Welcome to St John’s Church of England Primary School, Tisbury.

I am Lisa Portch the headteacher here at St John’s Primary School and I would like to welcome you to our school website. 

St John’s is a relatively small village school with a calm and friendly feel about it. We now have 122 children from Reception to Year 6, in five classes. Our ethos and philosophy are that we are committed to ensuring that the children are engaged and enthused in their learning; where children are challenged and supported to achieve their full potential.

In our inclusive school, teaching and learning is structured creatively to ensure each child’s individual needs and interests are carefully considered and catered for, with a broad and balanced curriculum which enables them to flourish. We encourage children to think creatively and prepare them for the wider world.

We are very pleased to announce that all of the staff within our school have now completed training in the ‘Thrive Approach’ which is a dynamic developmental way of working with children to promote emotional stability and wellbeing through play, discussion, drama and art. In our school we provide opportunities for all children in our care to work on emotional regulation and emotional developmental needs to build resilience and resourcefulness. This may be within a class as a whole, a small group or 1:1 depending on the individual needs of the children or class. 

This is a whole school approach and therefore all children are involved, whether that is through the class objectives, small groups or one to one sessions. Mrs Dunkley is our qualified Thrive Practitioner and has delivered training to all staff and she works with children on a 1:1 basis. The TAs work with groups of children and every class has a class objective; the objectives vary based on a profiling toolkit of the children in the class and they range from aspects such as building resilience to learning how to be a good learner.

There is such an enormous emphasis now on children’s mental health and well-being nationally, and Thrive is going to really help every child in our school. All children suffer some type of trauma in their lives - from their dog dying to far more complex emotional situations. Thrive can help children to repair any emotional instability in their lives to then positively cope with life’s ups and downs.

We are so proud to be able to offer this important aspect to ensure our children are emotionally resilient so that they can thrive and flourish in everything they do.

I, our governors and wonderful staff team have a strategic vision to ensure the school continues to develop and grow to benefit all the children; embedding our Christian Core Values throughout the school and curriculum.

It is vitally important that the school and parents work in partnership. Behaviour and homework policies have been written with input from all of the school community to ensure the expectations are clear and the children receive support from home and school as required. Our policies are available on the website or a hard copy can be provided if you contact the office. 

We welcome questions, concerns or celebrations of children’s education and achievements from parents. We invite parents to two parent evenings per academic year and the teachers write an individual written report at Easter. Parents are invited in to school on Tuesdays between 3:15-3:30pm (Teacher Tuesday) where the children can show them their learning environment and share their work. Parents can contact the school at any time if they have any concerns; meetings can be arranged with teachers after school.

This website can only provide a flavour of what we offer here at St John’s and we understand how important it is to find the right school for your child. Therefore, if you are thinking that your child may want to attend St John's, please do come along and visit us to understand and experience the philosophy, vision and ethos of our school.

Mrs L Portch  BA (Hons.) NPQH

Headteacher / SENDCo