St John XXIII Catholic Primary School

“We aim for Excellence with God at the Centre of all that we think, do and say “

Pope John RC Primary School is a popular, oversubscribed one form entry Catholic primary School. It is a vibrant school in a diverse and multicultural area of West London. The school caters for local catholic families from the parishes of Our Lady of Fatima, White City and St Aidan’s, East Acton. The Catholic ethos, which is stated in our mission statement, is reflected in all areas of our daily school life. The school has a 26 full time place Nursery class.

Our School caters for all abilities and reflects the multi-cultural community of our Local area. We have a high proportion of EAL pupils and also a high percentage on our Special Educational Needs register, many of whom go on to make very good progress through the support of our strong team of hard working staff. There are Teaching Assistants in every class, who have been trained in their roles and pupils with statements are allocated an additional Special Support Assistant.

A Learning Mentor supports pupils who are experiencing emotional and social difficulties. This is reinforced through weekly class circle times.

All staff have a shared high expectation of behaviour and attitudes to learning. Each pupil is given individual targets in Literacy, Numeracy and Science which are continually reviewed There is a common cohesive approach with all pupils by all members of staff. The pastoral care of the pupils is an outstanding feature of the school.

All pupils have a healthy school lunch cooked on the premises. The school was awarded Healthy School Status in September 2007. The school is committed to sports activities and has been awarded the Active Mark, November 2007. There are numerous opportunities for children to participate in After School Activities which include Football, Netball Art, Multisports, Cricket, Choir, Drama, Irish Dancing, Gardening Club, Chess as well as various booster classes in Maths, Literacy and Science. The majority of these clubs are run by our dedicated staff team. The school also has a successful breakfast Club run by members of staff.

A strong Leadership team has been developed over the past three years and it is expected that the appointed Deputy will become a key person in this team. Their role will be to lead further developments in the school. The school is currently looking at ways to develop a more detailed tracking system of pupils’ progress. The school is in a pilot scheme for the Local Authority for Assessment for Learning. This is an ideal opportunity for our school development over the next two years.

The school is a lead school for SEALS in Hammersmith and Fulham and all members of staff are committed to the project.
The school has introduced Italian as MFL and will be holding an Italian Festival in February.

The post will involve guaranteed management time to develop initiatives in the school. Opportunities will be given for Continued Professional Development.

Pope John RC Primary School is a friendly, welcoming environment, which is highly regarded in our local community.
We have very supportive parents, who work closely with the school. Volunteers from the BBC and local Secondary schools
help pupils develop a love of reading through a mentoring scheme.

All classrooms have an interactive whiteboard in addition to our well resourced ICT Suite, which is used for whole class sessions.

Our Governors take an active interest and are fully involved in the life of the school. They are continually supporting our school self-evaluation in their monitoring role.