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Welcome to St Wilfrid’s Church of England Primary School, where our caring and friendly atmosphere gives children a great start to their educational journey. We are at the heart of a close-knit community in Northenden, which includes our amazingly talented and hard-working pupils, dedicated, experienced staff, and an active Parent Teacher Association. As part of St James & Emmanuel Academy Trust, our Christian school exists to provide a welcoming environment in which everybody is cherished and challenged to fulfill their potential. At St Wilfrid’s, our aim is always to provide a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum that encourages a positive attitude to the learning process. We expect high standards in teaching, learning, and behavior, which rubs off on children who are nurtured to become confident, resilient, and, most of all, happy and secure at school. Our high-quality teaching of the core curriculum is supplemented by sports activities, music lessons, choirs, and clubs - we’re committed to encouraging children to discover their passions. And they feed off this sense of participation, be that in School Council, weekly class assemblies, or annual productions. St Wilfrid's CE Primary School is a one and half form entry primary school for children aged 4-11. Every September we welcome 45 children into our reception class - although high priority is given to children with Church connections, other local children are welcome and attend the school and nursery in significant numbers. In September 2018, the Trust Admissions Governing Body has agreed to increase the number of children to 50. St Wilfrid's CE Nursery is very fortunate to have a Nursery unit, as part of our Early Years education on site. We are proud of our school and all that we can offer. Our Nursery has a qualified teacher, together with two key workers. As well as a focus on social, physical and language development, there is a clear learning focus to all that takes place and we can have a structured and clear approach to the teaching of phonics. The progress children make in our nursery, both socially and academically is excellent and this ensures that the children have built an excellent foundation before starting school. The Nursery is staffed by a teacher and two teaching assistants. Like the main school, the Nursery children take part in Nursery Worship and Christian celebrations throughout the year, ensuring a strong Christian ethos throughout the school. Information about events can be found through the School’s weekly newsletter and the Nursery Weekly Letter (obtainable either from our Nursery Information Page or from the School Office entrance). You are always welcome in the Nursery. We hope that parents will join staff and children in visits and outings. We look forward to a long and successful partnership with you. St Wilfrid's joined St James and Emmanuel Academy on the 1st of July 2016. We are part of trust together with Didsbury CE Primary School and West Didsbury CE Primary School. St Wilfrid's is a one and a half form entry Church of England Primary school with an intake of 45 children each September. We also have a Pre- School Nursery which offers 15 hours per week placements and wraparound care. We have two Reception classes. The first school to serve the Northenden area was Sharston National School built in 1810 and later the Northenden National School was founded on the present Tesco site. After the closure of this school and Shadow Moss Primary School near Manchester Airport, St Wilfrid's Junior School was opened in 1961 as a two-form entry junior school. It consisted of eight classrooms, a large hall, a kitchen, and extensive playing fields. As a result of falling numbers in Northenden, in 1983 a merger took place between St Wilfrid's Juniors and Royle Green Infants. St Wilfrid's C of E Primary School was thus formed as a one-form entry school. However, in response to increased requests for places, a new 45 place nursery was opened, together with four new infant classrooms. This opened in January 1997 and the school became a one and a half form entry school. When parents come to St Wilfrid's CE Primary for the first time, we often hear them marveling at the caring, nurturing, family atmosphere. This is very much our vision - to grow a diverse and creative educational community where we encourage belonging and nurture believing: together becoming fulfilled and responsible members of God’s world. This school has nine governors who act on behalf of St Wilfrid's for St James & Emmanuel Academy Trust. Please see the page on St James & Emmanuel Academy Trust for more information on the organization of the Trust and the other schools within it, West Didsbury CE Primary School and Didsbury CE Primary School. The head of school is a governor because of her job. She can decide not to be a governor, but she still has to attend the meetings and prepare reports for the governors. View full school

All schools are different. Each school has its character, ethos, and ways of doing things. This is what makes schools unique and able to offer different things to meet the needs of different families and learners. At Northenden, we believe that a real strength of our school is our ethos and the care, guidance, and support that we offer to our children and families. Our school is a friendly place and we expect a high level of co-operation and consideration from all involved in the lives of the children. We believe that we are a successful school but are always looking ahead to be even better. The ETHOS of a school describes its character and the important values and behaviors which underpin our work and are shown through everyday life at the school. At Northenden, we have three overarching ethos statements which illustrate the important things we value in our school. We believe that RESPECT for each other is very important. It is at the heart of how we treat each other, talk to each other, respond to each other and have regard for each other’s feelings, abilities, backgrounds, family, and other differences, cultures, and needs. At our school, we aim that pupils, staff, parents, governors, and visitors treat each other with respect at all times and that the relationships between these stakeholders in our school are always of the highest quality. A child or young person has a Special Educational Need if they have a learning difficulty or a disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. A child might have Special Educational Needs, including a learning difficulty, if he or she has significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age or has a disability that prevents or hinders him or her from making use of the facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools. Special Educational Provision is an educational provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children of the same age by mainstream schools. There are four broad areas of need identified in the SEN Code of Practice. However, the purpose of identification is to work out what action the school needs to take, not to fit a pupil into a category. In practice, individual children often have needs that cut across all four areas and their needs may change over time. For instance, speech, language, and communication needs can also be a feature of several other areas of SEN, and children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may have needs across all areas, including particularly sensory requirements. The Governing Body’s role is to provide support and act as a ‘critical friend’ to the school and the Headteacher in moving the school forward and ensuring its success. The Governing Body of a school is accountable for its performance, its finances, and the safety and well-being of pupils and staff. All of the above is done by governors voluntarily, some of whom may not have a background in or work in education. Governors bring a wide range of experience to the school, including business and finance, parenting experience, further and higher education, and administrative expertise. Above all, they bring energy, commitment, enthusiasm, and ideas to share with senior staff in shaping the future of the school. The roles and responsibilities of governing bodies are clear in law and there is a clear distinction between the responsibilities and powers of the Headteacher and those of the governors. The Governing Body should take an overview of school development, and support and challenge the Headteacher and other senior staff. The Headteacher is responsible too for forwarding planning but has paid responsibility for this and the overall running of the school. The school is one of the longest-established schools in Manchester and certainly one of the oldest remaining of the Edwardian era. The construction of the school began in 1908 and was completed for opening in 1910. The school has undergone many facelifts and has been well-maintained, over the years but without losing most of its original design and the charm that it had when it first opened over 100 years ago. You can see evidence of the history of the building in its external features. Safeguarding is the ‘umbrella’ term we use to mean everything we do to keep children safe and free from harm. The school has a strong commitment to keeping children safe as well as a range of statutory duties it must carry out in doing so. The SAFETY of the children in our care is of the highest importance to everyone at Northenden Community School. Schools are no longer required to issue and ask parents to sign home-school agreements. However, we believe that a partnership, some understanding, and some expectations must exist between the school, parents, and the children (the partnership triangle) for positive relationships and understandings to exist for the benefit of the children, parents, and the school, including its staff. View full school