We are a values based school with a strong family feel. Christ is at the centre of all we do and we follow the example of St Teresa of Lisieux, who lived her short life by ensuring that ‘..love proves itself by deeds.’

Our school forms an important part of the bond between parents and the parish. The church and school are on the same well resourced site and we value the community ethos we enjoy together.

Children achieve well across our school and outcomes are strong compared to national averages.

Our most recent OFSTED inspection in July 2022 was extremely positive and affirmed the school’s own view that St Teresa’s is a good school. The excerpt below is taken from the full report, describing what it is like to attend our school.

‘Pupils do their best to live up to the values of the school, which include, for example, teamwork and ambition. They take part in lessons with enthusiasm and work hard. Pupils are happy and safe at school, and they collaborate well with their peers. They trust the adults around them. Pupils are confident that if they have any concerns they can always talk to an adult in school.

Across the school, pupils show ‘St Teresa’s little ways’. These are small, kind deeds like opening doors for adults, or picking up a jumper for another pupil, for example. Pupils try hard to be courteous and respectful towards everyone. Bullying is not something that happens often. If it does, adults very quickly deal with it.

Adults have high expectations of pupils. Staff encourage pupils to never give up and do their best. Pupils meet these expectations as they achieve well across a range of subjects.

Leaders create opportunities for pupils to follow and develop their interests. Budding journalists publish their own termly magazine for the school community. Those who have interests in science and engineering get to present their personal projects to the whole school. Pupils who are keen athletes join inter-school competitions. Recently, pupils received the school of the year award.’ – OFSTED July 2022.

The school was last inspected by denominational inspectors in 2017, who found the school to be offering outstanding provision in all areas of Catholic education, with development points around improving consistency in collective worship and the development of a portfolio of work to support assessment in RE. The school has acted on and moved beyond these action points and is preparing for an inspection under the current inspection framework, which focuses on the Catholic life and mission of the school, prayer and liturgy (including collective worship) and religious education. The school continues to thrive with strong outcomes in all areas.

We are a self improving school and have set ourselves some challenging targets for the current academic year including the single target from our OFSTED inspection to ensure that children know more and remember more through clear and concise teaching in specific areas. In addition to this our overall focus for the current academic year is to improve the following characteristics:

Clarity – being clear in everything we do.

Communication – ensuring that we share information effectively.

Consistency – developing effective ways of doing things every time.

The image on the right captures our core values, catholic social teaching and whole school priorities on a rose, the favourite flower of our very own St Teresa of Lisieux.

Perhaps the best way to know more about our school family is to come and see our living values of Love, Trust, Teamwork and Ambition in action. 

Children enter our school with strong family values and faith.

We understand that children see their parents in the image of Jesus. We recognise that parents are the first educators of their child and understand the important part that our school has to play in the whole religious education of the children in our care.

During their time in school children grow closer to Christ. St. Teresa’s Church and the school work together to ensure that the children have a strong formation of faith including a strong understanding of the significance of all sacraments and in particular the First Holy Communion.

A strong programme of Religious Education allows children to deepen their own faith with a deep understanding of the Gospel values in the context of society today. Children are encouraged to ask questions that deepen their knowledge of other world faiths allowing them to converse with people from other faiths, not being afraid of their own.

The unique support that we receive from the church Pastoral team allows us to promote spirituality throughout the whole day including breaktimes.

Our committed Faith team are stewards of faith formation and faith in action supporting all pupils, the lead RE teacher/team, families and Church Pastoral workers at every level with knowing God more clearly and loving Him more dearly.

Children express and celebrate their faith in a number of ways. A fine example of this is our excellent school choir, whose love of singing, and singing praise to God combine together to nourish the entire school community in Masses and liturgies as well as in and around the community throughout the year.

Children leave our school with a secure understanding of the faith, they are able to discern what that means to them and are able to respond to their learning through the decisions and choices they make in their everyday lives. St Teresa’s pupils, present and past, are confident in what they believe and willing to share their faith with others.