The Marches Academy Trust | Summer Newsletter 2023

Hello from our CEO

“We think everyone deserves an excellent education and everything we do is designed to deliver that. Across our Trust and our family of schools we encourage everybody to strive for excellence.

This academic year seems to have flown by and has been filled with many examples of staff, children, young people, parents, governors, trustees and our community partners striving for excellence. It is lovely to take a trip down memory lane reflecting on the many wonderful events, achievements and improvements across the Trust schools.

Earlier this year, we organised the first Trust Collaboration Day, a valuable event that enabled meaningful networking and collaboration among key thinkers and leaders from our schools. The day led to some excellent learning opportunities for our staff who paid it forward to our children and young people with great learning in the classroom and a plethora of enrichment activities that are woven through the curriculum in all of our schools. The positive feedback we received from staff highlighted the value of this experience, and we are planning to host more days like this in the upcoming academic year.

In the summer term we held our first cross Trust Strategy Workshop where trustees, governors, clerks and Trust leaders came together at Sir John Talbot’s school to consider the Trust strategy and discuss what our family of schools will work towards by 2025.

The Big Sing (cover image), organised by Sir John Talbot’s School in May was a magnificent celebration of the amazing talent we have in the Trust. School performances of Matilda Jr at Marches School and Aladdin Jr at Shrewsbury Academy have dazzled us with the amazing array of talent in our children and young people. In June the Marches School hosted the Trust Robot Wars competition at Aico in Oswestry with students from all four of our secondary schools participating.

We are incredibly proud of the excellent work that George Hounsell does for physical and education and sport in our Trust. This year he has helped to secure funding applications to further develop our school’s provision and facilities. In total over £240,000 has been brought into the Trust from numerous funders that include Sport England, the National Lottery Fund, and the Department for Education. Projects that have been possible this year include an outdoor gym at Longlands Primary School, new Duke of Edinburgh equipment and tents for Shrewsbury Academy students and a unique outdoor table tennis classroom at Grange Primary School.

At Lower Heath CE Primary School, we have seen the near completion of two new classrooms and work has commenced at Oakmeadow CE Primary School on a new community building. Also in the pipeline are improvements at Grange Primary School to move the nursery.

Just over 12 months ago, leaders within the Trust came together with an idea of establishing a charitable foundation, the 4 All Foundation, to support communities across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. This vision of supporting numerous local community members over a wide span has now become possible with support from various funding providers that includes Sport England, National Lottery Fund and Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.

The Foundation has grown and developed into a large charitable organisation, bigger than we first thought, having three main Community Hubs in Market Drayton, Telford, and Shrewsbury. These Hubs see weekly activities take place run by our Community Engagement Officer and Activity Coaches. Sessions include SEND multi sports, a Ukrainian support hub, baby loss support group and yoga workshops.

Our fantastic team of staff across the Trust have been immensely proactive ensuring no stone is unturned to help, guide, support and inspire our young people in achieving their very best. As a Trust we felt this needed to be acknowledged and for the first time we held our Trust staff awards which recognised staff in every school for the way they exemplify our Trust values.

It must be my age as once again I sit here writing my piece for the summer newsletter thinking it can’t be July already – can it? Then I remember all the events, learning, conversations, eager faces, laughter and I just smile! What a wonderful year it has been!

Thank you to all our staff, children, young people, governors, Trustees, parents and communities - you make it possible for our family of schools to be vibrant, fun and forward thinking.

Connect with us to find out more

Visit:

marchesacademytrust.co.uk

@MarchesAcademyTrust

Together We Grow Podcast

Sarah Finch, CEO

'Big Sing' cover image courtesy of Whitchurch Town Council.

A message from our Chair of Trustees

Excellence always comes first when presenting our Trust values,beforeintegrity,empathy,creativityandequality. But unlike the others, it is hard to connect it to how we should behave as people, and interact with those aroundus.

In education, excellence is all too often associated only with academic attainment; of "making the grade" in order to progress to the next level. As such, it is also commonly connected to, or confused with, elite performance and the negative connotations which can come with this.

For us as a Trust, excellence is something we must aspire to in the way we operate, and the quality of teaching and other services which support our learners, staff and school communities. We can, and should, be measured and judged on this, as it is a core reason for our existence.

But for us all as individuals, living and working within our different communities, we should perhaps take a wider view of what excellence can mean. This should focus on the idea of applying ourselves to do the best we can, with an understanding of the needs of those around us, and an appreciation of how we rely on them as well. There is no measurement system for this, but we all know how good it feels when we achieve something worthwhile, no matter how big or small, and we should be aware of the impact this may have on others. In the same way that we all like our efforts to be recognised, we need to make sure we communicate our appreciation of others' achievements. By celebrating excellence in this way, we can motivate ourselves, and others, to keep trying and to be the best we can.

I hope that you have a happy and rewarding summer and, if leaving our Trust, go on to a fulfilling next stage in your education or chosen path in life. We will be back for another exciting school year in September, so until then, to borrow a phrase: "Be excellent to each other!"

Alex Fry, Member and Chair of the Board of Trustees

Our Vision

AchievementthroughCaring

We celebrate difference in each school, with a curriculum model that is unique to each school context. Our schools support, collaborate, and challenge each other in healthy peer reviews, linking our schools together across the Trust.

We are currently working together to co-construct an education model that builds on our experience as a Multi Academy Trust enabling changes for the better across our schools.

Our commitment to our Church schools

We are a mixed Multi Academy Trust (MAT) which means we are a family of nonfaith schools and Church of England schools. Our commitment to our upholding the Christian ethos and values in our church schools is important to us. We ensure that we regularly review Christian distinctiveness in our schools. We have found that in all our schools we are part of warm caring communities; in our church schools Christian values help shape this connection as we see our pupils treat one another with dignity and respect. An affirming culture of aspiration raises pupils’ expectations and self-belief, so they flourish. Collective worship plays a significant role in our Church Schools enabling pupils to see what the vision looks like in daily life.

In our mixed MAT we understand and respect that there are many connections between our church and non-church schools. This benefits our family of schools because together we share those rich experiences to develop the unique culture and character of each school so that every child flourishes. In our annual report there is a full break down of our latest review of our church schools based on the Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS).

Our Values

Across our family of schools, we pride ourselves on delivering high-quality education and superb pastoral care whilst inspiring our children and young people to achieve their potential and be happy.

1 2

Excellence

We think our children and young people deserve a superb education. Everything we do is designed to deliver that and we encourage them to strive for excellence too.

Integrity

Being truthful, honest and sincere is really important to us. We like to think of it as doing the right thing even when noone is watching!

3 4 5

Empathy

Understanding how other people feel is an important part of growing up. We encourage our children and young people to treat others as they would like to be treated.

Creativity

We want our children and young people to be able to express themselves, whether it’s through art, music, debating, drama or whatever else makes them feel happy and fulfilled.

Equality

Whether you are a student, parent or member of staff, we work hard to make sure everyone is treated fairly and equally.

Newsletter Focus: Excellence in Action

Trust Staff Awards 2022-23

We know our colleagues throughout the Marches Academy Trust work hard, they are the beating heart of our family of schools, and this year we introduced the Trust Staff Awards to celebrate their achievements. This was an opportunity for all colleagues to come together and celebrate the remarkable achievements of our staff who have truly shone throughout the year. The concept saw colleagues nominate a person for each category themed aroundourTrustvalues.Theshortlistedtopfivefinalistsforeach categorythenwenttoaTrust-widevote.

to the following overall winners!

Fiona MacDonald

TrustExcellenceAward

ShowcasingImpact| "Fionaworkswithaspecificgroupof studentswhohavearangeofneedsandchallenges.She hasidentifiedareasofSENDandmedicalneedsthat requirefurtherinvestigationandhasworkedcloselywith parentstoensuretheyareinvestigated.Sheproducedan ARPprojectonStimmingandpresentedthisinwholestaff intraining.Sheisleadingontheinterventionswithinthe HUBandherdedicationisimprovingtheofferandthe students’experiencesatschool."

Dan Hussey

TrustIntegrityAward

GoingAboveandBeyond| "Danistobecommendedfor hisdedicationandselflessnessingivingupweekendsand afterschooltimetoruntheDofEaward.Alongsidethe adminsideoftheawardDanhastakenituponhimselfto offertrainingweekendstoensurethestudentsare preparedfortheirqualifyingexpedition.Hiscommitment toinspiringandsupportingtheparticipantsintheprogram hasundoubtedlymadeapositiveimpactonthelivesof manystudentsintheschool,buildingtheirconfidence, skillsandcharacter.Thestudentswouldmissoutonan incredibleopportunitywithoutDan!"

Dan Lloyd-Williams

TrustEmpathyAward

MostCaringEmployee| "Dandoesafabulousjobof lookingafterourteam.Nomatterwhattheissue,heis alwayskeentohelpoutandgetproblemsresolved-allthe whilewithalaughandsmile.Heputspeopleatease,so theydon’tfeelfoolishwhentheirITproblemcouldbe easilyresolvedifyouknowhow.Heissoapproachable, nothingistoomuchtrouble,evenanadhocPCrebuild!"

TrustCreativityAward

MostInspiringColleague|"Beingcreativeispartof Charlotte’sjobbutwow–shereallydoessetthebarhigh. Ourunsunghero,notwantinghernameinlights,she graftsbehindthescenestomakesureoursocialmedia presenceissecondtonone.Everycompanyneedsa Charlotte–someonewhoisreliableandgetsthejobdone toahighstandard.SheproduceswonderfulTrust newsletters,presentations,annualreports,advertsandall mannerofcreativeoutputtoenhanceourschools'andthe Trust’simage.Shemakessureourbrandisstrongand professional.Shealwaysdoesthiswithasmileandisa genuinelykindandthoughtfulworkcolleaguetoo."

Lucy Frederick

TrustEqualityAward

MostImprovedMemberofStaff| "Lucyexcelsinher additionalrolesupportingstudents.Shehassecuredthe RainbowAwardforourschoolandsupportsstudents endlesslywithrunningtheSkittleSquadattendedbyour LGBTQ+students.Hermostrecentadditionisherpassion forEDIB,settingupastaff,parentandstudentworking party.LucyisShrewsburyAcademy'sbiggestadvocatefor studentswithinclusivityattheheartofallshedoes.Her passion,commitmentanddedicationareinspiringtoall. Lucyispassionateaboutherroleandraisingawareness withinherschoolandtheTrust.Sheisatrueambassador andadvocateforequality."

Charlotte Smith

Staff also had the opportunity to nominate towards a Colleagues'ChoiceAward-ourplayers'playersotospeak fromeachschoolandtheSharedServicesteam.

to the following winners! Congratulations

Lucy Frederick

Rob Collier

Gareth Dodd

David Littleford

Lorna Gillham

Sarah Castle

Angie Jenkins

Amy Wilkes

Rachel Mazan

Ben Cameron

Rachel WhiteCulf

Spotlight on Learning: Early Excellence

Claire Turner, Associate Executive Director of Education

Iwouldliketoshineaspotlightonthe Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) education in our Trust. This is where curriculumexcellencetrulybegins.

Development Matters, statutory guidance for EYFS highlights ‘No job is more important than working with children in the early years’ and at the Marches Academy Trust we wholeheartedly agree. This is where the awe and wonder of learning is fostered and talents are grown, where children learn to communicate and form relationships, where they learn to make decisions and ask questions. The environment in which this happens is a critical component. Our Early Years teams are always busy setting up learning activities that will foster curiosity and creating environments that will spark and ignite interest and excitement.

Development Matters sets out three characteristics of effective teaching and learning. These are;

Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’. Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements.

Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things.

Here are some ways in which staff at Oakmeadow CE Primary School, Tilstock CE Primary School, Lower Heath CE Primary School and Grange Primary School bring learning to life for our youngest learners.

The Alliance of Leading Learning

“ Cavelle Priestley-Bird, Executive Director

of People and Development

Developing Excellence: Our Trust staff embrace their new learningthroughtheNPQs.

The Alliance of Leading Learning team continue to deliver the full suite of exemplary NPQs to leaders across our Trust. We have over 350 participants on our programmes and 26 participants from within our Trust.

Our staff have joined our success story and have ensured real impact on our schools’ performance:

Our Trust staff on our specialist programmes have fed back on the positive impact their learning is having on their day-to-day practice. The programmes are delivered by our in-house advanced facilitators Hugh Jackson, Elaine Robinson, Tracy Whelan, Jasmin Taylor and Lucy Luke. The success of these programmes is attributed to their excellent planning and delivery.

“This course is fantastic. You daren’t leave the room for a minute as it's packed full of really worthwhile knowledge and thinking…I have already recommended it as I enjoyed it so much…the most useful course I’ve ever been on." - NPQLT

Our NPQEL programme has been a resounding success with testimonials from our Trust leaders such as:

Idsall School

"A really powerful and essential course for anyone considering executive headship and CEO roles in the future. This course has opened my mind to thinking differently, understanding differences and exploring all opportunities. A brilliant must do course for any future forward thinking inspirational leader!"

Our NPQH cohort face to face sessions continue to inspire our future Headteachers within our Trust:

"The face to face days are simply something to look forward to. Paul is overwhelmingly brilliant; his experiences and humour mean you spend the day challenged but smiling. I could not recommend the course enough, but what makes it exceptional is the quality of the team delivering."

NPQsremain fullyfunded for 2023–2024!

Findoutmoreat: bit.ly/LeadingLearningNPQ

Michelle King

Jim Taylor

Shrewsbury Academy

Sharing our Excellence – The Curious Curriculum:

This year, under the leadership of Claire Turner, we put on a suite of subject sessions for new primary school subject leaders to help improve knowledge, embed, and enhance subject leadership. All sessions were delivered by our exemplary subject experts in our Trust – Emma Brinkworth, Rachael Clarke, Liam Francis, George Hounsell, Georgina Hughes, Sophie King, Francesca Tudor and Claire Turner. Sessions this year covered the following subjects: Art, DT, Food, Geography, History, IT, Music, PE and Science. 49 teachers from 14 local primary schools (including our 5 Trust primaries) attended the sessions.

“A fantastic session, well delivered, informative and I left feeling more confident and inspired about my new subject role.”

“Fantastic day course that has provided lots of food for thought and clear actions to move the subject forward in our schools. I feel my subject knowledge and understanding has increased tenfold from today.”

ITT – Delivering Excellent Training to our Teachers of the Future:

We can measure the excellence of our ITT programme by the extremely high retention of the students and their employment outcomes. In delivering the programme, we employ more than 20 subject experts who tutor the participants in their specialism. This is unique to the Alliance of Leading Learning and underpins the successful outcomes of our programme. This year, the students were rewarded with some of the highest results for their academic work that we have ever achieved which is a good reason to celebrate. The many individuals employed in the Trust who give their time and commitment by mentoring, teaching and leading our ITT students, have ensured that we have again produced outstanding teachers of the future.

Tanita Taylor

Primary ITT and future English Teacher

“The Trust's commitment to excellence is unparalleled and their dedication to fostering a community of passionate educators like myself and providing us with exceptional learning opportunities sets a very high benchmark.”

leadinglearning.co.uk @ALLearning1

Physical Education and School Sport

George Hounsell, Director of Primary Sport & Community

Throughoutthe2022/23academicyear,weproudlyhostedover 15 Varsity Festivals in partnership with Shrewsbury School, ShropshireSchoolsTennisandPanathlonUK.

Varsity events are broken down into three groups: primary, secondary and Sixth Form. During the academic year, we ensure that all children, no matter their ability level, have the opportunity to take part in sporting events. This provides them with a positive experience in school sport from across the Marches Academy Trust.

The Varsity programme is a fundamental part of the Marches Academy Trust; supporting our schools and children to help improve and develop Physical Education and School Sport. Giving children from Year 2 to Sixth Form the opportunity to take part in exciting activities that they cannot normally try and helping children to develop a lifelong love of sport and an active lifestyle. Sports have included rowing, football, fives, tennis, swimming and squash. Throughout these festivals, students and staff have continued to follow Trust values.

Since 2020, the Varsity competitions have been providing students from across our schools with a platform to showcase their sporting excellence.

Our family of schools

Shrewsbury Academy

“

Julie Johnson, Headteacher

To me, at Shrewsbury Academy, excellence is sharing good practice. Having great teachers working with great students, and great leaders who drive high expectations and standards. Doing this will ensure all students have the best opportunities to be successful learners, prepared for a future aspirational career andasuccessfultransitionintoadulthood.

We recently received a certificate from the Pearson Teaching Awards, presenting Shrewsbury Academy with a Certificate of Excellence for Making a Difference. How fabulous to receive this award and be recognised for the hard work that takes place here every single day.

A group of seventeen students were recently selected to be our Sports Ambassadors. These students will represent our school during events, will be trained to support with leading events and lead inter-House sports competitions. A huge congratulations to those students who were selected!

Rainbow Day is always a day of excellence at Shrewsbury Academy, where all students celebrate diversity. We celebrated this event on Friday 30th June, with our Skittle Squad leading the event. They manned a cake stall and raised money selling rainbow merchandise. Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging is a priority focus for the whole school and is something that we are immensely proud of leading here.

Our Transition Ambassadors have been working incredibly hard this term to support our new intake of Year 7 students for September 2023. These students have been selected to represent the school following an application process and they will be the face of Shrewsbury Academy for our students and new families.

We need to praise our Year 10 cohort of students who have just taken part in their English-Speaking examination. The students approached the task with maturity and confidence, challenged themselves, structured their speeches well and presented with pride.

Our Duke of Edinburgh Award has been such a positive experience for our students, especially this term as they have been participating in their expedition. They have conducted themselves incredibly well and have enjoyed taking part.

All staff took part in defibrillation training on the 29th June, this event was also supported by two DofE students. This initiative was highly successful and well received. It is great to know that in our school, staff and students are trained for an emergency.

The Marches School

Staff and students throughout the school have demonstrated excellence in every way this term. We have had many examples of students going theextramileinfundraising,sportsandthearts:

Our girls' rugby team are now County Champions after some extensive training and teamwork, whilst a group of students have been working with this year’s local charity – OsNosh on a fundraising dinner attended by over 60 people! This was a real community event hosted by The Townhouse and supported by Aico and the school. Guests, including the students’ families, were served an exquisite three course meal with funds raised helping OsNosh continue their community work - “The experience and opportunity were amazing, it was hard work, but we have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Community partnerships are precious to us. They bring a depth to learning for our students, real world experiences and events that change lives. Working in partnership with The New Saints FC Foundation Ltd with Bright Star Boxing Academy, West Mercia Police, Oswestry Town Council and funding by the Ministry of Justice - Youth Justice Sport Programme we have been able to demonstrate excellence to some of our younger students – “It helped me to understand that you can push through anything if you have the right mindset’; ‘I have gained stronger friendships and a better understanding of how to be with other people".

It was incredibly disappointing when one of our many trips – a netball tournament in Disneyland Paris was cut short by the ferry chaos in April, however our staff responded, demonstrating their excellence by organising a tournament at school. Conversely our Year 7 trip to France did take place, with a whopping 130 students and 14 staff away for 6 nights at half term - “He has had the most amazing time and will remember it forever, as soon as he got in the car he asked when the next trip will be!”

Excellence is the expected norm in our classrooms and we are proud to showcase the activities that are planned each and every week. As always in the summer term the month of hard work culminates in GCSE and A Level exams. This year’s cohorts are focused and determined. I know we will see some strong results in August.

Finally, our Gardening Club have transformed the front of the school and are preparing for the Britain in Bloom committee to visit to demonstrate their excellence – fingers crossed for some deserved recognition.

“Alison Pearson, Headteacher

The Grove School

“ Sonia Taylor, Headteacher

According to Aristotle, “excellence is never an accident. It is always the results of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wide choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” At TheGroveSchool,wehaveourvisionbasedaround‘Amindset tosucceed’,wherestudentsconsistentlyworkhardtostrivefor theirbest.

We are so lucky to be able to work with so many talented students and staff that are dedicated to becoming the best that they can be. Whilst not every student is necessarily academic, we strive to make sure all students have access to opportunities beyond the curriculum and have a space to be able to find enjoyment in school and be the best that they can be. Students have been involved in creating their curriculum and we have also spent a lot of time developing our extra curriculum offer to provide lots of opportunities beyond the classroom, and this is certainly an area that we will be continuing to focus upon in the next school year.

This term, we are focusing on some of the excellence that we have experienced in our school and the contributions that our staff and students have made in achieving this Trust value.

Beyond the classroom, we have had a range of musical events that have been able to showcase our excellence in talent from both our school and the local community. Not only have ‘Voice Box’ been involved in a range of performances in the local community, but our talented students have also performed at our recent open evening, Year 6 move up events and in our Grove Music Summer Celebration evening where they provided a concert demonstrating true excellence and joy at the height of the summer term.

Our Careers programme at The Grove School is a vital element of our Discovery Curriculum where we introduce our students not only to elements of discovering our self and our place within the community but also in developing dreams and ambitions for the future. The Grove School was again awarded the achievement of 100% pass of all of the Gatsby Benchmarks for the fifth time in a row and it is the first school in Shropshire to achieve this status. We have also recently undertaken our first Careers Fair for many years, with companies sharing information for students to explore and experience.

As part of our end of year celebrations, staff also wanted to have the opportunity to share some of the excellence that they get to experience every day with some of our students at The Grove School. Although we don’t have enough space to share all of our students’ achievements here, we would like to share some of our really notable mentions here:

Mr Darlington wanted to celebrate Phoebe in Year 9: “When I first met Phoebe in September, she lacked confidence and as a result did not really like Maths. Despite this, she has made a huge effort in her Maths lessons this year. She has been extremely driven to succeed in the subject. Whether it be asking more questions in class or independent revision outside of school, her dedication and hard work have been truly impressive. It was great to see her hard work pay off with her end of year test where she achieved an amazing score answering questions all at a GCSE standard. I am not sure if she loves Maths now, but she certainly isn’t afraid of it anymore. A huge well done.”

Mr Barber wanted to highlight the work of Lauren in Year 10 for GCSE PE: “What an absolute pleasure Lauren is in the classroom, she is self-motivated and has a real hunger to achieve, her work ethic is exemplary. She is willing to help and support other students and is a true role model to all.”

Mr Jackson wanted to share his gratitude for the efforts of his Year 10 GCSE English class: “I am so lucky to be able to teach this class. They are one of the brightest groups that I have had the pleasure to teach in some years and have a thirst to be excellent. Whilst they are only halfway through their course, Market Drayton is really lucky to have such talented young minds who will undoubtedly set the world on fire in the future with their potential and mind set to succeed.”

The PE Department wanted to share their gratitude for the efforts of Charlie and Shea in Year 8 and Konnor, Isla and Savannah in Year 9: “We cannot praise these students enough. They consistently demonstrate an outstanding work ethic and commitment in every lesson, and always show a real interest and desire to improve in all sports/activities. They use their initiative and volunteer to organise equipment and set up working areas. They have made PE lessons a really positive experience this year.”

Other notable mentions include: Katelyn P, Arthur H, Laiannie L, Ava L, Scarlett H, Grace G, Jasmine-Lily J, Ewelina B, Noah S, Evie B, Owne S and Ollie G.

Sir John Talbot's School

Demonstrating excellence through creative teaching and learning:

Teacher Dares

Earlier this year, students told us in a Student Spotlight that they would like more variety in learning. One student put it as “more videos, whiteboards and fun”. As a result, we have challenged our staff to take part in ‘Teaching and Learning Dares’. We have seen some great outcomes and our teachers have risen to the challenge.

Miss Hayward dared to take her Geography lesson outdoors to measure the weather.

Mr Allen banned using worksheets in his DT lessons.

Mr Crudden developed a ‘Revision on a Plate’ – using paper

Miss James even dared to let her students lead her

In the summer term, teachers responded to changing the way they normally teach. Some examples are as follows: plates to organise knowledge for revision. lessons.

It has been great to see our staff and students continuing to develop ways to make learning as engaging as possible. We will continue to keep asking

“ Tim Stonall, Headteacher

Spotlight on the Creativity Department

Our A Level Art students have worked impressively hard this term, they completed their two year course which concluded with a three day examination. During this time, students created wonderful, intriguing paintings, drawings and sculptures. Students were creating artwork to respond to the theme simple or complex. Topics ranged from the complexity of human anatomy, to how our surroundings can evoke complex or simple emotions. Students were invited to showcase their artwork for an exhibition, they thoroughly enjoyed presenting their artwork. They spent an afternoon organising the art room and work to showcase for their families and friends. On the evening of the exhibition the students attended with their families which was a lovely opportunity for them to see the excellent work that the students had produced over the last two years.

Students are moving on to a range of different further education settings, with two progressing onto art foundation courses, one with an unconditional offer to study fine art at York University, another two are hoping to study architecture and illustration pending their results. We are really proud of the high quality work that our students achieve in Art and Photography at Sir John Talbot's School. The Creative culture is alive and kicking!

sirjohntalbots.co.uk

@SirJohnTalbotsSchool

Take a look at the exhibition of art https://bit.ly/3XEcsYM

“'I am very proud of each of them and the diverse and excellent work they have produced.'

Miss Lloyd, Sir John Talbot's School, Deputy Director of Creativity

“ Woodlands School

Julia Taylor, Headteacher

We have had lots of examples of 'excellence' in the learningthathastakenplaceatWoodlandsSchool:

Coming to a new school can be a tough time. Our Link provision provides new students with a gradual, child-centred transition into school. This child-centred approach enables us to reduce levels of anxiety for students, equip them with the skills and tools needed to reduce barriers to learning, and ensure better outcomes when they transition to the main school. The Link has had an excellent impact on new students who have fully transitioned into main school within six weeks of joining Woodlands. They have formed trusting relationships with staff, initiated social interactions with peers and shown increasing feelings of safety and decreasing feelings of anxiety linked to school.

Our Pathway 3 programme in KS4 offers a balance of vocational and academic subjects, alongside developmental and therapeutic support. The Pathway 3 curriculum is bespoke to each young person, taking into account their gaps in knowledge, how they learn best and the life experiences we can offer to develop them as citizens. Kian Zanus-Fortes, a Year 11 on the Pathway 3 programme, said; "Pathway 3 has been an excellent way to get ready for what I’m going to be doing when I leave Woodlands."

Some of our Year 11 learners have enjoyed an excellent transition programme with Reaseheath College, where they will be going to study Animal Management next year. They have been on the college bus, taken part in a practical session with the staff they will be working with next year, and even sampled the doughnuts from the pop-up shop!

One of our amazing Woodlands students, Luke, created an excellent piece of art depicting his Liverpool FC hero Mohamed Salah. We thought this was fantastic, so sent a photograph of Luke and his artwork to the lovely staff at the club. They were so impressed they sent Luke back a certificate signed by all the players – recognising Luke’s incredible talent! Luke’s amazing artwork is now proudly displayed in the school hall.

Grange Primary School

Charlotte Summers, Headteacher

Another chock-a-block term at Grange PrimarySchool:

Firstly, we would like to mention how well Year 6 have done in preparation for and during their SATs week. All pupils worked hard and have since been enjoying their preparation work for moving to secondary school. They went to a day event run by Crucial Crew Shropshire, where they took part in 10 different scenarios learning about life skills.

When we asked students what they thought excellence was; Martha Draper in Year 5 said, “it is high quality”; Joe Haddock Year 4 said, “something great” and Iwan Howells Year 4 simply said, “brilliant”. Pupils at Grange strive for excellence in everything they do and we are proud our Grangers have such high standards.

Both Year 6 and Year 3 have been fortunate enough this term to have had swimming as part of their curriculum. A lot of tired pupils returned after the sessions but all with smiles on their faces and a sense of achievement.

Classes across the school have been competing whilst helping to save the environment. The Grange has teamed up with SchoolCycled, an initiative designed to educate the next generation about recycling, fragile ecosystems and sustainability. Every week class representatives have brought their plastic bottle tops to assembly, that have been collected by the class that week, and we see which class has collected the most. The competition is taken very seriously by all!

We have had various events during the term, including tennis workshops, a Year 3 residential and the whole school celebrated the King’s Coronation, and despite the busy term all the classes have taken their turn at looking after and caring for the animals in the school farm. Pupils are happy to feed them, clean them out and obviously provide a lot of fuss.

By now the school will have also had numerous sporting events during the term; sports day, football festivals, race for life, house rounders and table tennis workshops. Hopefully you will have seen the photos on the school’s Facebook page.

Thank you to everyone; parents and pupils, for a great term and we look forward to seeing you and working with you in September!

grangeprimaryshrewsbury.co.uk

@grangeprimaryschoolshrewsbury

Lower Heath CE Primary School

“Helen Reynolds, Headteacher

Excellence can mean different things to different people. Is it about being the best, demonstrating outstanding skills, excelling in a certain field? Or is it about seeking your own personal excellence; striving to be the best you can be and do thebestyoucando?

At Lower Heath, our motto, ‘Let your light shine’, fully embraces the belief that everyone has talent and has the potential to excel in their own special way. Our role in school is to provide the opportunity for these abilities to be identified and realised.

Our Year 2 and 6 children have impressed us with their resilience and dedication this term during their SATs. They all did their very best and rose to the challenge. The children understand that to achieve excellence, hard work and practice is required and we are sure this will be reflected in their achievements.

A highlight of our term has been our cultural diversity day, where the whole school recognised the qualities in different cultures. All children learnt a different style of dancing, learnt about their celebrations and practices and tried traditional foods.

Another memorable day was the Marches Academy Trust 'Big Sing' where schools from across the Trust came together to share songs and enjoy music together. Again, our children worked so hard to prepare and rehearse the song they chose and delivered an excellent performance.

We have been working hard to develop an excellent learning environment for our children too, focusing on our outdoor education. Our youngest children take full advantage of our newly refurbished outdoor classroom and we look forward to all classes enjoying this next year.

Also, the book corners that were designed by the children as part of World Book Day in the spring came to fruition this term. All children’s love of reading should be nurtured and this was a brilliant school project to enthuse children to read.

Our Year 4 children ventured to Dodford Children’s Holiday Farm, staying away from home, some of them, for the first time. We were blessed with beautiful weather and it was a joy to see children become part of nature, feeding animals and collecting fresh water shrimps. Simple pleasures.

A group of our Year 5/6 children attended the Shropshire Schools Swimming Gala and excelled by coming first in the small schools category. Two children were even selected to swim for the county! What an achievement!

We are proud of our school community and all we have achieved together this year. We wish each and everyone who is connected with Lower Heath CE Primary School the very best holiday time and look forward to our next academic year.

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Visit: lowerheath.co.uk

@lowerheathcofeprimaryschool

Longlands Primary School

We support the children to develop resilience, perseverance and to challenge themselves. In Year 5 Maths lessons, they have been finding solutions to problems, explaining their thinking, and coaching classmates. We use dong nao jin questions ('open mind problems') and pupils apply their learning to ensure excellence is achievable for all. In January, Tess in Year 6 challenged herself to read 25 books before she finished the year. She thought that this challenge was a great way to progress and excel- which she has done brilliantly and has reached book 22!

Excellence can be supported through practical learning and the children in Year 2 have enjoyed creating their own scales and reading labelled and partially labelled scales. In Science, children in Year 4 also worked practically to complete experiments to show how sound is created and how it is carried from the source, via the ear, to the brain, helping the children to develop an excellent understanding of sound waves.

'Dong nao jins challenge you to apply your Maths and think in different ways.'

Pheonix Dewey, Longlands Primary School pupil

Striving towards excellence is a key feature of every dayhereatLonglands.

Lisa Millington, Headteacher

We celebrate effort and progress and encourage working together. In EYFS, the children often work together to create a supportive environment, with adults setting high expectations, and providing exciting activities. The Nursery children have been 'Thinking Big! and learning lots of big words' by creating wonderful huge structures, using gigantic resources and making enormous marks on giant paper. In Year 3, the children have been cooperating and problem solving to learn about countries, hemispheres, longitude and latitude while Year 1 have showed teamwork and integrity by working together to ensure that our garden and animals are looked after. They are caring and respectful to our farm and model to others how to be respectful.

Across the school, excellence is presented in many ways - in our lessons, in the way we present ourselves and in the way we interact.

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Tilstock CE Primary School

Rowena Kaminski, Headteacher

Our value for the first part of the summer term was Achieve, which our children translate as setting goals, trying your best, sticking at a task, being proud when you complete something you have been trying really hard at, knowing how to do well at something, and not giving up. This highlights how important it is for us to recognise and support the achievements of our children, to develop their confidence and motivation for learning and to celebrate excellence in all aspects of school life.

In the summer term, we had our special Coronation Service at Christ Church, where children, parents and the community took part in a very memorable service. A fantastic guest arrived to be involved in the occasion - an organist from Whitchurch, who joined the children for the event to play a special piece of music composed by Sir Edward German, that was played at King George VI Coronation. The children were mesmerised, and this showed them a great example of musical excellence in our community.

'Excellence is...the best something can be!'

Charlie Sambrook, Tilstock CE Primary School pupil

We were delighted to have recently received confirmation from the Department for Education that we had been awarded the Gold Healthy Schools Rating following our work with the Active Lives Survey team. The Healthy Schools Rating Scheme is a voluntary scheme for schools that recognises and encourages their contribution to supporting pupils’ health and wellbeing. We also had a fantastic visit from Emma from Taylor Shaw, who brought along their incredible Smoothie Bike. Our children and staff had an absolute blast choosing their favourite fruits and hopping on the bike to blend their very own delicious smoothies! Not only was it an incredibly fun experience, but it also encouraged everyone to stay active and healthy…even the staff enjoyed having a go!

Our pupils have enjoyed many events this year, to demonstrate excellence out of school. I had the pleasure of accompanying the Year 4s to Dodford Farm in Worcestershire - set in 9 acres of meadow, woodland and streams, with animals to care for. The children showed excellence in responsibility and independence and were brilliantly behaved and really immersed themselves in all activities on offer.

The second part of our summer term, saw pupils in Badger Class attending The Civic Centre in Whitchurch to participate in the Trust 'Big Sing' event. They proudly sang our school song in front of children from several other schools beautifully, before singing ‘Rule the World’ jointly with the audience – we were all so proud of their impeccable behaviour and courage.

Our summer sports day was not only a celebration of the sporting talent that our school has to offer, but what an incredible opportunity for parents, teachers, and support staff to come together to support our children in beautiful weather.

Finally our ASPIRE day really encapsulated excellence in the local community. Our goal was to ensure that every pupil felt inspired. So, we invited in a range of local organisations to talk to the children about their jobs. It was a fantastic success! The children were full of awe, wonder and plenty of questions. The day and the examples of excellence, left a very special impact on our children and staff. There were smiles all round, creating special memories and aspirations for the future!

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@tilstockprimaryschool

Oakmeadow CE Primary School

Part of this is providing opportunities to actively contribute to our wider community. We work closely with our local Parish Council and community groups and this term we have taken part in the Bayston Hill Big Green Week. As part of this, an Eco Fair held on our school field was a great success with local stall holders sharing services, produce and providing activities and experiences. Throughout the week all classes spent time looking at various environmental issues and have produced some lovely work – Year 6 for example have planned and designed a ‘green city’ with five sustainable areas for consideration: energy, food, transport, nature and waste.

We also work with other partners such as Shrewsbury Town Football Club who deliver the Reading the Game program to encourage a love of reading and raise attainment. Shropshire Music Service have delivered Ukulele lessons to all pupils in Year 4. A benefit of being part of a Trust is the partnership, shared resources and expertise our children can access to raise standards in wider curriculum areas. This term Year 6 had a visit from Science teachers from The Marches School who came to dissect sheep’s hearts with them. The pupils absolutely loved it and totally involved themselves! It was part of their unit where they have been looking at organs – it was also a great insight into some of the exciting opportunities available at secondary.

This year we have embedded a House Point system to inspire individual and collective achievement. Pupils are given points for curriculum excellence, effort and demonstrating our school values. They also work together in Housetournaments and sports days which promotes teamwork and how our own individual effort can ensure that everyone achieves more.

Attendance is the first step to excellence and we were pleased to achieve the FFT National School Attendance Award for two terms running – this was a recognition for placing in the top 10% of similar FFT schools in England. We aim to continue our achievement in this next academic year. As this term draws to an end, we are incredibly proud of all of our staff and pupils for all that has been accomplished and look forward to sharing more successes next year.

At Oakmeadow we recognise that achieving excellence extends past the academic and we aim to develop the whole child, removing barriers to learningsothatpupilsofallneedsthrive.

Samantha Hill, Headteacher

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Visit: oakmeadowprimary.co.uk @oakmeadowceschool

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