Inspiring and Empowering People

St. Michael's Learning Culture

St. Michael's staff are dedicated and inspiring people who are key to our learning culture. We are fortunate to work in a school where a wide-variety of professional development is important. We engage in research, collaborate with other schools and work with a wide range of professional partners to ensure we are always learning, innovative, reflective - all leading to the highest possible quality provision for our children.

2022-23

Ensure that collective worship provides a clear focus for personal development and reflection for all, in line with a clear school vision which places the development of the whole child at its heart.

To continue the school’s strategic plan to create a coherent and progressive curriculum across the school for all subjects with quality first teaching at the fore front.

To strengthen, enrich and inspire reading across the school, including embedding a new phonics scheme (Essential Letters and Sounds)

To ensure a commitment to supporting the needs of all children, including the establishment of a clear approach to behaviour management

In line with the new vision, to ensure the school’s commitment to promoting the well-being of the children is maintained and enhanced further.


2021-2022

To improve the quality of children’s work in RE to plug gaps in learning, reflect their abilities and demonstrate higher order thinking

To continue the school’s strategic plan to create a coherent and progressive curriculum across the school for all subjects with quality first teaching at the fore front

Further develop leadership across the school, including the embedding of the new EYFS framework and curriculum

To develop SMSC across the curriculum and through worship to support the mental health and well-being of children

Develop positive attitudes towards behavior in line with reviewing the Behaviour and Learning policy


2020-2021

  1. Rebuilding the school community

  2. Meeting children’s and staff’s social, emotional and mental health needs

  3. Assessing children’s academic needs and effectively teach according to their needs.

  4. Establishing efficient provision to plug the gaps in learning

2019-20 was a year for refining our curriculum.

  1. The development of knowledge and skills through the year groups

  2. Cross curricular links

  3. Ensuring our curriculum meets the needs of our learners

STEP ON Training 2019-20

The majority of our staff are now STEP ON trained. We are a STEPS school!

STEP ON is a therapeutic approach to behaviour with an emphasise on pro-social behaviours and providing a positive, individual approach to education.

INSET Day Oct 2019

We enjoyed an INSET Day Conference with local primary and secondary schools in October 2019 on the subject of positive wellbeing. We put this focus into action in February 2020 during our Mental Health Week which equipped our children (and staff!) with strategies to manage stress, anxiety and promote wellbeing.

In the autumn term 2019 we worked on aspects such as...

  • Subject Leadership - each member of staff leads a subject or area of school life, such as School Council. The staff are expected to closely monitor and develop the quality of provision in their area via a wide variety of activities on an ongoing basis. This is in addition to their classroom responsibilities.

  • Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) - We are working on implementing the statutory Relationships Education, which is part of our whole school scheme of work for PSHE.

Subject Leader Cluster Meetings

In January, our subject leaders are hosting schools from the Bishop's Stortford area and beyond, to discuss best practice in their subjects and share ideas, strategies, projects and other aspects of high quality teaching and learning. This is something we have chosen to do as a school as we feel collaborating with other schools helps ensure we are improving our provision and keep up to date with developments in education. It also means we are forward thinking and are supporting colleagues in what they are doing in schools.

We already lead successful cluster groups for RE and Modern Foreign Languages for Bishop's Stortford and surrounding areas and are branching out into other subjects, hoping for the same level of success!

In a February 2018 speech given by HM Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman, she says: "...long-lasting improvement is the work of teams within schools and collaboration between schools. This is what we see in our best schools..."


We are open to new ideas, innovate and share best practice

Much of our work this year, linked to the School Improvement Plan and School Vision, is around ensuring the high quality teaching and learning continues, with creativity, outdoor learning, mindfulness and spiritual, moral, social and cultural education embedded.