St John’s School

My Mother is Chair of Governors at St Johns school, which was also her primary school. It is a hub in the community which is in a high deprivation area of Stockton and serves the Ragworth estate where a high percentage of families either do not work or are in lower paid jobs. Working closely with the families, many who are single parents, is a key part of the work in the school. The School is identified locally for its strength in supporting children with SEN and has high levels of inclusion with two enhanced on-site provisions (Cognition and learning / Medical and Physical). Also, there are high levels of children with Social Care involvement. One of the priorities in school over the last few years is to improve the reading skills of the children which is a key building block in overall education. Therefore, the school has built a library at the core of the premises which supports the children who can borrow books to take home to read with their parents. The school is currently stocking the library with books and a grant would be enormously useful at this time to help with this task. One of their school improvements over the past few years is to raise the attainment level of reading and writing across the school and the library and the children’s subsequent enjoyment in reading will support this goal.