West Wimbledon Primary School aims to be an e-confident school: one that is equipped to prepare children for the changing world around them by firmly embedding information and communication technologies into the curriculum and into our ways of working.
Our current vision for West Wimbledon Primary School is to provide a caring, inclusive and holistic learning environment that sits at the heart of its community and provides a high level of challenge, stimulation, and support. We are committed to enabling each child to maximize her/his potential for both academic and personal successes – which we characterize in our motto: Learning and Growing.
All children can start Reception in the September following their 4th birthday. Applications can be made during the period 1 September to 15 January before the child is due to start. If your child already attends a Merton School Nursery you will be provided with information by them at the correct time. If your child does not attend a Merton School Nursery, please visit the Merton Admission team’s website the September after your child’s 3rd birthday to make an online application. There are separate admissions processes for our Nursery, our Reception classes, Years 1-6 and for Treetops, our Base for children with Autism. Applications to our Base are only available through Merton’s Special Educational Needs Admissions Team.
The focus of our combined efforts this year must remain the same: to secure continuous improvement, and to ensure that every child achieves the very best of which s/he is capable and to do so hopefully in an external climate not quite so fraught with the changes, uncertainty and political intervention we have seen over the last few years.
We start this year, fully staffed with permanent colleagues, with a hugely supportive and skilled Governing Body and a budget that should allow us to support our drive for high-quality education. Two years ago, we did some preliminary work on revisiting the School’s vision but this was shelved, with the previous administration’s sudden “All schools to become academies” notion. Thankfully, with that now behind us, I would like us to resume that work with staff, Governors, parents, and children.
With the involvement of all stakeholders – children, parents, staff, governors, and our community – we strive to be a school of which to be proud a school that nurtures valuable and responsible global citizens of the future. The School intends to revisit this vision during this academic year, to ensure that it captures the essence of the kind of School we are, and the School we intend to be. At West Wimbledon Primary School we strive to ensure that children are prepared for, and actively contribute to, life in modern Britain. This work pervades our PSHE and Citizenship curriculum, as well as all aspects of School life and we refer to these as the West Wimbledon Values.
The Governors of West Wimbledon Primary School act as a ‘critical friend’ to the School. The Governing Body comprises people from all walks of life who bring a diverse range of skills, expertise, and experience which allows it to lead and support the School in making the correct choices about its development: but also holds it to account for its performance.
The Governing Body is a crucial part of the school community and works closely with the Headteacher and the leadership team, particularly about setting the strategic priorities for the School. It scrutinizes the School’s financial management, the safeguarding of the children, our relationships with our neighbors, and the maintenance of our buildings and grounds, as well as overseeing what is taught, how it is taught, and, most importantly, what children achieve. It is an integral part of the School: and who we are.
We recognize that safeguarding against radicalization is no different from safeguarding against any other vulnerability. At West Wimbledon Primary School all staff is expected to uphold and promote our core values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
Our practice on Internet safety, another key component in our commitment to safeguarding the children in our care. As a School, West Wimbledon Primary School is committed to ensuring that children are as safe as possible when using the Internet. To that end, we have been actively involved in the Safer Internet campaigns of 2016 and 2017, running a poster competition in 2017 for the children, as well as assemblies and activities for each class.
The School Council at West Wimbledon Primary School enables the children to have a say in the running of their school. This pupil voice provides the children with a greater sense of belonging, helps them to become more confident when putting forward ideas, and develops a greater understanding of the need to work cooperatively for the good of others.
Our School Council comprises children from Years 1 to 6. Each member of our School Council is elected by their class. Therefore, they represent the views of their class at the meeting and feedback to their class on the discussion points that were addressed at each meeting. Once a term the School Council attends the School’s Senior Leadership Team meeting, to make suggestions and raise concerns. Years 5 and 6 representatives also attend part of the School’s Full Governing Body meetings.
As is the case with most schools in Merton, West Wimbledon Primary School undertakes an annual cycle of review of performance, before developing – with Governors – its strategic plans for the future year. Last year’s (2016-17) self-evaluation document provided a detailed assessment of what the School had so far achieved, and what it might do even better and, from it, the School Development Plan for 2017-8 was drawn up. The priorities were developed following a Governors’ Strategic Planning afternoon in September, after which it was adopted by the Full Governing Body. The progress of each action is monitored closely at each Full Governing Body meeting this academic year.
The School undertook a review of its existing policy to meet the new requirements for SEND in line with the new SEND Code of Practice effective from 1 September 2014. However, To provide an improved, compliant policy we are committed to reviewing and revisiting that that policy with families, children, and young people.
West Wimbledon Primary School is committed to ensuring that every child makes the greatest amounts of progress and achieves everything of which s/he is capable. To that end, we focus on the needs of more able children, just as we provide additional support for those children who require that to access fully the curriculum and the level of work we demand of them.
