
In English & supported throughout all subjects, we aim to empower & enrich our children’s vocabulary & so prepare them for the next stage in their educational journey (& beyond) so that no child is hindered or held back by a deficit of language as a result of deprivation. We want them to be able to articulate themselves & their learning through a wide bank of subject specific terminology as well as being creative & innovative in their speech & writing. We aim to inspire our children to become fluent, confident life-long readers who can discuss the joy of literature as well as develop their own style & expression through wide opportunities for writing.





Merit Teams
As of September, all children at St Mary's were divided into 4 teams:
Ruby (red), Sapphire (blue), Emerald (green) & Diamond (yellow).
All staff are also assigned a team which makes the competition very exciting!
Children learn & work hard to gain Merit Points (golden cards) for their teams through excellent behaviour, doing the right thing & showing fantastic attitudes towards learning! These are then all counted up by the Merit Captains on the last day of the week ready for the big announcement of how many each team has gained in Monday's celebration Worship.
Points (ping pong balls) are added to the whole school points board – four for 1st, three for 2nd, two for 3rd & one for 4th.
The team that has won at the end of each term is announced. They receive the St Mary's Merit Cup & the team then gets to vote for their Merit Treat (three special events are decided on by the School Council from the winning team to choose from).
The children get very excited about their teams, Merits & treats! The added benefits are that our children genuinely look out for each other, learn to deal with friendly competition & develop excellent skills of team work & leadership!
Merit Captains
Merit Captains (one Y6 girl & one boy) are voted in for each team at the beginning of each year.
Y6 children who want to put themselves forwards prepare a short speech & present to their team members as part of a team meeting. The rest of their team then vote & the Merit Captains are then decided. We have fantastic leaders in our school who do an amazing job!
Our Merit Captains for 2021-2022 are....






Emerald
Sapphire
Ruby
Diamond