Message from our Headteacher

Welcome to St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School

St. Thomas of Canterbury School is a Catholic Academy Primary School in the Guildford Parish of the Catholic Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. We are a part of the Xavier Catholic Education Trust.

The school is a two form entry co-educational day school situated in the Merrow district of Guildford serving the local community as well as surrounding areas. As a Catholic school we serve the Guildford Parish but our children come from all backgrounds and faiths.

Our children say that we are the best school in the world and I think so too but I know I am biased! We are always looking to be the very best that we can be, individually and as a school: we don’t  always get it right but we keep on trying, learning and improving.

We have one Golden Rule that drives everything we do: we treat others as we would like to be treated. In this way we learn respect and kindness and we strive always to be the very best that we can be. We look to be the best we can be in our relationships, in our emotional and physical development and, of course, in our academics. To help us we have our 10 Golden threads that guide all we do:

Love, Forgiveness, Honesty, Thankfulness, Wonder, Kindness, Friendship, Hope, Respect and Tolerance

Our Aims

The aim of St. Thomas of Canterbury School is to fulfil our Mission Statement by providing a loving caring community of adults and children inspired by the Love of God, in which each child will feel happy and secure. It is in this atmosphere that he or she will be encouraged to develop his or her interests and abilities to the full. A keen interest is taken in the individual pupil and we are concerned for the development of “the whole child”.

The aims of St. Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School are:

• To guide our children to grow in the love of God and build relationships that will enable them to make a positive contribution to the school and society.
• To develop an exciting, challenging and creative curriculum that produces confident and successful learners who are the best that they can be.
• To develop high quality learning that enables every child to flourish, to discover their talents and be lifelong learners.
• To establish a teaching and learning environment that encourages everyone to enjoy, to achieve, to be inclusive, to be healthy, and to stay safe.
• To nurture a strong partnership between home and school.
• To have respect and understanding for our school, our community and our world, helping our children to become responsible citizens and good role models.

Making S=P+A+C+E …

Our focus is on bringing out the best in everyone. To do that, we look to the children’s emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing and the major impact that that has on every aspect of life including of course, our learning! This is all part of our promise to make S=P+A+C+E, where

Success comes from 

Perseverance,

a positive can-do Attitude,

Confidence in ourselves and, of course,

Effort.

 

You can read more about this throughout the website.

At St Thomas, we look to make S=P+A+C+E for learning…

… applying these habits of mind to everything we do in class and beyond – not giving up when we find something tricky, learning from our mistakes, keeping positive with a growth mindset, being confident that we can do it and putting in the effort

Make S=P+A+C+E for ME…

… as a school we are very much focused on the mental health and wellbeing of everyone in the school family. We have developed our own programme centred around five key elements of Resilience that make up our S=P+A+C+E for ME initiative: Belonging, Responsibility, Learning, Communication and Coping. You can read more about this on our Mental Health and Wellbeing page and view the material from our various Parent workshops around this tremendously important area of our children’s lives.

Make S=P+A+C+E for Everyone…

… being absolutely inclusive, respectful of everyone’s unique self and celebrating what makes us special in the eyes of God.

I hope that you can find everything that you want on our website but if not please do contact us and ask!

Kate Carter
Headteacher

mrscarter@st-thomas.surrey.sch.uk