About Thornton

Thornton Primary School has been serving the local community in Ward End since 1930. Generations of families have entrusted the education of their children to the school which is very popular and oversubscribed in every year group. Thornton has been changing over the last three years and we now only admit pupils into Years 3 - 6 (Key Stage 2). We currently have five forms of entry (150 children in each year group) but this will reduce over the next 4 years so that we will finally have four classes in each year group.  Each year 120 children come to Thornton from Sladefield Infant School. We have a great relationship with Sladefield Infant School and work closely together to ensure a cohesive approach to your child's education that means transition is smooth and stress free for the children.  Recently we have drawn up a Healthy Relationships Policy that has been adopted by both schools and we are working on a PSHE curriculum that will see opportunities mapped out for children from Reception right through to Year 6.  A parent working party has been formed to support the schools' work in this area.  You can read more about this here.

Over the last four years we have totally overhauled the school environment including all the children’s playgrounds, adding a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) in 2019 and a fantastic outdoor classroom; installing new fencing around the school site to improve security; extended and improved the school reception;  redeveloped and upgraded corridors and classrooms.  We now have an amazing school library, stocked with a wide range of splendid books.  We are thankful to the Foyle foundation for providing a grant of £5,000 to enable this dream to be realised.

At Thornton, we are very proud of the relationship that has developed between the parents and carers and the school. We welcome parents’ views and support and have an open door policy. Parent workshops are a regular feature of our work and we also have lots of parent volunteers who support teachers in class. The Headteacher, Mrs Sue Simmons, holds regular coffee mornings for parents and there is also a parent group – The Friends of Thornton – who actively support the school in a range of ways, including recently leading our popular Eid Mela and Christmas Fayre events which are always incredibly well supported and raise a lot of money for charity.

Over the past two years the school staffing structure has been developed; two Pastoral Managers, Sports Coach and School Nurse have all been appointed to provide enhanced support for pupils’ personal development, behaviour and welfare. The introduction of these staff members also helps to ensure the overall health and well-being of all the pupils in school. For example, the quality of Sports both within the curriculum and also extra-curricular activities, has also been vastly improved by our Sports Coach and a healthy lifestyle is strongly encouraged for both staff and pupils. 

Our computer hardware and software is constantly being updated to ensure that children have access to the latest technology. We are currently upgrading our interactive, touch screen boards in classrooms and have at least 15 iPads in each classroom (more in many) so that technology is a high focus in class teaching. We also have a well-equipped ICT suite where children can develop their IT and computing skills.

At Thornton Primary School we pride ourselves on a friendly environment where all staff and pupils treat one another with respect and form positive relationships which ensure a happy and safe atmosphere.