Our Achievements

Artsmark achieved!

Artsmark status

ARTSMARK_BLK2We are delighted that Stretton Handley CE (VC) Primary has been awarded Artsmark status.

Artsmark is Arts Council England’s flagship programme which enables schools and other organisations to evaluate, strengthen and celebrate their arts and cultural provision. It is delivered by Trinity College London and 10 regional Bridge organisations drive participation.

Achieving Artsmark status demonstrates that our school has a number of very special qualities. It demonstrates that we:

  • have an excellent arts and cultural offer
  • are forward thinking and open to development
  • are committed to investing in our staff and young people
  • are committed to listening to our children and providing opportunities for our community
  • have an effective approach to building sustainable relationships with arts and cultural organisations
  • value the arts and culture through a broad and balanced curriculum

To achieve Artsmark, we had to undergo a rigorous application process, followed by a validation visit from a professional arts consultant. We were assessed on many areas of our provision including arts in the curriculum, extra-curricular arts activities, how we work with artists and arts organisations and how well how our arts provision impacts on staff development and the wider community.

We hope you share our pride in being nationally recognised for our arts and cultural provision. We  would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff and children in making this possible.

Congratulations from Minister of State for Schools

Letter from Minister of State for Schools

Dear Parents, Governors and friends of the school,

Some of you may have heard that we were in ‘The Times’ recently as one of the top ten primary schools in Derbyshire. I am now delighted and proud to share with you information that I have received a letter from the Rt Hon David Laws MP, Minister of State for Schools congratulating us on the excellent performance of our children in the 2014 national key stage 2 tests, published on 11 December.

‘Your results show that 100% of your pupils gained level 4B or above in reading and mathematics and level 4 or above in writing. This makes you one of only 149 schools in the country to achieve this level of attainment.’

The letter goes on to congratulate staff, governors and pupils for their hard work and success and ‘you for your leadership in continuing the drive towards high standards of educational achievement.’

As you will know we remain committed to ensuring that we provide a well-rounded education for our children, one that is not just about academic results. We have recently applied for the Arts Mark – external accreditation to recognise our success in Arts provision across the school and we are also in the process of entering for the RE Quality mark.

We are all extremely proud of what we have achieved together and would like to thank parents for their continuing support.

Julie Dunbar
Headteacher

Church video competition winners

Stretton Handley Church of England Primary school in Derby diocese has won the national MyCofESchool competition. The contest  invited pupils at Church primary schools to celebrate what their school means to them, in a three minute film.

The Christian ethos is at the very heart of our school at Stretton Handley. In the video the children wanted to show how Christian values weave through our daily lives and why this makes our school a really great place to learn, laugh and have fun!

The Peak District winning team will join the Bishop of Oxford, Chair of the Board of Education, for tea in the House of Lords.

The Bishop of Oxford congratulated all the entrants: “We were delighted to see the wide range of entries in the competition. The children’s enthusiasm for their schools and the values they find there are inspirational. Their entries are a tribute to the staff, parents and governors and all those who have helped lay the foundations of our church schools over the centuries. My congratulations to the children for their hard work and imagination creating their entries. It’s always hard to pick one winner but I’m very much looking forward to meeting pupils from the winning school over tea in the House of Lords.”

The video can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU-zAvwhiGE&feature=youtu.be

Chesterfield festival of Cricket – Photography competition winners!

On Wednesday 9th July, many of our children, accompanied by Mr Cooke, Mrs Roberts and Mr Sanderson, visited Queen’s Park as part of the Chesterfield festival of Cricket. The children had a great day watching cricket, and also had the opportunity to go onto the pitch and have a go themselves.

We are very pleased and proud that a photograph of our children, taken by Mr Cooke at the Cricket festival has won the photography competition, which was for the best photo of what was happening during the festival. The school receives a cricket bat signed by all the Derbyshire cricket club players. A fantastic well done to Mr Cooke and the children. The Cricket bat will be on display soon.

We are the ‘Dragon’s Den’ competition winners!

Dragon’s Den competition winners! Dragon’s Den competition winners!

Our winning Dragon's Den presenters
Our winning Dragon’s Den presenters

Fantastic news – our school has won the Cluster Primary School Dragon’s Den Competition! The £250 prize money will be presented to our school by members of the Dragon’s Den Panel in the next couple of weeks. Well done to everyone who contributed ideas and a special thank you to the three children (one Year 6 and two Year 4s) who went along to pitch the winning idea for a ‘learning garden’ to the Dragon’s Den. Our team spoke clearly and well and answered questions confidently. The Dragon’s Den panel were impressed with the way the children talked about the plans and also loved the fact that the ‘Learning Garden’ is building on and developing what we already have. They thought it was great that, as a school, children have already organised Enterprise fund raising activities to support putting plans for the ‘learning Garden ‘ into place.

CONGRATULATIONS – What exciting news!

We are a top performing school!

Praise for Stretton Handley CE Primary School from the Minister of State for Schools

Dear Parents, Governors and Children,

I am delighted to inform you that at the end of term I received a letter from Rt Hon David Laws MP, Minister of State for Schools praising the

“…excellent performance of the pupils in the 2012 national Key Stage tests as published on the 13th December 2012.”

The letter goes on to say –

 “The overall percentage of your pupils achieving Level 4+, combined with excellent rates of progress in both English and mathematics place you amongst the top performing primary schools this year…..

I would like to congratulate, your staff, governors and pupils for their hard work and success, and to thank you for your leadership in continuing the drive towards the highest standards of educational achievement.”

As I am sure you will agree, this is fantastic recognition for all the hard work and effort of everyone involved in the life of the school. I look forward to continuing to work in partnership with all of you to ensure that all the children get the best possible start at Stretton Handley Church of England Primary School so they are prepared for the next stage of their education and for their future success.