St. Francis is a successful and happy parish school. The building itself is well maintained and secure, situated in extensive picturesque grounds close to Morley Town centre. Morley is a rapidly expanding and pleasant residential area on the south edge of Leeds with all the amenities of a small town combined with easy access to the Yorkshire Dales and to the motorway network, and to the city of Leeds itself. There is a good community feel to the town with strong links between the churches and within the family of schools locally.
We are very proud of our school which has built a very good record of academic achievement on a foundation of caring Catholic values. We are friendly and open and we have high expectations for all our children: they respond with very good standards of behaviour, respect for each other and staff, and an eagerness to learn and grow as maturing members of a Christian Community.
Our staffing complement combines a number of very experienced teachers and support staff and a number of more recent successful appointees. The complement is Headteacher plus five class-based teachers plus an additional part-time teacher, seven full and part-time teaching assistants, an administrative officer, a Superintendent, and four midday supervisors. This strong and committed Staff achieve high standards both in delivering a broad curriculum to the children at St. Francis and in their own professional development.
Currently there are 135 pupils on roll allocated to five mixed age group classes. Our children are challenged to be independent and responsible and they become confident and outgoing. Two children have a Statement of Special Educational Needs.
A wide spectrum of extra-curricula activities - ranging from sports, drama, dancing and music and annual school productions - is offered.
We are fortunate to have a very supportive Parish Community. Our school was founded by active Parishioners and that tradition of mutual help and commitment remains an important part of our success today. We also have a number of parents who help us fundraise and all events are generously supported by parents and parishioners.
This is a very exciting time for our school. We consistently achieve good SATs and astute development planning over a number of years has resulted in steady improvements across all aspects of school life. We are committed to continue to develop with the highest expectations. Our current priorities are developing assessment, together with learning and teaching strategies.
We were last inspected by OFSTED in 2006 when the school was described as satisfactory with the capability to improve further. Our Section 48 report also classified our school as satisfactory with some good qualities.
We have received the Investor In People award on two occasions, following external assessment.
We are clustered with one high school and three primary schools in the Morley South Children’s Services Cluster for the provision of extended services. Since 2001 our school has had a Before and After School Club on site providing childcare. This is run by the school via the Headteacher and Governors.
We are committed to providing the right environment of Christian values which will enable all our children to achieve their potential, secure in the knowledge that they are cared for and respected by the whole school community.
Attached is a selection of photographs showing facets of our school life. |