Ms Kelly – Head of High School
Dear Year 6 Students and Parent/Carers
I am delighted to welcome you to St Augustine’s CE High School. Some of you will be joining our community for the first time. For others, the children joining us in September 2025 will be following a long line of family members who have been educated in this school.
I hope you are proud to be joining a school with over 155 years of history. We want you all to ‘Be the best you can be.’ Our school is built on the values of Inclusion, Respect, Integrity, Perseverance, Kindness, Wisdom, Joy and Curiosity, all of which are underpinned by our Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Love. The better you understand what the school has to offer and our expectations of your child the more successful your child’s transition will be.
We have had two very successful Inspections at St Augustine’s. In November 2022, we had a statutory Inspection for Church Schools, SIAMS, in which we were awarded the highest grade in all 3 categories – ‘Excellent.”
In March 2023, St Augustine’s had a full OFSTED Inspection under the new framework, the first time since 2013. We were graded a ‘Good’ School with Personal Development as ‘Outstanding.’ OFSTED reported “The vision of faith, hope and love is central to this school. The core values of kindness and inclusion are guiding principles. Leaders encourage pupils to develop an understanding of differences in people. They help pupils to respect people from different backgrounds and to challenge stereotypes.”
OFSTED also reported that “Leaders have high expectations, including for pupils’ behaviour. They provide pupils with support and guidance. Pupils are safe, happy and well cared for by staff. Pupils appreciate staff’s approach to managing behaviour in a fair and reflective way. Leaders address any concerns about bullying or the use of discriminatory language effectively when they occur. Pupils behave well, and the school is a calm and purposeful environment. Working relationships between staff and pupils are respectful.” These remain important elements of our school and we expect all our parent/carers to work with us, and support us, to maintain excellent behaviour.
My ambition for St Augustine’s is for every student to be a kind and respectful member of the community, to have opportunities to develop their personal interest and skills and to help achieve your child’s ambitions. We celebrate and recognise all achievements at St Augustine’s, whether this is an improvement in effort or securing a place at Oxford or Cambridge University.
We are all here to support your child, but in particular Mr Russell, who will be your child’s Director of Learning for Year 7 and Ms. Brady, who is the Pastoral Year Coordinator for Year 7. Everyone at St Augustine’s is looking forward to working with you in partnership to ensure your child achieves success.
Rachel Kelly, Head of High School
We’ve put together this booklet to give our new students and their families everything they need to know about starting Year 7.