Headteacher's Message; Aims and Ethos

Welcome to our school website. We hope it gives you a flavour of our warm, caring community and helps you to understand the rich and varied experiences we offer the children in our care.

St Benedict’s is a one-form entry primary school in the town of Handforth. We are a welcoming, inclusive family school with a strong Catholic ethos, a deep sense of community and high aspirations for every child. Our small size means we know our children exceptionally well and are able to nurture them as individuals, helping them to grow in confidence, independence and self-belief.

We are very proud of our children – they are bright, energetic, kind and helpful, and they always strive to do their best for the love of God and others. Visitors regularly comment on the confidence and enthusiasm with which children greet them. Our strong focus on wellbeing and mental health ensures children feel safe, valued and ready to learn, and we explicitly teach strategies to help them manage worry and anxiety.

Every member of staff has the best interests of the children at the heart of what they do. They work tirelessly in partnership with supportive parents and alongside the parish of St Benedict’s to ensure each child receives an excellent education. Parents told Ofsted that, “A typical comment from parents and carers was that the school has a ‘wonderful culture of respect, caring and kindness’.”

Our school community is diverse and inclusive. Children come from a range of backgrounds, faiths and traditions, with around half of our pupils being Catholic. Children thrive in this environment and quickly learn that kindness, respect and understanding benefit everyone. While academic success is important to us, we are equally committed to developing children who make a positive contribution to the world around them.

Children enjoy an exciting and well-designed curriculum across the full range of subjects. We are proud of the progress our children make. When Ofsted visited, they said, “Pupils are keen to live up to the high expectations that leaders have for their learning and behaviour,” and this is evident every day. As a highly inclusive school, we support a number of pupils with complex SEND, some of whom do not always access statutory assessments. This means published KS2 results do not always reflect the strength of our provision; however, when children’s individual starting points are considered, progress is excellent and pupils leave us confident, capable and ready for the next stage of their education.

Reading is prioritised across school and children develop a genuine love of books and authors. They read aloud with confidence, fluency and expression. Maths is taught using a mastery approach, giving children a secure foundation in number and problem-solving.

We celebrate creativity and provide many memorable experiences for our artists and musicians, including performances at the Hallé, art exhibitions, singing under Concorde and at the Christmas Lights Switch On. Artists visit school and children visit galleries and theatres to inspire a lifelong love of the arts. History and geography are brought to life through visitors, local studies such as Styal Mill, and residential trips to London and York.

Our Spanish curriculum is well developed and children enjoy learning about Spanish-speaking cultures through experience days, food tasting, flamenco lessons and celebrations such as Día de los Muertos.

We are proud holders of the Platinum Sports Mark, reflecting the strength of our sports provision. Children enjoy a wide range of opportunities including tennis, athletics, cricket, lacrosse, gymnastics, ballet and flamenco, taught by specialist coaches. Many also run after-school clubs, and our pupils regularly take part in competitions with great success.

Our computing curriculum is supported by experts and up-to-date resources, with online safety and digital respect woven throughout. Pupils with SEND are supported extremely well through inclusive teaching, small-group and 1:1 support, enabling them to make strong progress from their starting points.

Our pupils are active members of the community. Through close links with the parish, they are involved in charitable work and learn the importance of standing up for others. As a result, our children are caring, supportive and kind, and bullying is rare.

We strive to ensure every child achieves their potential in a calm, nurturing and ambitious environment. By the end of Year 6, our children leave us confident, resilient and academically ready for high school.

You are warmly welcomed to visit us and see our school in action.

Kind Regards,
Hannah McGuire
Head