Children and adults are warmly invited to gather, share, celebrate and reflect during our daily Collective Worship that aims to be inclusive, invitational and inspirational. Through exploring our vision, values and ethos, everyone is challenged and engaged with the teachings of Jesus and the Bible and we reaffirm the importance of relationships with opportunities to think about our own lives and of others. Children are encouraged and supported to take on increasingly independent roles in planning, leading and evaluating worship; each term School Ethos Council, Eco Council and Mental Health Ambassadors take the lead to share and champion causes meaningful to them. At Thorncombe St Mary’s, everyone can be actively involved and can develop their own spirituality whilst contributing to our shared journey of Living, Learning and Growing Together.  

Our Collective Worship is determined by Christian tradition. Part of this culture is to be hospitable and inclusive to all in the community we serve; we remain mindful that some children may be from families who are members of another faith, or who hold a non-religious world view. 

Our Breakfast Club and After School Club provide a safe, welcoming and enjoyable environment for children at the beginning and end of the school day.

Breakfast Club runs Monday to Friday from 8.00am–8.30am, while our After School Club runs from 3.15pm–4.30pm each day.

Children can enjoy a different themed activity each day, including arts and crafts, chromebook activities and film club. They also have plenty of opportunities to make the most of our fantastic outdoor provision, with many choosing to enjoy active play, sports, bikes and trikes, and games with friends.

We know that children learn best when they are happy, active and engaged. Research shows that participation in organised sports and physical activity can have a positive impact on academic achievement, as well as supporting children's social, emotional and behavioural development. Our clubs provide a balance of structured activities, creative opportunities and free play, allowing every child to relax, have fun and build positive relationships outside the classroom.

Information about our clubs is shared with parents and carers each half term, with reminders included in our school newsletters. Any applicable charges are managed through our online payment system.

National and global themed days, weeks and months help children at St Mary's develop a wider understanding of the world around them and recognise the positive contribution they can make locally and globally. Each year, we carefully select events that complement our curriculum, reflect our Christian vision and values, and provide meaningful opportunities for children to learn beyond the classroom. Through pupil voice, children also help shape aspects of the school calendar, ensuring their ideas and interests are valued.

World Democracy Day marks the beginning of each academic year, when we hold elections for our pupil leadership roles and explore the fundamental British Values of democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance. As part of our strong safeguarding culture, we recognise events such as Anti-Bullying Week and Safer Internet Day, reinforcing key messages from our PSHE curriculum and helping children to stay safe, both in school and online.

Throughout the year, we celebrate and learn from a range of national and global events, including Black History Month, British Science Week and Earth Day. These provide valuable opportunities to explore diversity, equality, innovation and environmental responsibility, helping children to develop an appreciation of different cultures, experiences and perspectives while encouraging them to become thoughtful global citizens.

Courageous advocacy is an important part of life at St Mary's. Through the work of our School Ethos Council, children lead fundraising and awareness initiatives that make a real difference to others. We are proud to sponsor the education of a child in Nepal, helping our pupils understand how their actions can positively impact the lives of children around the world and inspiring them to show compassion, generosity and responsibility.

Visitors to school help reinforce key messages, bring learning to life and enrich pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Recent highlights include:

• Working alongside the Thorncombe Environment Group on a range of RSPB projects, including building bird boxes for eight species of birds, creating bird feeders and constructing an impressive bug hotel to support local wildlife.
• A visit from our local Fire and Rescue Service, where children explored a fire engine and learned about fire safety and the role of firefighters in our community.
• GB Rail Freight workshops during Rail Safety Week, helping children understand how to stay safe around trains and railway environments.
• Our 'Growing Together' Day, held in partnership with Marshwood School, at Thorncombe St Mary's celebrating International Dance Day 2026. Children enjoyed dance with Hollie Pinder, music, art and Forest School activities while building new friendships, confidence and a sense of community.
• NSPCC assemblies and workshops promoting the important message, 'Speak Out. Stay Safe.', empowering children to recognise abuse, including bullying, and know where to seek help.
• Dogs Trust workshops teaching children how to stay safe around dogs and the responsibilities of being caring and responsible dog owners.
• Visits from the Thorncombe First Responders, who shared the vital role they play in supporting our local community and saving lives.
• Performances by the Thorncombe Minstrels, including The Lord is My Shepherd, helping children reflect on themes of faith, hope and God's care for others.

Being conscious of costs to families, we invest in as many educational visits as possible so that children benefit from exciting first-hand experiences that broaden their horizons, enrich the curriculum and create lasting memories.

We make full use of our wonderful local area to bring learning to life. Children enjoy various visits, such as to the Arla Organic Dairy Farm on the Sadborow Estate, Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre and beach to discover fossils and learn about our Jurassic Coast, and Lyme Regis, where they explore the beach, visit the RNLI Lifeboat Station and discover marine life at the aquarium. Children also visit Abbotsbury Subtropical Gardens, taking part in activities that deepen their understanding of the natural world.

Throughout the year, children benefit from a range of additional experiences, including local farm visits and walks around our village and surrounding countryside, helping them develop an appreciation of the environment and the community in which they live.

Performances at Thorncombe Village Hall and St Mary's Church, including our Nativity and end-of-year productions, provide valuable opportunities for children to grow in confidence, develop their performance skills and celebrate learning with families and the wider community.

Each year, we also enjoy our much-anticipated whole-school pantomime visit, giving every child the opportunity to experience live theatre and develop an appreciation of the performing arts.

For our older pupils, the Year 6 residential at PGL offers exciting opportunities to challenge themselves through adventurous outdoor activities, develop resilience, strengthen teamwork and create lifelong memories as they prepare for the transition to secondary school.

Ahead of all educational visits, parents and carers are asked to complete the appropriate consent forms. We recognise that trips away from school can present additional challenges for some children, particularly those with SEND, and we work closely with families to ensure every child is supported to participate fully and enjoy each experience we offer.

Through pooled funding and shared resources, children at St Mary’s benefit hugely from our collaboration with the other six schools across the Acorn Multi Academy Trust. Events are hosted ‘at home’, ‘away’ or online!

Teams from St Mary’s take part in Trust inter-school sports tournaments including football, dodgeball, catchball, netball and more. Competitive participation helps to build children’s skills, resilience and teamwork; and importantly enables the forging of new relationships based on respect and sportsmanship. In 2023 St Mary’s achieved a Bronze Award in the School Games Mark programme in recognition of our commitment to developing competition across the school and community.

Beyond sport, our whole school competes in annual Trust Times Tables Rock Stars Tournaments; and most recently Reception and Year 1 enjoyed a dinosaur-themed dance workshop at another school whilst children from different Key Stage 2 cohorts joined their peers from other schools for maths mastery classes and a Mayan workshop including a live Q&A session with a specialist Maya archaeologist.

Through Science, PE and PSHCE we build our children’s knowledge and understanding of healthy lifestyles and guide them to be reflective practitioners with a desire to create their own healthy habits for life. 

In 2022/23, we elevated engagement in regular physical activity across school through: re-introducing the Daily Mile; upskilling children to enjoy more quality physical activities; giving children budget control to select resources to encourage more active play; training Play Leaders to take ownership of active break times; Sports4all support for the least active; and introducing Stormbreaks, short movement breaks to promote wellbeing.

Children at St Mary’s are physically active for at least 60 minutes every day.

We have recently invested in the OPAL scheme to further boost our active play and learning opportunities. We are so excited to see this unveil!

Supporting children through periods of transition is an important part of life at Thorncombe St Mary's. We work closely with families and partner settings to ensure children feel happy, confident and prepared for each new stage of their education.

Before children begin Reception, our Reception teacher visits local nurseries to get to know each child in their familiar environment and to begin building positive relationships with families. Children are invited to attend settling-in sessions before they start school, giving them the opportunity to become familiar with their new classroom, meet staff and make new friends. Parents and carers of children joining us from Little Acorns are also invited to settling-in sessions, helping them feel informed, reassured and involved as their children begin their school journey.

Thorncombe St Mary's is a feeder school to The Woodroffe School in Lyme Regis and retains good relations with other secondary schools in the area, including Beaminster School, Axe Valley Academy, Holyrood Academy and Colyton Grammar School.

Each year, through the Spring and Summer terms, our Year 6 children join peers from other local primary schools for secondary school transition days, giving them insights into secondary school life and opportunities to make new friends.

Our staff at St Mary's also work hard to prepare children by ensuring they have the knowledge and strength of character to transition with confidence. In collaboration with secondary school teams, we support parents and carers of children with SEND to ensure the smoothest possible transition. Please see our SEND Information Report for more detail.

Parents and carers are invited to our Year 6 Leavers' Service at St Mary's Church, where we celebrate each child's individuality and wish them well as they move forward to new adventures.

At St Mary's, we are proud to work with a range of external partners who enrich our curriculum, broaden children's experiences and support the ongoing development of both pupils and staff.

We work closely with Dorset Music Service, providing all children in Key Stage 2 with the opportunity to learn a musical instrument as part of the curriculum.

For children wishing to develop their musical talents further, Somerset Music Academy offers 1:1 instrumental lessons during the school day. A range of instruments are available, with many of our children currently enjoying acoustic guitar, electric guitar and piano lessons. These lessons are available at an additional cost to families, with payments made directly to Somerset Music Academy.

Our partnership with The Woodroffe School provides valuable opportunities for curriculum development, staff professional development and collaborative working. Through this partnership, our pupils benefit from enrichment opportunities, work alongside children of a similar age from other local schools and take part in a wide range of events such as science workshops & sporting festivals, helping to build confidence, teamwork and friendships beyond our school community.

Throughout the year, we also work with a range of specialist providers who enhance learning across the curriculum, ensuring children benefit from high-quality experiences that inspire curiosity, develop new skills and broaden their horizons.

Please contact the school office for further information about any of our external partnerships or the opportunities available to your child.

At Thorncombe St Mary's, we are passionate about providing high quality outdoor play opportunities for every child. Over the last few years, we have worked hard to develop our outdoor environment through our OPAL (Outdoor Play and Learning) journey, ensuring that playtimes are engaging, inclusive and full of opportunities for children to explore, create and learn.

We have invested in ongoing staff training, held workshops for parents and continually sought feedback from our children to shape and improve our provision. As a result, we have introduced a wide range of exciting play opportunities, including a digging pit, music at playtimes, bikes and trikes with purpose-built storage, dressing-up resources, loose parts play and much more. We have also provided every child with their own puddlesuit so that, even in wet weather, children can continue to enjoy outdoor play if they choose.

Play makes up around 20% of a child's time in school and is recognised as a fundamental right of every child. We believe that high quality play is essential for children's physical health, emotional wellbeing, creativity, confidence and social development, which is why we continue to invest in our outdoor provision.

Each week, we celebrate children who demonstrate our school values during play through our Golden Welly Award, recognising positive play, teamwork, kindness and creativity.

We would like to thank our parents, families and the wider local community for their continued support throughout our OPAL journey. Whether donating resources, volunteering their time or encouraging outdoor play, their contributions have helped us create an environment where every child can thrive.