"I am so happy with how my child has settled.
The team are so kind and welcoming."
Our highly skilled and experienced Reception Class team are ready to welcome pupils into their first experiences of school and to work alongside families to make sure that they find their happy space at our friendly school. We prioritise welcoming new pupils by running a range of activities prior to them starting school. We get to know families and talk with parents about starting school. Your child’s happiness is our priority.
"I love Forest School – it’s the best!"
Our Reception class learning spaces are carefully designed to enable children to develop in the range of ways that they need to. Our outdoor spaces, including: mud kitchen, climbing tree and Forest School, are all favourites with our pupils. We plan for children’s enjoyment and learning through their play and adults work alongside pupils to encourage, support and challenge.
"We were very anxious about the start of school.
That’s all gone. He loves it!"
Across the school, we use our ‘Sunshine Six’ values of: Honesty, Perseverance, Compassion, Courage, Forgiveness and Respect to develop positive relationships and to build character. Our “High quality Curriculum with well-planned learning sequences,” (Ofsted 2022) is centred on high expectations and inclusion for all.
The skilled early years team supports children well.
Children are well prepared for the learning in Year 1.
At St. Mary’s we are more than a school community; many pupils tell us that they feel like we are part of their family. We hope to welcome you and your child into our family too.
Mr Warland and The St Mary’s Team
Admissions procedures
We are an inclusive school, and we welcome and celebrate diversity and children of all abilities. All staff believe that high self-esteem is crucial to a child’s well-being and a caring, understanding team looks after our pupils well.
The criteria outlined below applies for admissions to St. Mary’s at any point during the year until the academic year 2026 2027.
Priority 1 Children in public care: Children who are looked after by the Local Authority.
Priority 2 Siblings: Children who have a brother or sister on roll at the school at the time of admission.
Priority 3 Denominational: Children who regularly worship at any Church of England church.
We define ‘regularly’ as meaning at least twice a month for at least two consecutive years prior to the LA deadline for applications. This will be confirmed by signature of the minister on the school’s Supplementary Information Form.
A maximum of 10% of places within each cohort are eligible for faith claims and these shall be ranked according to distance from the school.
Priority 4 Distance: Children who live closest to the school.
Reception Admission
We admit 60 children into Reception each year. You can apply for a place in our Reception intake for September 2025 by clicking on this link
Information about admissions during the school year can be accessed via this link
Information about the appeal process in relation to 2025 / 2026 admissions can be found by clicking on this link.
If you would like to appeal against a decision not to admit your child, please use this form.
Appeal Process
Information about the appeal process in relation to 2025 / 2026 admissions can be found here:
If you would like to appeal against a decision not to admit your child, please use this form.
