Schools_as_Organisations

St. Mary’s Catholic Primary School is a little different from other schools in that it is a Faith school, meaning it follows the same National Curriculum as all other schools but has the freedom to teach their own religion, and only their own. There are different types of schools within the category of Faith schools; these include academies, voluntary aided and free schools. St. Mary’s is a Faith school that is governed by our local council who helps with around 93% of our funding and distribution of supplies, unlike academy faith schools who are governed by an independent body, separate from the local council, and they have their own curriculum. There are many roles within the school and each different role has its own responsibilities. From the bottom up you’d start with the support staff; Teaching Assistants and volunteers. It’s the responsibility of the teaching assistant to support their teachers in however they need you to. Whether it be upkeep of a display for the classroom, or helping with a group of children during each lesson to give them the extra support they need to achieve the completion of the work set them by their teacher. Teaching assistants don’t only support the teachers or the pupils, they would also support the parents. If a parent has any individual needs, maybe they would like you as a T.A. to support their child in a different approach that they have found works for them and their child, or maybe they’re having a difficult time privately and need emotional or tactical support. These would all fall under the responsibility of the T.A. As a teaching assistant you must also help with the preparation and the organisation of the learning environment as directed by the teacher. The teachers role would be to plan the lessons, to be responsible for the children in their class and their Individual Education Plans (IEP), ensuring that each individual child receives tailor made lessons, needs ranging from any learning difficulties they may have or just the speed and level that they can work at. The teacher also decides how best to utilise the resources given to them, whether it be materials, T.A.’s or parent helpers. They are also responsible for preparation and maintenance of displays in the own classrooms. Some schools may also have external professionals who may come to help assist the senior management team, and class teachers, in making sure that all the students have appropriate help and support throughout school. These may include specialist music tutors, health care or extracurricular professionals. St. Mary’s have several external professionals, these include guitar, piano, recorder and clarinet tutors. St. Mary’s also has a cycling proficiency scheme where they are taught how to ride their bikes correctly and safely. There are also a number of health care professional that assist the school by testing the children’s eyesight and hearing. These checks are important as the can highlight any issues that the teachers or parents may not be away of and with this knowledge they can create better IEP’s to better support the learners. The Head Teacher(s), senior management team and Special Education Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) create and maintain the learning environment throughout the school as a whole and are also responsible for all children that attend their school. School governors monitor the impact of policies and oversee the school budgeting and staffing. They also deal with complaints, whether from staff, learners or parents. The governors are the ones who are responsible for reviewing the work of the senior staff. The Values of a school are defined as their lasting beliefs and ideals. St Mary’s values are “To promote the formation of the complete person based on the example and inspiration of Jesus Christ, through living in the spirit of the Gospel of Christ.” “To help pupils develop a personal relationship with God in their journey through life.” And “To ensure every child shares in an educational environment filled with love and concern – a community joining together to create a better world.” St. Mary’s demonstrate their values by a number of ways. Each class always say a prayer at the beginning and end of each day as well as before and after break and lunch. These prayers remind the pupils to be thankful for what they have, ask God for help when needed and pupils also promise to be good and treat others with respect. They also hold regular assemblies in which they learn hymns and stories of God. They also comtinue the traditions of visiting St Mary’s Catholic Church on a monthly basis, as this is only next door the priest also visits the school to give talks and help during RE lessons and assemblies. Also Class 2, for example has a prayer corner, where each pupil has the opportunity at anytime to take a prayer bead, hold it in their hands and say a silent prayer and can hang their bead on a piece of cloth that hangs in the prayer corner. This not only teaches the children that prayers can happen at any time, but that it is also ok for them to pray whenever they feel the need without the worry of peer pressure like you may get from none faith schools. St Mary’s also have a mission statement, their aims for their pupils, what they intend to provide and/or teach their pupils. There are quite a few aims written in there prospectus, to outline a few they are; • Prayer and community worship. • An ethos of support, challenge and encouragement to succeed. • An enriching programme of extracurricular activities and visits. • Develop an informed Christian faith. • Gain technological skills for the modern world. They achieve their aims by making sure their computers are top of the range and have all the latest software. Every class has the opportunity to access them at anytime, and all take tests on books that they have read to keep track of their reading level on the computers as well as having at least 2 lessons a week on the computers. There is a touch screen ‘whiteboard’ in each classroom so the children have hands on experience with the technology and classroom resources, making some lessons more entertaining. To ensure the smooth running up upkeep of their computers, one of St. Mary’s teachers has a degree in computing and it is their responsibility to keep them safe and current, which in turn helps the senior management team ensure they are always providing the best resources for their school. They help develop an informed Christian faith by holding regular assemblies, attending Mass monthly and utilising the knowledge of the neighbouring church and priest. There are also a number of extracurricular activities made available to the pupils, for example there is tennis and football clubs as well as a multi-skills club that teaches the children anything from gardening to outdoor survival.