School in the Spotlight
St Brides Major Church in Wales Primary School
Love Learning for Life - Caru Dysgu am Oes
Twitter @stbridesprimary
‘With Christian values at our core we nurture tolerance, confidence and compassion within a safe and happy school community. We challenge our children to become future guardians of the world and achieve their full potential.’School Vision Statement
St Brides Major CW Primary School is a thriving voluntary aided Church in Wales Primary School set on the western boundary of the Vale of Glamorgan. The school is a full single form entry primary school with 250 pupils between the age of 3 and 11. The school has strong community links particularly with the local churches within the Rectorial Benifice of the Glamorgan Heritage Coast.
The school aims to provide very highest academic standards set in a happy caring Christian environment. We aim to do everything we can to make sure our children make excellent progress, have a lot of fun and develop a ‘Love of Learning for Life’ during their time in the school.
The school’s expectations of the pupils in terms of their achievement and behaviour are very high. All members of the school community are asked to uphold the highest Christian values of respect, tolerance, courtesy and cooperation.
Mr D Mottram
Head Teacher
Christian Vision
‘It has been a privilege to work closely with the pupils, staff and governing body of St Brides Major CW Primary School since my appointment. The school is at the heart of the local community, it leads by example and has an excellent relationship and involvement with it’s local churches that deeply embed relationships and involvement between pupils, the school staff and the church community.’Reverend Emma Street
The Environment
Caring for God’s planet is at the heart of everything we do in St Brides. The school has held the Platinum flag status for 20 years. A Platinum school is ranked amongst the best in the world on the Eco-Schools programme.
Julie Giles the educational co-ordinator for Keep Wales Tidy commented ‘It was a pleasure reading your case studies on the Litter Less project work and the pollution caused by Micro Plastics in the sea, these were such great ways to involve all the pupils and the local community, as well as raising awareness of the importance of looking after our planet! Your school is fantastic in its enthusiasm and quality of work. Well done also on the other activities you managed to undertake this year including your orchard development and the commitment you place on embedding environmental themes into classroom and outdoor learning. Maintaining the Eco-Schools Platinum status is a fantastic achievement. The school, staff and pupils, should feel proud of their hard work and commitment Llongyfarchiadau.’
The Five Finger Rules
In St Brides the school rules are kept simple and clear. There are only 5 rules in the school, these are known as the five finger rules and every child in the school knows them well. These are used effectively to reinforce positive behaviour.
Whole School Worship
Acts of collective worship are a key feature of the school. Each day begins with a whole school worship in the school hall. These are led in turn by the Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher, members of the local clergy and other members of the school staff. This is a calming and spiritual way to start the school day and help underpin the gospel values that the school uses in turn on a termly basis.
Understanding Christianity
In order to allow pupils to develop their own thinking and understanding of Christianity two years ago with the help of the Llandaff Diocese the school introduced the Understanding Christianity scheme of work.
Children from across the school are currently working on a display for the hall to represent the core concepts of the new scheme. This will be used for teaching and worship and sits beautifully next to the schools mosaic which tells the story of the church year.
STEM
The school currently holds the ‘Discovery Crest Award’ which demonstrates the importance STEM Activities (Science, Technology, engineering and Maths) have in the curriculum. The older children in the school regularly link with local manufacturer Renishaw who provide the school with expert support in this area.
Road Safety
St Brides was recently selected as one of eight areas in Wales to trial a new 20mph speed limit earlier this year after the Vale of Glamorgan Council was successful in gaining Welsh Government funding.
Having previously been a 30mph zone, the lower restriction was introduced in the summer of 2021. Not only is travelling at that speed safer, it also benefits the community by promoting healthy travel options such as walking and cycling. Should the pilot prove successful, 20mph will become the new default lower speed limit across Wales.
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“Both the school and local community are delighted to be playing such a prominent role in this exciting initiative. Reducing the speed limit on our roads will make them safer and also help to promote alternative, greener forms of transport like walking and cycling. Pupils have been involved in this project from the start, taking part in a competition to design road signs that appear around the village, while a local resident group has also made their support clear from the outset. We are proud to be one of the pilot schemes for this new lower speed limit and we look forward to it being rolled out across the countryDuncan Mottram Headteacher
