Links with the Local Community

At West Hill Primary School, we attach great importance to developing strong links between the school and local, regional and national communities. Within our curriculum, within Citizenship education, our Healthy schools and Eco-Schools work, our School Council, through assemblies, concerts and special events, we involve our pupils in the local community, so that they learn how to participate in a practical way in the life and concerns of their neighbourhood and communities. Working with parents, local residents, the business community, public services, global charities and voluntary services teaches the children to become active citizens.

We have a superb Parent Teachers and Friends Association (PTFA) at West Hill Primary School. This is run by our parents, with our Headteacher, Mrs. Sue Nield, as President. The PTFA Committee work extremely hard to raise money for the school. This is put towards excellent resources for all the children, to enhance their learning experiences. They put on many entertaining events during the year, such as an annual Art Show, family quizes and bingo, Cabaret evenings, a Summer Fete and BBQ, murder mystery plays, a Summer Ball and many other events. They hold coffee mornings for new parents and run a uniform shop and a ‘hundred club’.

We run several after school and lunchtime clubs for the children. Many of the after-school clubs are run by our parents or members of the local community, such as football, tennis, netball, volleyball, gardening and recorders. Many are also run by our teachers, including the Headteacher, such as dance club, tag rugby, chess, art, pottery and additional football.
One way in which we communicate very effectively with the local community, including our parents, is through our weekly newsletter. This gives details of everything happening at school as well as providing us with an opportunity to help the local community by advertising different events. Newsletters are archived on our excellent website which gives a lot of helpful information about our lovely school. It is also hyperlinked to the West Hill Village website at www.westhillvillage.co.uk

Our Headteacher is a member of the Village Hall Management Committee. She attends twice termly meetings to discuss the smooth running of the Village Hall, which is used regularly by the school, as well as by other local clubs such as Badminton and Short Mat Bowls.

The school has excellent links with the Residents Association of West Hill. We discuss local issues, such as road safety and traffic calming, and we have worked closely with them on our School Travel Plans. Our local Councillor is involved in our School Travel Plan and road safety initiatives we promote, and he is an active member of our highly successful Eco Action Team. Some of the local residents are involved in our Walking Buses. The Residents Association runs poetry and road safety competitions for the school and kindly sponsors prizes for the children, such as a ‘Walking to School’ Trophy. Mrs. Nield is invited to attend some of their evening events.

The West Hill Wasps Football Club uses the school playing field every week, with many matches taking place involving children from the school of different age groups. A good relationship exists between the school and members of the club and much two-way help and support takes place.

Mr. Chris Webster, a well-known local FA coach, teaches Year 4 each week, and coaches from Exeter City Football in the Community run an after-school club at the school.

Our outstanding Garden Club has developed great links with local businesses and organisations, for example, Otter Rotters, Otter Nurseries and Bardon Aggregates.

Mrs. Nield attends termly Ottery St. Mary Learning Community meetings at The King’s School and annual meetings at which Ottery and Sidmouth Academic Councils combine. Mrs. Nield is the Chairperson of the Learning Community which provides a forum for discussion of local and national issues affecting schools, and an opportunity for local schools to work collaboratively to provide the best for local children and further training opportunities for staff. The Government’s Extended Schools agenda is conducted at local Learning Community level. She is also Chair of the Ottery and Sidmouth Learning Community SENCo Group which works very hard to help the learning of children with Special Educational Needs.

The King’s School in Ottery St. Mary has ‘Sports College Status’. This provides opportunities for children and staff at West Hill to take part in different events and courses at King’s. Their Development Officer liaises with us to discuss new initiatives. Two of our teachers, Miss Kemp and Mrs. Racey, have trained as ‘Primary Link Teachers’ under the East Devon School Sport Co-ordinators Partnership, and they attend regular Cluster meetings at The King’ School. Many initiatives have been developed, including our very successful ‘Huff and Puff’ Club for Key Stage 1 children, which takes place at lunchtimes, run by our Learning Support Assistant, Mrs. Adams.

During the year we offer hospitality to pupils from The King’s School, Colyton Grammar and St. Margaret’s School for their work experience, and to students requiring primary experience before embarking on Postgraduate Certificates in Education (PGCE). We have an ‘Initial Teacher Training Partnership’ with The University of Exeter. This means that we take in B.Ed and Postgraduate students on teaching practice at different times of the year. Our teachers are all student mentors and we believe that we provide excellent support and training for prospective new teachers. We also have a partnership with the Teaching Development Agency’s Open Schools Programme which means that we play host to a number of ‘one-day’ students who are contemplating going into teaching. We also offer this facility through Devon Curriculum Services. We are happy to say that many of these students go on to teachers’ training Colleges afterwards!

The school also participated in important research into the role and effectiveness of the teaching profession, conducted as part of Nottingham University’s Vitae Project. This gave us an opportunity to influence Government Policy, as well as a professional development opportunity for teachers in Years 2 and 6.

Mac, the Pastoral Co-ordinator of St. Michael’s Church in West Hill, leads assembly in our school at least twice each term, as do other local church leaders. Every Christmas, children in Years 3 and 4 celebrate a Christingle Service at the Church. The parish co-ordinator also attend our concerts and sometimes leads our Easter or Harvest Services. Our children often attend a monthly ‘Fun Club’ at the Church. We invite ‘The Bible Explorer’, Mrs. Brinton, into school to work with the older children on the Old and New Testament. They really enjoy her lively presentations.

We believe that the role of the children as global citizens is greatly enhanced by involving them directly in helping others. This is done, not just by raising money, but through whole school assemblies and through class lessons in Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship, as well as through teaching and learning in curriculum areas such as Geography and Religious Education. The children designed our school ‘mural’ to show four important words are ‘Care’, ‘Tolerance’, ‘Trust’ and ‘Respect’. Generosity is discussed in terms of giving time, help and friendship, as well as raising funds.

The school makes its annual collection for the British Legion Poppy Appeal, and the children wear their jeans for a day on ‘Jeans for Genes Day’, when they bring in a contribution to this good cause. Children often take part in ‘Readathons’ or ‘Spellathons’ to raise money for charities and develop their skills at the same time. We support The Christmas Child and the NSPCC. In the 2004-2005 Academic Year, the children raised over £800 for the victims of the Asian Tsunami. The School Council chooses which charities to support, and may sometimes choose causes such as this, on an ad hoc basis.

We have excellent links with many local schools through sporting activities. We take part in the Honiton Area 6-a-side Football tournament, sometimes hosting this event. We have inter-school friendly matches in football and netball, take part in an annual volleyball tournament with local schools, and we participate in the East Devon Tennis League. We take part in the East Devon Tag Rugby Festival and in Tag Rugby matches with other schools.

Music and Drama are very important to us at West Hill, and we always invite members of the local community to attend our concerts, which they very much enjoy. The Ottery Primary Music Centre Orchestra meets each week at one of the Honiton Primary Schools. Some of our children play musical instruments and are members of the orchestra. Occasionally, they go on a tour of other schools and hold termly concerts. Friends of the school play drums and lead and bass guitars during our Summer Concerts, which really add to the professionalism of the shows. The local West Hill band, which consists of many of our parents, plays at PTFA events. We take part in Music Devon’s ‘Devon Schools Mix’ in the Summer Term, at Westpoint Arena.

Our children participate in the Devon County Show design competitions. They make miniature gardens, clay models of fruit and vegetables and design logos and have been very successful in recent years. All of the children now exhibit their work at the annual PTFA Art Show, held in the Easter holidays, alongside famous local artists such as Ray Balkwill, Michael Norman and Michael Morgan. Many visitors to the show comment on the high standards of the children’s work.

We have very good links with the local Estate Agents, Fulfords and Halls. Fulfords sponsored a Christmas colouring competition and Halls sponsor the Village Fete and other PTFA events. They are always very supportive of the school. Other local businesses sponsor our Home and School Books, alongside our PTFA.

We have links with the local Rotary Club for which it has carried out collections of clothing and goods to send to people in need. The school also participates in the following Rotary Club events: ‘Youth Presents Music’, and the annual ‘Environmental Quiz’.

We have very good links with the local press, particularly the Sidmouth Herald, the Ottery Advertiser, the Ottery Gazette, the Express and Echo and the Western Morning News. We value highly the part played by our local media in supporting school events and celebrating the children’s achievements.

We are always anxious to develop strong links with the local and wider community. We would like to extend this to a variety of local business and industry where possible.

The Governors are extremely grateful for the number of people from the village community who come to help in school in a whole variety of ways including running clubs, listening to reading and giving talks to the children.

For further information, please see also our Community Links Policy.