSA’ (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants). These staff can offer help to children in understanding, identifying and managing their emotions so that they can become more emotionally resilient. We also have staff trained in ‘Emotion Coaching’ emotion coaching uses moments of heightened emotion and resulting behaviour to guide young people to use more effective responses to the challenges they face. The aim is, again, to help children become more resilient emotionally. We also have teaching assistants trained in nurture groups who support children in developing positive relationships with others.
The whole school staff have also been trained in understanding adverse childhood experiences (ACES) and the impact they have on a child’s development as well as trauma informed practices through Trauma Informed Schools UK. This training equips staff to understand and identify emerging mental health problems and to provide interventions to help children cope.
Trailblazers Programme
We are pleased that we have been given the opportunity to take part in the national Trailblazers Programme to make mental health support for children and young people more accessible. This will give us the opportunity to work with the NHS in Gloucestershire to introduce mental health teams into school.
These teams will assist us to provide valuable support to our pupils to help them with life's ups and downs. This may involve group or/and individual work either at school or elsewhere. It will also provide support for parents and teachers helping young people experiencing difficulties.
Positive mental health and well-being is a priority for many as we work our way through the after effects of the pandemic and at St. Mary’s we are continue to ensure that whilst we focus on enabling our pupils to catch up with any missed learning, we also keep them mentally healthy.
Welcome to St Mary’s Primary School’s Virtual Library!
Feel free to browse around and choose any book to read or listen to. All you have to do is click on the book cover and it will direct you to the website. Most of the books shown support the children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) but the last bookcase has a selection of other stories to share. We will keep adding to our library so keep visiting! Enjoy!
At St Mary's we care for our enviornment and are working hard towards becoming a single-use plastic free school.
This will be a long term journey but we have already made many changes:
- Pupils and staff have refillable water bottles.
- We have made a conscious decision not to use glitter and to reduce the amount of laminating we do.
- Michael Hope, our uniform supplier, no supplies uniform in recyclable packaging.
- The PTFA no longer use cellophane wrapping at the Christmas Fayre. They also use environmentally friendly glitter, sell sweets in paper bags and will be swapping glow-sticks for minimal waste activities such as neon facepaint.
-
Throughout the school we recycle cardboard, paper, plastic bottles and tins, food waste (from the kitchen, staffroom and classrooms) and printer cartridges.
- We have a clothes recycling bank which Tetbury residents can use to recycle clothing and also raise funds for the school.
- Children are learning about the impact of plastic in lessons. Last year one of the Year 4 topic
s was Eco Warriors and we ran an extra curricular Ecobrick club. - Year 2 completed a litter pick and talked about it to the whole school in Service.
- Yoghurt, at lunchtime and Breakfast Club, is served from from one large container rather than individual pots.
- Caterlink (who provide our hot school lunches) have stopped using clingfilm.
- We have a recycling bin in the foyer for staff, children and parents to recycle used ink cartridges.
- We are working with the Greening Tetbury group.
- We have signed up to Surfers against Sewage Plastic Free Schools scheme - more information to follow.
- Cleaning products and liquid soaps are purchased in large containers and decanted into spray bottles/soap dispensers.
What we want to do:
- Work with Caterlink to reduce the amount of plastic used when our food supplies are delivered.
-
The PTFA are researching fun and cost effective replacement to glows sticks and will also provide recycling bins for all plastic sweet wrappers and drinks bottles.
-
Continue our discussions with the Schools Fruit and Vegetable scheme to encourage them to reduce the amount of plastic when packaging and delivering the fruit and vegetables.
- Work with parents to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in lunch boxes.
Our 3Cs, CARING, CURIOUS and COURAGEOUS, are at the centre of everything we do at St Mary's CofE VA Primary School.
They are the heart of our Collective Worship...
Collective Worship is an important part of our community life at St Mary's when children and staff look forward to sharing that time together.
Monday to Thursday the worships are led by member of the Senior Leadership Team, St Marys' Church and Open The Book.
On Friday, Collective Worship a celebration of our learning and talents given to us by God.
Below is our school prayer which was written by our Collective Worship team. The children say this prayer regularly in Collective Worship.
Atlas Camps, a local, Ofsted registered childcare provider, will run a children's holiday club at St Mary's every school holiday.
The club will run daily during each school holiday, between the hours of 8am and 5pm, for children aged 4 to 14.
Atlas Camps tailor their clubs to suit all interests, abilities and ages. Children are offered a huge variety of activities to choose from daily, ranging from; arts and crafts, dodgeball and talent shows, to Tag Rugby, short story competitions and face painting; among many others.
Atlas Camps allow children choose exactly what they want to do, with different sport, craft and play activities running at any given time throughout the day, ensuring children can do whatever takes their fancy. If they just want to sit quietly or 'chill out' that's fine too.
Childcare vouchers from all major providers are accepted as payment for bookings.
To book your place or for more information, please visit:
Alternatively email them via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call the Atlas team on 0800 772 0743.
Details of maths at St Mary's to be posted here soon.
Forest School is part of our curriculum and takes place within our very own woodland/pond area towards the rear of the school field. It runs on Fridays throughout the year and aims to provide all children within the school with the opportunity to experience outdoor learning within a familiar location. 
It will encourage children to take control of their own learning through small achievable tasks.
Forest School is part of our Curriculum and takes place within our very own woodland/pond area towards the rear of the school field and runs on Fridays throughout the school year.
EYFS and Key Stage One classes will take part in Forest School for two six week blocks each academic year. Key Stage Two classes will take part in one six week Forest School block each academic year.
All Forest School sessions are led by a qualified Forest School Leader (Level 3). Forest School sessions are fully risk assessed and follow our policies and procedures.
The types of activities which may be included at Forest School includes:
·Digging
·Exploring
·Treasure Hunts
·Orienteering
·Map Making
·Iverterate Hunting
·Den Building
·Mud Painting
·Digging
·Fire Making
·Cooking on Fires
·Tree Climbing
We have also invited the local pre-schools and nurserys to share in our Forest School activites. The children enjoyed sharing the story Stanley's Stick before using their own sticks to write in the mud, make crowns and even for cooking. They particularly enjoyed making damper bread and toasting marshmallows over the campfire!
Names are really important. And understanding ours helps us understand how we relate to our local church and our town.
Our church is the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin (the mother of Jesus) and St Mary Magdalene. It may surprise you but each of these first-century characters are relevant to our school in the twenty-first!
Mary the Virgin represents parenthood
Children spend a considerable amount of their formative years in the care of Primary teachers, who become significant role models and authority figures. That's a responsibility we take very seriously, and we know that teacher can be a vital anchor-point in a child's life.
In the same way, a school as an organisation has the same 'parental' role within a community. It is much more than a childcare service - it actually brings a foundation and stability to a neighbourhood and town, impacting and influencing lives on a daily basis. With a school at its centre, the community enriched.
Mary Magdalene represents leadership and servanthood
Mary Magdalene occupied a central role amongst the women who travelled with Jesus, was present at key moments in his life and active in the early church. Augustine referred to her as the 'Apostle of Apostles' and in the Gospels she appears first in lists of names, indicating her status. She both served Jesus and had a leadership role amongst his followers.
Like Magdalene, a school provides both service to and a leadership role within its community. The New Testament presents these qualities as one and the same - Jesus said that 'If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.' (Mark 9 v35)
This kind of leadership is not always visible but is always powerful. To lead from a place of humility requires considerable inner security and can only be achieved from a position of strength.
Working with children is is often taken for granted and not always valued. Yet by quietly, consistently and uncompromisingly forming the next generation, a school is actually writing its community's future, taking it forward by 'leading from behind'.
At St Mary's we want our staff to be aware of their worth, and of the power of their position within society.
There are three qualities we want our school family to be known for (and that includes not just the pupils, but the parents, staff and leaders too!). They are:
Care for one another
...so all are welcome in our school and no-one is invisible
Curiosity
...to ask why and how things happen - and keep asking!
The Courage to Aspire
...because we want to produce more than dreamers. We want to produce do-ers of dreams.
Our Values
St Mary's is a Voluntary Aided, Church of England School. That means we teach children about core Christian values and these values underpin everything we do.
The school has five core Christian Values:
Respect, Responsibility, Creativity, Perseverance and Friendship.
These guide us in our behaviour towards each other and influence the decisions that we make.
Our school name also has meaning to us. Find out what it is!
Statement on British Values
Schools are required to ensure that the fundamental 'British Values' of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs are promoted within the school community.
