Wider School Community
Our school community stretches far and wide. The following groups all support us and, in turn, we support charities all over the world!
PTA and the Parent Council
Hyde Park Infant School
Local Secondary Schools
Local Colleges and Universities
Businesses and Churches
Charities
Plymouth Teaching School
PTA and the Parent Council
Hyde Park Infant School
Local Secondary Schools
Local Colleges and Universities
Businesses and Churches
Charities
Plymouth Teaching School
PTA and the Parent Council
The PTA are active fund raisers for us and have contributed substantially to the facilities in school! It is down to their hard work that we have a newly decorated playground, and Children's University passports for every child. In January 2006 we were able to open a brand new library on the top floor of the building jointly paid for by the PTA and the LEA. This is complemented by the addition of an interactive whiteboard that allows information research on line to complement the non fiction book stock. This year fundraising is focusing on replacing aging musical instrument stock.
We enjoy the usual community events such as the Christmas and Summer Fairs and have occasional Discos, trips and special events on the school calendar. The PTA somehow manage to provide refreshments to most of the school and their families at our Annual Christmas Concert at Mutley Baptist Church. Our hall would never cope with the overwhelming families, ex-pupils and friends of the school that have made this a ‘must’ in their annual diaries.
The Infant School
We work closely with the Infant school to agree joint policies where possible and curriculum liaison takes place regularly to ensure continuity and progression between the two schools’ curriculum. There is a well developed transition programme between year 2 and year 3 and opportunities for parents to get to know our school and staff in advance. We appreciate feed back from new parents, please do help us to develop the best possible service to year 3 families.
Secondary Schools
Our catchment is a complicated one and our pupils feed to a range of secondary schools (see our school prospectus for up to date Year 6 leaver destinations). As a result we have benefited from the interest and support of several schools. We have had Easter Schools run by the Coombe Dean staff, numerous enrichment clubs, regular ICT technical support and a loaned French teacher too! Lipson Community College have supported us wonderfully by loaning us their Theatre for our production of ‘Macbeth’ in 2005, and Plymouth High School for Girls hosted our production of The Tempest in 2011. We are also developing strong links with their Arts and Special Needs departments. We have equally strong links with All Saints Academy who have magnificently supported our Sports programme with coaches on loan in a variety of sports, even from Plymouth Argyle and Plymouth Albion! They also support and Able and Talented Mathematicians and Business enterprise initiatives and help put on the annual Mardi Gras languages festival. We feel blessed!
Colleges and Universities
We make a commitment to train students annually from many of the higher and further education colleges in the City. We are also fortunate to have a good link with the College of St. Mark and St. Johns International Department, working with trained teachers from Mauritius, St. Lucia, Nepal and China in the last five years. In a school with 40 pupils speaking 17 languages between them, there is a real need to promote and celebrate cultural diversity.
Businesses and Churches
We have had the strong support of shops, estate agents and businesses in our community, both financially and in joint charity projects. Between us we sent 130 goats to impoverished African families in 2004 and fed an African Orphan school for a year in 2005. We have benefited tremendously from the work of the Peverell Players Amateur Dramatics Group, who not only develop wonderful confidence in our pupils but also paid for our full drum kit which is used by our keen drummers in their weekly lessons. In February 2006 we benefited from a huge voluntary business and community project run by Plymouth Cares, who are helped to redecorate the middle floor of the school. Since then we have worked with Mutley Baptist Church to house poor families in Mexico, and with Hope Baptist Church we raised money for orphanages in Easten Europe. The Ministers from St. Matthias and Hope Baptist are regular visitors to the school, often leading assemblies. We also have a regular group called Kingdom Kids that meet weekly.
Charities
We have supported so many charities in the last six years, that even we have lost count! In addition to Farm Aid goats and Malawi School for Orphans, we send our harvest annually to The Shekinah Mission for the homeless, we run events on Comic Relief Day, Children in Needs Day, support Blue Peter challenges, and have an annual Poppy collection. We have also raised money for CLIC and for St. Luke’s Hospice – well over £4,000 in total for this cause. We also sent £100 to Childline at our School Council’s request. We have sung carols to the Torr Home for the Blind residents for nearly 55 years running. We now also support a school in the poorest part of Chennai, India and have recently received scores of thank you letters from the pupils there. This work is typical of the enthusiasm and empathy displayed by our pupils.
Plymouth Teaching School
This is a new initiative (2012) to promote the collaboration and mutual support of pupils and staff across the city. Local schools who have identified needs in their own training will be able to access a database of relevant experts in their field and in turn trade their own areas of expertise. This will be an exciting way to develop and share best practise locally.
The PTA are active fund raisers for us and have contributed substantially to the facilities in school! It is down to their hard work that we have a newly decorated playground, and Children's University passports for every child. In January 2006 we were able to open a brand new library on the top floor of the building jointly paid for by the PTA and the LEA. This is complemented by the addition of an interactive whiteboard that allows information research on line to complement the non fiction book stock. This year fundraising is focusing on replacing aging musical instrument stock.
We enjoy the usual community events such as the Christmas and Summer Fairs and have occasional Discos, trips and special events on the school calendar. The PTA somehow manage to provide refreshments to most of the school and their families at our Annual Christmas Concert at Mutley Baptist Church. Our hall would never cope with the overwhelming families, ex-pupils and friends of the school that have made this a ‘must’ in their annual diaries.
The Infant School
We work closely with the Infant school to agree joint policies where possible and curriculum liaison takes place regularly to ensure continuity and progression between the two schools’ curriculum. There is a well developed transition programme between year 2 and year 3 and opportunities for parents to get to know our school and staff in advance. We appreciate feed back from new parents, please do help us to develop the best possible service to year 3 families.
Secondary Schools
Our catchment is a complicated one and our pupils feed to a range of secondary schools (see our school prospectus for up to date Year 6 leaver destinations). As a result we have benefited from the interest and support of several schools. We have had Easter Schools run by the Coombe Dean staff, numerous enrichment clubs, regular ICT technical support and a loaned French teacher too! Lipson Community College have supported us wonderfully by loaning us their Theatre for our production of ‘Macbeth’ in 2005, and Plymouth High School for Girls hosted our production of The Tempest in 2011. We are also developing strong links with their Arts and Special Needs departments. We have equally strong links with All Saints Academy who have magnificently supported our Sports programme with coaches on loan in a variety of sports, even from Plymouth Argyle and Plymouth Albion! They also support and Able and Talented Mathematicians and Business enterprise initiatives and help put on the annual Mardi Gras languages festival. We feel blessed!
Colleges and Universities
We make a commitment to train students annually from many of the higher and further education colleges in the City. We are also fortunate to have a good link with the College of St. Mark and St. Johns International Department, working with trained teachers from Mauritius, St. Lucia, Nepal and China in the last five years. In a school with 40 pupils speaking 17 languages between them, there is a real need to promote and celebrate cultural diversity.
Businesses and Churches
We have had the strong support of shops, estate agents and businesses in our community, both financially and in joint charity projects. Between us we sent 130 goats to impoverished African families in 2004 and fed an African Orphan school for a year in 2005. We have benefited tremendously from the work of the Peverell Players Amateur Dramatics Group, who not only develop wonderful confidence in our pupils but also paid for our full drum kit which is used by our keen drummers in their weekly lessons. In February 2006 we benefited from a huge voluntary business and community project run by Plymouth Cares, who are helped to redecorate the middle floor of the school. Since then we have worked with Mutley Baptist Church to house poor families in Mexico, and with Hope Baptist Church we raised money for orphanages in Easten Europe. The Ministers from St. Matthias and Hope Baptist are regular visitors to the school, often leading assemblies. We also have a regular group called Kingdom Kids that meet weekly.
Charities
We have supported so many charities in the last six years, that even we have lost count! In addition to Farm Aid goats and Malawi School for Orphans, we send our harvest annually to The Shekinah Mission for the homeless, we run events on Comic Relief Day, Children in Needs Day, support Blue Peter challenges, and have an annual Poppy collection. We have also raised money for CLIC and for St. Luke’s Hospice – well over £4,000 in total for this cause. We also sent £100 to Childline at our School Council’s request. We have sung carols to the Torr Home for the Blind residents for nearly 55 years running. We now also support a school in the poorest part of Chennai, India and have recently received scores of thank you letters from the pupils there. This work is typical of the enthusiasm and empathy displayed by our pupils.
Plymouth Teaching School
This is a new initiative (2012) to promote the collaboration and mutual support of pupils and staff across the city. Local schools who have identified needs in their own training will be able to access a database of relevant experts in their field and in turn trade their own areas of expertise. This will be an exciting way to develop and share best practise locally.