Welcome to our school website. We hope it will answer all your questions and help you to understand the rich and varied experiences we offer to the children in our care.

St Benedict’s is a one-form entry primary school in the town of Handforth. We are a welcoming, inclusive family school with a strong Catholic ethos, a sense of community and a commitment to academic excellence for all children in our care.

We are very proud of our children – they are bright, energetic, kind and helpful and always strive to do their best for the love of God and others. Visitors to the school always comment on the confidence and enthusiasm with which the children greet them. Because our school is a one-form entry school, we are able to nurture each child and help them grow in confidence. Our commitment to supporting mental-health, ensures children are ready and able to learn because they feel safe and confident and we teach a number of strategies to help children to overcome anxiety or worry.

Every member of staff has the interests of the children at the heart of what they do. They work tirelessly, in partnership with supportive and engaged parents and alongside the parish of St Benedict’s, to nurture children and to ensure they receive an excellent education.

50% of our children are baptised Catholic but we support children from all backgrounds, whether they have a different faith or no faith. Children thrive in this environment and learn that respecting each other benefits us all. We want each and every child to be successful in their learning but it is also our mission to help them make a meaningful contribution to the world.
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Children enjoy an exciting curriculum and the full range of subjects. We are proud of the progress our children make in these subjects.

Reading is prioritised and children read well and speak to passion about favourite books and authors. They read out loud with confidence, fluency and expression. Maths is taught well with a mastery curriculum and children have a good foundation in number.

We celebrate our artists and musicians and a variety of experiences develop their enthusiasm – performances at the Hallé, art exhibitions, performances singing under Concorde and the Christmas Lights Switch on, to name but a few. We invite artists into school and take children to art galleries to develop a lifelong love of art. They visit the theatre and experience drama performances in school.

The history and geography curriculums are brought to life with visitors and trips, including local area studies of Styal Mill and residential trips to London and York

We have developed the Spanish curriculum and children enjoy learning about the culture of Spanish speaking countries with flamenco lessons, experience days sampling the food and celebrating festivals like Dia de los Muertos.

We are really proud to have achieved the platinum Sports Mark evidencing our strength in sport. Children have access to a wide range of sports including tennis (using the tennis courts at Handforth Hall) and athletics (using our fantastic school field in the summer); we employ specialists to deliver cricket, yoga, gymnastics, ballet and even flamenco units to pupils in school. Many of these specialists run after school clubs too. Our children participate in competitions with other schools and perform very well!

Our computing curriculum is supported by experts to ensure children are receiving high quality computing teaching and we are continuously updating our equipment and resources. Woven into the curriculum is teaching about online safety and respect for others online.

We teach pupils with SEND well and they make good progress against their starting points because we adapt our teaching to their needs and ensure our practice is inclusive and supportive.

Our pupils are active in the community. Through our links with the parish, children are heavily involved in works of charity and work to support those who are less fortunate. They understand the importance of living in an inclusive society and of standing up for those whose voices are not as loud. Consequently, our pupils are supportive and kind and bullying and conflict is rare.

We strive to ensure all children achieve their potential in a kind and caring atmosphere and we have high aspirations for all pupils. We use small groups, 1:1 sessions and after-school-boosters to boost the learning of those who need more support and to challenge the more able.

By the end of year 6 our children are ready for high school – they are confident and they are academically ready.

You are warmly welcomed to come and visit us and see our school in action.

Kind Regards,
Hannah McGuire
Head