St Faith's school is almost unique among London primaries. Rather than a stark, concrete, echoey Victorian building, the school is situated inside a modern, light, roomy yet cosy building, beautifully combining wood panelling with glass.

The school moved to its present Alma Road site from the nearby original St Faith's 17 years ago. For headteacher Lynn Thomas, the change has made the difference in creating a close community at the voluntary-aided Church of England school.

With at least a third of the 203 pupils and 30 children at the nursery coming from church-going backgrounds, the school invites leaders from the local Salvation Army, Baptist and Methodist churches to lead assemblies and services in the school church hall.

"We try and provide a range of different leaders so the children get an understanding of the wealth of Christianity," says Ms Thomas, who joined St Faith's five years ago.

"We're a very tight community, where everybody knows everyone else very well and what they do outside the school.

"St Faith's is very much a family school and most of the support staff have been with us for many years."

With most pupils are drawn from the nearby Arndale and East Hill estates and 33 per cent needing Special Education Needs (SEN) support, marks are below national averages.

But this year's encouraging Key Stage 2 results 70 per cent passing level four English, 56 per cent maths and 67 per cent science show the school's commitment to the core subjects, targeted SEN support by the dedicated education needs teacher and more intensive work with gifted pupils is having effect.

Its an approach commended by Ofsted inspectors in their last report in 2001 and by the Wandsworth LEA, with children from other schools sent to St Faith's for SEN sessions, while weekly congratulatory assemblies are held to make the hard work seem worthwhile.

"The core academic work is really important," Ms Thomas says. "We want to send them out into secondary education with the tools of the trade.

"But my job is to ensure they are not missing out on what makes them whole people, like drama and music.

"We had some real success stories in SEN teaching.

"It is hard work and it takes time, but it is something that all the teachers take seriously".

The school's early learning unit employs a progressively more formal approach in preparing reception class children for the national curriculum in Year 1, while remaining flexible enough to give less able children more time in nursery-style classes.

Older pupils are encouraged to use the computer suite, and there is a computer terminal in each classroom. Focused history, music and art weeks tie into the more general curriculum.

A dedicated music teacher visits three times a week to lead singing and instrument classes, while the school's choir has sung at the Wandsworth Borough Show and Southwark Cathedral.

Popular after school clubs from 4.30pm to 6.30pm include activities from football, basketball, cricket and rugby to glass engraving and Spanish.

A hard core of parents work hard raising money for school funds (£1600 was collected at the Christmas fair), while the school donates regularly to charity.

q For more information write to St Faith's, Alma Road, East Hill, SW18 1AF or phone 020 8874 2653.

January 30, 2003 10:30