Did you know?

The designated catchment area of Woodborough C of E School is Alton Barnes, Alton Priors, Beechingstoke, Bottlesford, Hilcott, Honeystreet, Manningford, North Newnton, Stanton St Bernard and Woodborough, although pupils may be admitted from outside our designated area until our Published Admission Number (PAN) is reached.

Your application must be made through the Local Authority. You should complete the application form for a primary school place which is available online by clicking here. Paper forms are also available from pre-schools and the school office.

Children are aged between 4 and 11 years.

There are currently 168 pupils on roll.

We have a pupil admission number of 30 pupils per year group throughout the school.

We have seven classes where pupils are taught in their individual year groups.

Reception is final year of the Foundation Stage of education, Key Stage 1 is for Year 1 and Year 2 classes (5-6 yr olds) and Key Stage 2 is Years 3 to 6 (7-11 yr olds). By class, Reception is Oak, Key Stage 1 is Sycamore and Maple, Key Stage 2 is Cherry, Elm, Lime and Willow.

School starts with registration at 9.00 am and ends at 3.15pm. Morning break is between 11.00 am and 11.15 am and lunch time is between 12.15 pm and 1.15 pm.

We have 6 terms per year from the beginning of September to the end of July. Exact dates for each year are published on the school calendar.

Church schools are distinctive in their Collective Worship and RE, their ethos and the ways in which their Christian values are outworked in the daily life of the school. At Woodborough School prayers are said twice each day – before lunch and during our daily act of Collective Worship and the Christian ethos of the school is conveyed throughout the curriculum. Whilst religious education covers other faiths it gives particular weight to the Christian faith as held by the Church of England.

School specific uniform such as polo shirts, sweatshirts, cardigans, PE t-shirts, book bags and sports bags are available from Price & Buckland Ltd & OHM Clothing in Devizes, with limited items still available from the school office. The PTA organises second hand uniform sales and dates are advertised. Any other items of uniform can be purchased from any uniform retailer.

Homework is set to compliment and reinforce learning in the classroom. The amount and frequency is dependent on the year group but is clearly outlined in class newsletters at the start of term. Reading a minimum of 3 times a week at home with an adult is strongly encouraged throughout your child’s time at the school.

A House Point system operates across the school. Each child is allocated to a House: Mars (red), Jupiter (green), Mercury (yellow) or Venus (blue). On a daily basis, though good behaviour and achievement, the children are awarded ‘house points’ and, at larger events such as Sports Day, they step out of their usual year groups and join together under their house name and colour to work for the benefit of all ‘house mates’. The houses encourage all age groups to work together and are a source of great pride to the children. Go here for the houses.

Our school rules are displayed prominently around our school and in every classroom. Teachers regularly discuss the importance of the Golden Rules and help the children to understand how keeping them is of benefit for everyone.

Our Golden Rules are:

Be gentle and behave safely.

Be kind, helpful and thoughtful.

Work hard and try your best to do your best.

Look after property.

Listen to people.

Be honest and respectful.

Be well mannered.

Golden Time is a celebration of pupils’ ability to keep to the Golden Rules. Golden Time is a weekly timetabled slot of thirty minutes on a Friday morning. Each child begins each week with all Golden Time intact. A child who makes a choice to break a Golden Rule will lose Golden Time. More details of how rewards and sanctions operate across the school can be found in our ‘Ethos, Behaviour and Discipline Policy’.

Each child has their own Success Card in the colour of their House. Success Cards display a reminder of the Golden Rules, pupil targets and any Success Stamps collected by the child.

Success Stamps are awarded, by teaching staff, to:

pupils who have read at least three times each week to an adult at home (checked by counting the signatures in pupils’ Reading Record Books or Homework Diaries)

pupils who consistently achieve full marks in their weekly spelling tests

pupils who have made an extra special effort with their work / behaviour

When pupils complete rows of their Success Cards (every row at Key Stage 1 and every two rows at Key Stage 2) their names are entered in the Golden Book and they receive recognition by means of a Golden Certificate in our Friday afternoon School Meeting.

School Meetings take place on Friday afternoon’s. Parents are invited to attend to see presentations of certificates and work from the children. Children can also bring in trophies or certificates gained with outside groups. Check the calendar for dates of this year’s School Meetings.

SATs are national tests that children currently sit twice during their time at primary school – once at the end of Key Stage 1 (Year 2) and again at the end of Key Stage 2 (Year 6). Key Stage 1 tests in reading, writing (including handwriting and spelling) and maths are completed through teacher-assessment. At the end of term, your child will be given a ‘level’ for reading, writing, maths and science. Most seven year-olds would be expected to achieve level 2 across all subjects. Key Stage 2 tests are more formal: done on a set day and (mainly) marked externally. There are papers in English (reading comprehension, spelling and writing, including handwriting) and maths (including mental arithmetic). Science is teacher-assessed. At the end of term, your child will be given a ‘level’ for reading, writing, maths and science. Most eleven year-olds would be expected to achieve level 4 across all subjects.

The Governing Body’s role includes providing leadership and direction for the school, monitoring and evaluating the work of the school, offering support, constructive advice, a sounding board for ideas and initiatives, and help where needed. This also includes challenging and asking questions of the head teacher.

The School Governors are made up of volunteers from the community. There are Foundation Governors who represent the parishes served by the school, Parent Governors who are elected by the parent/carer body for a term of 4 years, Local Authority Governor nominated by the Local Authority and Staff Governors (including the Head Teacher) elected by the staff body. Go here for the Governors’ page.

The PTA aims to support the school in the following ways…

Encourage awareness of/participation in school activities

Encourage co-operation between home and school

Provide an opportunity for members to meet socially

Provide financial support through fund-raising activities

To agree, in consultation with the school, appropriate spending priorities for monies raised

The parents/guardians of every child in the school automatically become members of the PTA and are welcome to its meetings and functions. Go here for the PTA page.

The School Council is a group of pupils who are elected to represent the views of all pupils and to improve their school. They work with our local cluster group of schools on different projects and meet regularly to share information and ideas. They fund-raise for a variety of causes and have been involved with local and international issues as they arise.

Pupils from Year 6 make up the Executive Committee of the School Council and are elected by the whole school at the beginning of each academic year. They hold the positions of Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Class Representatives are elected by their own classes at the start of the autumn, spring and summer terms. They attend fortnightly School Council meetings and share news and views from their interim class council meetings.

ECO Squad is made up of pupils from across the school who demonstrate a keen interest in environmental issues. They are responsible for and oversee tasks that make our school and community more eco-friendly.

Through the work of our ECO Squad we have now successfully gained our Bronze, Silver and Green Flag Awards from Eco-Schools, an international accreditation programme that encourages schools to embed principles of sustainability into the heart of school life.

If you have a concern then we will listen. In all matters we will try to resolve your concern as quickly as possible. Full details of our complaints procedure and policy can be downloaded here.

Due to recent Government amendments to DfE regulations regarding absence requests from parents, Headteachers are no longer permitted to authorise any leave or absence from school unless the circumstances are ‘exceptional’ relating to a ‘one off’ isolated situation. Documentation about absence from school during term time can be viewed here. In all circumstances of leave of absence, a written application (‘Absence Request Form’) must be made by the parent with whom the pupil normally resides in advance of the holiday being booked and taken.

All parents should park at the Woodborough Social Club in Smithy Lane when bringing or collecting their children from school. There is a safe field path leading from the car park to the school with a staffed crossing point on the main road. A yearly charge of £30 is paid for a parking permit and covers up to 3 vehicles. We ask parents not to park on the approach roads to the school as these become congested, dangerous for pedestrians and cause inconvenience to the residents of nearby houses.

Application forms for bus passes are available here.

We actively encourage green methods of travel to and from school. Bikes can be stored safely on school premises in the bike rack. Year 6 children complete ‘Bikeability’ training and can then cycle on their own. We ask you to accompany your child if they have not had this training.

High visibility vests are provided for all pupils on a ‘permanent loan’ basis. All children are encouraged to wear them on journeys to and from school, as well as any off site visits.

School trips are the opportunity for additional enrichment of the curriculum experience for the children. The school receives no funding to provide these trips and so without parental contributions they could not take place.

A hot school meal is available daily at a cost of £2.30. A menu giving a choice of lunches is available by clicking here, or at the download page. Find more information about school meals here.

Children may bring a packed lunch to school in a suitable container. Items containing nuts are not permitted in school, to protect children who have allergies. On arrival at school, children should put their lunchboxes on the appropriate trolley (Key Stage 1 or Key Stage 2) situated in the circulation area by the school hall. Trolleys are wheeled into the school hall at lunchtime and children can collect their lunchboxes at the start of their lunch sitting.

Milk is provided free of charge by the Government to children up to the age of 5 and you should register with coolmilk.com. You also have the opportunity to pay for your child over the age of 5 to have milk daily via this website.

https://woodboroughschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Woodborough-Breakfast-Club-Term-1-2021-22.pdf

Any physical injury is entered into the school Accident Book which is held in the school office. Parents are notified of their child’s injury or illness by telephone in the event of an injury or illness that has distressed the child to such an extent that the child wishes to go home or it is deemed advisable that the child should rest for the remainder of the day.

In order to comply with Local Authority guidelines on administering medications we adhere to strict procedures in school. Please refer to the ‘Medication for Pupils’ letter which is available to download here.