We are a church school in the village of Congresbury. We are blessed with the most wonderful grounds that are spacious and full of opportunities in which to grow and learn, with St Andrew’s Church overlooking our youngest children’s playground. Our pupils are able to explore, appreciate and cherish the outdoors through our curriculum which includes Forest School, pond dipping and exploring our wildlife area. We are passionate about ensuring that every child leaves our school with the skills and experiences required to lead happy and successful lives. Children at our school develop their unique character with the support and guidance of the staff, their families and our church.

Our vision and ethos is growing together to unlock potential through a curriculum where pupils thrive and develop character and master knowledge and skills within a Christian community where everyone is valued and cared about. We welcome diversity and pride ourselves upon the fact that we embrace a wide and varying community and that we always strive to achieve the highest standards possible. Through nurturing and care, we believe that from the day our children arrive at our school, they grow spiritually to be the very best versions of themselves. We, in partnership with their families and St Andrew’s Church, will enable them to grow into strong, mindful young people with an inner confidence, who have a keen interest to support others and the world around them.

As a practicing Thrive School of Excellence, we pride ourselves on the relationships that we develop and the care and kindness that we give to every child as an individual. The Thrive approach frames everything that we live and breathe. It supports pupils’ emotional and social development and helps them feel happy, loved and secure, able to enjoy friendships, relate well to others and be ready and able to learn. It supports them in becoming more self-assured, capable and adaptable.

We have very high standards of behaviour, respect and manners in school and visitors always comment on the calm and purposeful atmosphere whereby pupils are focussed on their learning. Our Thrive approach also supports us to address all behaviours providing a firm foundation for academic attainment. Our children enjoy school life, and this means we have a safe, happy, fun and warm school environment.

At St. Andrew’s, we believe that everyone is capable of extraordinary and amazing things! We believe in growth mindsets and that all children can learn without limits. This means that we don’t set a ceiling or a limit on what any individual is able to do. We trust our children with support to make their own decisions and to challenge themselves and grapple with their own learning.

We believe that courage and compassion are essential for all learning but that they are also two of our core Christian values. We believe in an ethic of everybody and ensure that all of our children belong to our Tree Houses, enabling their voices to be heard in decisions about the school. All children have the right to participate fully in their lives. We learn together collaboratively and succeed together, believing that we are all growing together as a collective community. You will often hear our classes referred to as ‘crew’, as in crew on a ship, that enable the voyage to run smoothly with everyone collaborating as one.

We have planned, for all of our crews, a curriculum that is exciting and embedded in the real world. It is a curriculum that unlocks potential. Our teachers plan enrichment days offsite or invite an expert into the school to fire imaginations within projects and to broaden the children’s experiences. All of this learning is unpredictable. It involves taking risks and courage, with our teachers expecting young children to surprise them and to then provide learning that creates the conditions in which this is more likely to happen.

At St Andrew’s, we have a committed and dedicated team, encompassing all adults in school, who work tirelessly to ensure that the high standards at school are continuously maintained, whilst delivering engaging, compelling lessons within a broad curriculum. Pupils in our school learn about themselves and what they have to offer to the world. We want our children to make a positive contribution to the community around them and to realise the necessity for every individual to play their part. We see a true partnership between home and school as the finest ingredient we can add to the school mix and welcome you to join us on the voyage of discovery that your children will experience over the next few years. We expect all our children to leave St Andrew’s with the knowledge, beliefs and skills they will need to lead a flourishing life; and to have the disposition to help others to do so too.

Welcome aboard!

Mrs Fran Martin 

Headteacher

COURAGE COMPASSION & TRUST

We believe in growing together within a Christian community to unlock potential through a curriculum where pupils thrive and develop character.

As a church school, our ethos of ‘growing together’ is underpinned by the parable of the mustard seed. Through nurturing and care, we believe that from the day our children arrive at our school, they grow spiritually to be the very best versions of themselves. We, in partnership with their families and St Andrew’s Church, will enable them to grow into strong, mindful young people with an inner confidence, who have an interest to support others and the world around them.

Jesus told them the parable (Mark 4:30-32):

‘The kingdom of heaven is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.’

When we reviewed our school values in 2019 we involved all stakeholders and distilled our core Christian values to: Courage, Compassion and Trust. Alongside our three core Christian values, we learn from many other values. We firmly believe that if our children left St Andrew’s with a strong sense of these three core values, we would have reflective, spiritual and respectful young people moving on to secondary school.

They are the cornerstones to all that we do; our Christian values are both implicit and explicit at St Andrew’s and guide policy and practice in every facet of the school life, from class time to lunchtime to home-time. At our school everyone is valued and cared about. Our school is a place that will actively grow hopefulness and ambition.

Compassion:

• THRIVE
• Treehouse groups & Treetop council
• Developing relationships
• Community Building activities
• Building a strong moral compass

Courage:

• Learning without limits
• Growth mindset
• Global citizenship & courageous advocacy
• Unlocking potential
• Forest school

Trust:

• Restorative behaviour
• Embracing diversity
• Building self esteem and confidence
• School rules - safe, respectful, caring, focussed

If you're searching for your next teaching or support staff post, why not contact us now? You'll be working at a great school and be part of a friendly, helpful team. We're always interested to hear from enthusiastic, committed people!

We are part of the The Lighthouse Schools Partnership; for further information regarding the trust please click here.

The Lighthouse Schools Partnership is a Multi-Academy Trust with schools across the age range from Nursery to Sixth Form. Our Trust includes both community and Church of England schools and we also have three Teaching Schools amongst our number so that we can make the professional development of our staff a top priority.