Our Mission Statement

The Marist School is a place of teaching and learning:

• Where we promote the Christian growth of children in a caring environment.
• Where everyone is valued not just for what they do or give, but for who they are, a traveller on the way to Christ.
• Where children are encouraged and stimulated to achieve their full potential spiritually, academically and socially; where talents and successes are shared and celebrated.
• Where all staff work and grow together as a team, giving of their best and supporting each other.
• Where all members of the community are made to feel welcome and encouraged to take an active part in the life of the school.

Our Purpose

The Marist Catholic Primary School is a Voluntary Aided Catholic School. Our Catholic faith forms the basis of all our teaching and learning. Its influence permeates all areas of our daily school life.

As a school, we aim to promote the Christian growth of the children in our care within the context of the Catholic Church and develop in them an appreciation of the world around them so that they may grow as responsible citizens and as children of God.

The atmosphere we endeavour to create is one of caring, of help and concern for each individual.

This caring attitude applies not only between teachers and children but also between the children themselves – within groups, classes, year groups, key stages and the whole school, where all are seen as equal and valued members of our school community. A strong partnership between home, school and parish is essential as we seek to work together to help our children to develop in all areas.

We look to provide a rich and varied curriculum that meets the requirements of the National Curriculum but goes much further too, which engages the children as learners and encourages and develops their natural enthusiasm and abilities in order that they make good progress and achieve their very best in all areas of their development: spiritual, social, emotional, physical as well as academic.

We expect high standards of behaviour, encouraging our children to show kindness, patience and respect to and for each other – to live the Gospel values.

We are constantly striving to be better in all we do and value the contributions of parents and the whole school community.

The Marist Catholic Primary school is a happy place for learning. Through the pages of our website you should get a good idea of what we are about but if you need any further information or cannot find what you are looking for please do contact the School Office.

Our crest and motto ‘Sub Maria Nomine’ (under the name of Mary) reminds us that everything we do in school is founded in the Gospel Values of Jesus Christ, through his mother Mary. In partnership with you, we will be preparing your children to be articulate and confident ready to face the future with faith.

We recognise the great confidence you place in us by entrusting your children to our care. We hope that they will look back on their years spent at our school with great affection and that you will feel we gave them the best possible start to their formal education.

Our curriculum meets the requirements of the new National Curriculum (introduced in September 2014) but beyond this we have a focus on living the Gospel values in all we do at school, at home and in meeting our responsibilities as children of God living in the world of today with its injustices and inequalities but also its abundant opportunities.

As a school we work hard at helping all our children (and staff) to understand how we learn best and use the concept of a Marist Learner to teach and practice 8 attitudes towards learning which we believe are fundamental to success:

• Always being ready and open for learning
• Being enthusiastic and willing to take part and speak up in learning
• Being confident and willing to take risks with our learning
• Being able to learn well with others
• Being able to learn well independently
• Being happy to learn from our mistakes – not being defeated
• Being happy and determined to try and try again until we succeed
• Being reflective about what, why and how we have learned

The School was founded by the Marist Sisters, a branch of the Society of Mary, which includes Priests, Brothers, Sisters and a lay fraternity. They work at home and abroad; in schools, hospitals, children's homes, parishes, chaplaincies and many other areas. They have Communities all around the world in Europe, Africa, North and South America, Australia, Oceania and Brazil.

The original School in West Byfleet goes back to the outbreak of war in 1939. Some 18 children and 3 Sisters were evacuated from the Marist Convent in Fulham and billeted among families in West Byfleet. A school was set up at The Knowle in Madeira Road, but the need to increase accommodation resulted in the present site being acquired, taking over a house known as The Gables.

The school grew and functioned as an all-age IndependentSchool until 1967, when it became a VoluntaryAidedSchool under the auspices of the Surrey County Council.

In May 2004, the Marist Sisters retired from West Byfleet. Although they are no longer part of the teaching staff, their influence and legacy lives on in the spirit and ethos of our school. They retired having put in place the plans for a brand new school building which, following extensive research, and having been granted 90% of the funding from the Department of Education was erected on what was then the School’s sports field. The playgrounds and swimming pool were retained and a new sports field laid. The building work was completed in November 2005.
In 2012 a new all weather pitch was laid in place of what had turned out to be a very unreliable school playing field and this has greatly enhanced the quality and quantity of sport that is played at school.

In 2013 the School was granted permission to expand its intake of pupils each year from 45 to 60 and so become a full two form entry primary school. A new extension was added to the school providing new state of the art classrooms and a much needed library and Club and group rooms.

The school is now enjoying the new facilities and continuing to develop them to improve the quality of what we do. Although the buildings and times have changed, we like to think that we have managed to retain the happy family spirit that has been characteristic of this school throughout the years - in fact one of the special marks of Marist Schools everywhere.

The Marist Catholic Primary School, is part of the Xavier Catholic Education Trust

The aim of the Trust is to provide the children in our care with the best possible education within a caring and supportive Catholic ethos. The Trust has, at the centre of its mission and purpose, the belief that every child has a right to educational excellence through the provision of high quality teaching.

We will support the spiritual, moral, social, cultural and physical development of each child, as well as maximising progress, achievement and attainment to ensure their intellectual growth and fulfil their potential. 

The schools in our Multi Acadamy Trust (MAT) are:

• Holy Family Catholic Primary School
• St Hugh of Lincoln Catholic Primary School
• St Augustine Catholic Primary School
• St Charles Borromeo Catholic Primary School
• St Cuthbert Mayne Catholic Primary School
• St Alban's Catholic Primary School
• St Anne's Catholic Primary School
• Cardinal Newman Catholic Primary School
• Salesian Catholic Secondary School
• St John the Baptist Secondary Catholic School 

Being part of the family of schools and the multi academy trust will bring significant benefits for example:

• We will work together to train, develop and retain teachers, support staff and leaders;
• We will have the ability to achieve economies of scale by being part of a larger buying group;
• There will be opportunities for staff in all our schools to undertake joint training and share their expertise across schools;
• We will be able to streamline services and provide them centrally and more cost effectively;
• We will have the flexibility to buy in services from our own chosen providers;
• We will be able to share resources across all our schools;
• We will work together closely and support each other to strengthen our Catholic school.