St Mary’s Catholic Primary School
Policy for Community Cohesion
MISSION STATEMENT
“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there
among them.”(Matthew 18:20)
Introduction
This policy is to be looked at in conjunction with the Inclusion and Race Equality policy
as well as the Accessibility Plan and the Disability Discrimination Scheme.
Aims and Objectives
St Mary’s Catholic Primary School imparts the vision that guides all Catholic schools,
namely the dignity of each human being, the importance of community and the role
model of the person of Jesus Christ. St Mary’s seeks to develop the whole person, both
pupils and adults alike, and this is expressed implicitly and explicitly in all it does. This
is reflected in the school mission statement as well as in school policies, curriculum and
pastoral arrangements, the admissions policy, the involvement in the local and wider
communities and the quality of the engagement with parents and St Mary’s parish.
At St Mary’s Catholic Primary School we are committed to supporting community
cohesion by:
 employing a designated community co-ordinator;
 developing a common vision and sense of belonging;
 developing an appreciation of the diversity of people’s backgrounds and
circumstance;
 creating opportunities for all pupils to achieve the very best they can;
 building strong and positive relationships in school, with the parish, in the wider
community.
All of the above statements are incorporated into our Mission Statement.
Recent years has seen a more diverse cultural mix of both pupils and staff and St Mary’s
recognizes that this enriches the community life of the school. The term “community”
has a number of dimensions for St Mary’s School including:
 The school community, the pupils it serves, their parents, the staff and the
Governing Body;
 The parish community of St Mary’s Parish as well as its sister school, St
Catherine’s, St Mary’s Playgroup and Catkins Playgroup;
 The communities created by our cluster schools of St Joseph’s College, Holy
Rood Infant and Junior Schools, Holy Family School and St Catherine’s School;
 The communities formed by our partnerships wirh, University of the West of
England and Bath Spa University, Swindon College and Trident work
experience;
 Swindon Local Authority and the multi agencies that serve our school;
 The local community of Swindon.


The UK community
The global community.
Strategies to achieve Community Cohesion
We help to build community cohesion by:
 Promoting equality of opportunity and inclusion for all pupils irrespective of
background, gender, ability, culture, ethnicity or socio-economic circumstances;
 Promoting school values and encouraging pupils to engage with others in order
to understand what they hold in common.
The school’s contribution to community cohesion can be grouped into three headings:
Teaching, learning and curriculum
 Helping pupils to understand others, to value diversity, respect human rights and
to develop the skills of participation and responsible action.
Equity and Excellence
 To ensure all pupils, staff and governors have equal opportunities to achieve the
very best they can.
Engagement and Extended Services
 To provide opportunities for pupils to interact with people from different
backgrounds and cultures.
 To build links with parents and different schools and communities.
 To provide extended services.
Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum






In school we aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum for all learners.
Through planning of the curriculum we meet the needs of individuals and groups
of learners. The learning opportunities provided, which include differentiated
tasks, provide all learners with relevant and appropriately challenging work at
each key stage. Pupils are involved in target setting and the annual statutory
targets set are always challenging and aspirational.
There are opportunities across the curriculum to promote shared values and help
pupils to value and celebrate differences as well as challenging prejudice,
discrimination and stereotyping. This is particularly evident in the work done in
R.E. SEAL, PSHCE, Collective Worship and Circle Time activities.
An extensive programme of curriculum and extra curricular activities enrich
pupils’ understanding of community and diversity through residential visits,
community access, visits to places of worship both of their own faith and other
faiths and opportunities to meet with members of different communities.
There are opportunities for a comprehensive daily programme of collective
worship which includes themed assemblies, assemblies according to liturgical
feast days, inputs from members of the local and wider community;
Support is provided for pupils for whom English is an additional language
(EAL) and specific support for pupils with special educational need (SEN), in
order to remove barriers to learning.
The designated community co-ordinator acts as a link to involve the local
community in the school .
The following three principles ensure an inclusive curriculum:
 setting suitable learning challenges;
 responding to learner’s diverse needs;
 overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and
groups of learners.

Equity and Excellence
 High standards of achievement are promoted for all pupils. Challenging
individual targets are set for all pupils, pupil progress is monitored regularly and
the school provides robust strategies of intervention and support.
 Intervention takes place at the earliest opportunity to remove barriers to
achievement and to remove disparities in attainment between different groups of
pupils.
 An inclusive, caring supportive ethos is promoted as well as a highly effective
pastoral system.
 The highest standards of behaviour is expected (see Mission Statement) and
there are effective approaches in place to deal with incidents of prejudice,
bullying and use of racial language.
Engagement and Extended Services
 There are links to other schools both locally and internationally;
 There are strong partnership links with Swindon Schools Sports Partnership;
 Fundraising for CAFOD and Mary’s Meals take place regularly particulary
during CAFOD Harvest Fast Day and Lent Fast Day. There are links with a
mission in Zimbabwe as well as supporting two Indian orphans.
 There is a partner school in Montabise, Poitiers with video conferencing
links set up.
 Good transition exists with Catholic Secondary school, playgroup settings
and other schools .

School/Parents and the Community
 There are close links with our parish
 Communication and engagement with parents is done through a range of
methods such as regular newsletter, text to parents, curriculum evenings,
surveys, hospitality offered at Friday assemblies.
 There are strong links with external agencies as well as trainee teacher
providers, work experience providers and volunteer helpers.
 Any concerns that can lead to tensions in the local community, eg.
parking will be quickly resolved.





Extended Services
We are recognized by Swindon Local Authority as providing the core offer of
extended services:
The school provides childcare with its own Breakfast Club;
The school provides a wide and varied menu of activities through after school
clubs as well as enriching visits to the theatre and other places of interest.
There is swift and easy referral through external agencies;
Parenting support is offered through the Parent Support Advisor;
There is community access to the school through cubs, beavers and scouts.
Our designated community co-ordinator’s role is specifically to support extended
services.
January 2010