Key information About St Thomas
Beyond the curriculum
At St Thomas’ CE Primary School, we understand that providing pupils with enriching experiences enhances their learning and develops cultural capital. We offer all our pupils as many enrichment opportunities as possible. These are carefully mapped to enhance learning in all curriculum subjects, beyond the national curriculum.
As well as high quality teaching and learning at our school, we aim that every pupil will be offered the chance to:
Clubs
We believe in enhancing all pupils’ experiences by offering a wide range of extra-curricular clubs which run every day after school. There should be no barrier to engagement, so we are incredibly proud to run all of these free of charge and will ensure all pupils have access to club opportunities. We aim to capture and extend pupil’s interests with our offer: current club opportunities include coding, science club, art club, sewing, handball, gymnastics, and cricket.
Throughout their schooling we provide pupils with the opportunity to represent St Thomas’ in a variety of different sports teams. Our sports teams compete against other local primary schools for example in football, athletics and swimming. Sports matches are also organised for after school against local schools or within clubs.
Parental Involvement
Pupils at St Thomas’ are given the termly chance to showcase their learning to their parents and carers, and other pupils in the school. They have the opportunity to speak and present to audiences of varying sizes.
This includes sharing their engineering projects; holding an art exhibition; presenting in a class assembly; teaching their parents in a mathematics lesson.
School Trips
We carefully plan museum visits for all year groups each year that support learning across the curriculum. Some of these places include the Design Museum, The British Museum, the Natural History Museum, Bank of England Museum, Science Museum, Petrie Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum. We also engage with special projects with museums.
At St Thomas’, we ensure pupils learn about a diverse range of artists from around the world. We provide the pupils with the chance to visit an art gallery each year. For example, The National Gallery, Natural Portrait Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, The Wallace Collection.
As part of our RE curriculum, we take time to ensure that all of our pupils learn about different major religions and that they have the chance to visit places of worship. For example a local synagogue, a local mosque, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Temple. We also regularly visit our local churches.
Our Year 5 pupils travel to a location outside of London to an outdoor education centre where they spend four nights camping. They participate in a wide range of activities and learn new skills that can’t be taught in a classroom setting. These include team building, orienteering, archery, campfire and shelter building as well as high-rope activities.
Special Weeks
Throughout the academic year there are opportunities to engage with local and national competitions. From recent years, these have included: The Reader’s Cup with the Thomas’ Foundation, Primary Maths Challenge and local Maths Cluster, Leighton House Art competition.
Pupils will have a chance every year throughout their time at St Thomas’ to perform, showcasing their dancing, singing and acting skills, in a Christmas performance, the KS2 Spring Cabaret; and an end of key stage musical.
We are a school that sits along the route of Notting Hill Carnival and we want our pupils to know of the value of this international event and its musical traditions. Our lessons are taught by a professional steel pan musician, and pupils are given regular opportunities to perform this instrument. For example, during Christmas events, at our own school carnival each summer, and when opportunities arise, in the community.
OPAL Play
At LifeFull Schools we realise that learning happens beyond the classroom and so we use OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) to create diverse, engaging play opportunities for children at break times.
OPAL is a programme that enhances the quality of outdoor play for primary school pupils by providing a wide range of play opportunities during break times. Pupils can engage in active, creative, and imaginative play using varied materials and natural environments. These opportunities encourage physical activity, helping to improve health and fitness, while also promoting creativity through open-ended play like building, role-play, and exploring nature.
At playtimes, pupils have the chance to collaborate, problem-solve, and develop social skills by working together in group play. OPAL also allows children to manage risk in a controlled, safe environment, fostering resilience and confidence. The programme improves emotional well-being, reduces behavioural issues, and makes school more enjoyable, enhancing overall engagement and learning.
"It is everyone's responsibility to protect children" KCSIE 2021
Safeguarding
St Thomas’ CE Primary School is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for children, staff and visitors. We promote an environment where children and adults will feel confident about sharing any concerns which they may have about their own safety or the well-being of others.
Our Safeguarding team is led by Alys Stephens, the Designated Safeguarding Lead for St Thomas’. She is supported in this role by Sarah Bouette, Adrian Jones and Ellie Dowthwaite (Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads).
If you have a safeguarding concern about the welfare of a child you are required to report this immediately to the Designated Safeguarding Lead or any senior member of staff.
Online Safety
We offer regular awareness sessions for parents around online safety and protecting our children from online risks, so please come along when these are advertised. Please see our Esafety for parents guide. You will also find an online safety tip in every school newsletter, designed to raise awareness of current trends and issues. If you have any concerns about the online safety of your child, please do come and speak to us.
Online Safety
How Do We Teach Online Safety?
Teaching children how to stay safe online is a key part of our approach to teaching digital literacy. Online safety is taught through Computing lessons from Year 1 to Year 6. At Key Stage 1, children look at the importance of keeping personal information private online, what to do if they have a problem while using technology, and issues around cyberbullying. At Key Stage 2, children develop a deeper understanding of these issues, and also look at concepts such as our digital footprint, risks arising from downloading files, and website security.
Children use the SMART rules at school, and are expected to use these when using technology out of school, to make sure that they stay safe online. These rules should be followed when using any device that connects to the Internet, including mobile phones, tablets and games consoles.
School day
Wraparound Care
St Thomas’ Breakfast Club
Every morning we offer free bagel breakfasts as children arrive at school
We also offer morning childcare at Breakfast Club which is held in our cafe every morning from 7.45am. The aim of breakfast club is to give children a healthy, calm, happy start to the day. Yinka and Sally serve a tasty, healthy breakfast in the cafe and take the children outside for some exercise.
It costs £4 a day to attend breakfast club.
There are 20 places available, places can be booked online using the School Gateway app or website.
St Thomas’ After School Clubs
After school clubs run for 10 weeks during the term, from 3.30pm – 4.30pm Monday-Thursday. Please keep an eye out for the updated club letters each term- these are sent out at the start of each term.
There are no clubs the first 2 weeks and last 2 weeks of each term.
Venture Playcentre
There is a pick-up service running from St Thomas’ to Venture Playcentre opposite the school at 3.30pm. A member of the staff team collects pupils and takes them to the centre. The provision runs from 3.30pm until 6pm.
For more information please click on the following link.
Aktiva After School Club
Aktiva After School Club runs from the end of the school day until 6pm. The club is hosted at Ark Brunel Primary School. At the end of the day, your children will be collected by a member of staff and brought to Ark Brunel. There is a cost to attend this club. For more information, please click on the following link or email bookings@aktivacamps.com.
Thinkuknow
Thinkuknow is an online safety education program from CEOP, part of the National Crime Agency. The Thinkuknow resource provides support for young people from KS1-KS4, and a dedicated area for parents and carers who wish to learn more about online safety.
The site also contains the ‘Report Abuse’ button, where children and adults can report contact that is inappropriate, or that makes them feel uncomfortable.
Net Aware
Net Aware, produced by the NSPCC, is a guide to the most popular social networks, apps and games used by children. It aims to provide parents with the information they need to understand their child’s online world and to give them confidence to have balanced and informed conversations about what they are doing online.
It also provides information on age limits, and contains advice from other parents.
We offer regular awareness sessions for parents around online safety and protecting our children from online risks, so please come along when these are advertised. Please see our Esafety for parents guide. You will also find an online safety tip in every school newsletter, designed to raise awareness of current trends and issues. If you have any concerns about the online safety of your child, please do come and speak to us.
School lunches
Our school lunches are designed to be healthy, balanced, and enjoyable, providing pupils with the necessary nutrition to stay focused and energized throughout the school day. We work closely with our catering team to offer a variety of fresh options that cater to all dietary requirements and promote lifelong healthy eating habits.
Autumn 2025 Menu
Worship In Our Schools
Collective Worship promotes and supports achievement and growth in five aspects of pupils’ religious learning at St Thomas’ CE Primary School. These are:
A knowledge of Christianity; its stories, traditions, festivals, worship and teachings
An understanding of Christian life and worship which may, if the pupil chooses, form the basis of an adult faith
An awareness of life’s spiritual dimension
A sense of Christian morality through our Christian values
A knowledge and respect for the other major world faiths
Through the above, we aim to help children to:
develop an awareness of spiritual and moral issues within their own life experiences and those of others
develop knowledge, understanding and respect for the range of religious and cultural practices found within: their own community; the local area; Britain and internationally
develop an understanding of what it means to be committed to a religious tradition
develop inquisitive minds that are willing to investigate, research, question and empathise to enable them to make reasoned judgements about religious issues.