Vision and Aims

Vision

We believe that all children are a gift from God. That they are all special and should be allowed to develop and grow in a nurturing environment secure in the knowledge that they are cherished.

That all children will leave the school with special memories and having achieved personal success, whilst being equipped to take their next steps in the journey of life.

Our Aims are:

To challenge all children to reach their full potential, spiritually, intellectually, physically, creatively and socially.

To develop relationships where we all respect one another’s beliefs, differences and ways of life, recognising each other as unique individuals.

To enable children to develop high self-esteem, encourage independence.

To enable children to take a responsible part in their own learning and become self-motivated to attain their goals.

To make our school a welcoming community for all, where families are encouraged to participate in school activities and in their children’s education.

To provide a balanced curriculum that is stimulating, creative and of the highest quality; that is delivered by a committed team who ensure that learning is an enjoyable experience for all.

That our Christian beliefs and values inform everything we do and achieve.

To encourage children within an ethos of trust to reflect on their own values and faith in a supportive environment.

Uniforms

We have School uniform for collective smartness, to develop a sense of pride in belonging to St Francis school. The uniform is designed to be practical and suitable for the children's working day in school. We hope that parents will support our policy.

All items of clothing must be labelled with your child's name. For safety reasons, jewellery must not be worn to school at all. While small, plain, stud type earrrings are acceptable, they must be removed for any physical activity.

Girls- Navy blue sweatshirt or cardigan with the School Logo;White blouse or white short-sleeved 'aertex' shirt with the School Logo; Charcoal grey skirt or trousers in winter;White socks or grey tights;Sensible, low-heeled black shoes; Summer option- navy white checked dress

Boys- Dark navy sweatshirt with the school logo;White shirt or white short sleeved 'aertax' type shirt with School logo; Grey trousers or shorts;Grey Socks;Sensible, low heeled black shoes

During the summer children are encouraged to wear caps whilst outside on the playground. Caps that match our school uniform can be purchased from the 'National School Wear Centre'. The store also sells 'legionnaire type caps', to maximise protection from the sun.

Physical Education

Each child is placed in a house and they wear their specific house colour T shirt. We have three houses: Longleat (yellow), Bowood (red), Lydiard (green)

All items must be labelled with your child's name and kept in a drawstring bag that can be hung on your child's cloakroom peg.

Indoor P.E Lessons- T shirt, plain with short sleeves, clour according to house colours. Shorts, plain black. Children are barefooted for indoor P.E unless medical conditions prevent it. Parents need to inform the class teacher if this is the case.

Outdoor P.E Lessons- T shirt and shorts as above. Change of socks. Option- long socks for winter sports, trainer or plimsolls, football and/or hockey boots and shin pads for junior pupils, football and or hockey shirt for junior pupils, tracksuits or similar for cold weather

School uniform with the school logo is available from the 'National School Wear Centre' which is based in The Arcade, Brunel Plaza, Swindon. Telephone:01793 520843

Admissions Policy for September 2008

Rationale

The Admissions Policy has been created to reflect the Christian foundation and the community focus of the school. The Governors wish to offer Christian service in education, and offer places to children who regularly attend worship and who live in the parish, also to children living close to the school according to the order of criteria below and within current government legislation or National guidelines.

Criteria

The following criteria will be applied in the numerical order in which they appear below, should the number of applicants in any year group exceed the number of places available, having first deducted from the admission number of 30 children those with a statement of special educational needs that names the school.

If the school is over-subscribed in any of the categories below, priority for admission will be established in accordance with Swindon Authorities' over subscription criteria i.e. 'priority given to those closest to the school measured as a straight line between the centre point of the rooftop of the home address to the centre point of the rooftop of the school.'

Parents should seek guidance from the Local Authority if applying under criteria 2.

1. Looked after children, as defined in Section 22 of the Children Act 1989.
2. Where there are medical or psychological requirements and the Locl Authorities' professional advisers recommend placement on the basis of written evidence provided by the appropriate medical authority.
3. Siblings(1) of pupils already attending the school at the time the applicant is due to start.
4. 50% of the remaining places (rounded up to the nearest whole space) will be allocated to children who live within the parish of St Andrew North Swindon, or adjacent Anglican parishes, and are at the heart(2) of a church that is a member of Swindon Churches Together. A letter will be required from the applicant that explains their commitment and is countersigned by the minister of their church. This letter is to be submitted at the same time as the application.
5. The remaining spaces will be allocated to children from the local community, with priority given to those closest to the school as in the over-subscription criteria above.

If the school is under-subscribed in category 4 then extra spaces will be given to children fulfilling category 5. If over-subscribed in category 4 then those children remaining without spaces will be considered within category 5.

Definitions

1.Sibling as defined in Swindon Authorities' admissions guide i.e brothers or sisters, biological and adopted and also includes children living as siblings in the same family unit.

2. The definition of 'at the heart of the Church' is covered in point 16 of the National Society's guidelines: An applicant 'at the heart of the church' would be a regular worshipeer. We suggest that this might normally mean one who worships usually twice a month over a period of at least 2 years prior to the dealine of receipt of applications. To accommodate difficult patterns of work and family relationships account should be taken of week-day worship. The 'applicant worshipper' could be the child for whom application is mde or one or both parents.'

Casual Admissions

The above criteria will be applied if casual vacancies arise during the school year and there are more applicants than places.

Approved by the Governing Body: January 2007

 School Prospectus