About Us

Through our teaching we aim to:

• enable children to become confident, resourceful, enquiring, independent and self-motivated learners;
• foster children’s self-esteem, and help them to build positive relationships with other people;
• develop children’s self-respect, encourage them to understand the ideas, attitudes and values of other people from a range of cultures, and teach them to respect other people’s feelings and heritage;
• enable children to understand their community, and help them feel valued as part of it;
• help children grow into reliable, independent and positive citizens. 

 

Each of our teachers makes a special effort to establish good working relationships with all the children in the class. We treat the children with kindness and respect. We recognise that they are all individuals with different needs, but we treat them fairly, and give them equal opportunity to take part in class activities. All our teachers follow the school policy with regard to discipline and classroom management. We set and agree with children the class rules, and we expect all children to comply with the rules that we jointly devise to promote the best learning opportunities for all. We praise children for their efforts and, by so doing, we help to build positive attitudes towards school and learning in general. We insist on good order and behaviour at all times. When children misbehave we follow the guidelines for sanctions as outlined in our policy on behaviour.

We ensure the best possible environment for learning by developing a positive atmosphere where pupils feel safe and feel they belong, where they enjoy being challenged, but where they enjoy learning, and know that they will succeed (because they know the challenge will have been set at the right level). We help the children to develop a range of learning skills and provide the time and structures for them to think about how they learn.

We believe that parents have the responsibility to support their children and the school in implementing school policies. We would therefore like parents:

• to ensure that their child has the best attendance record possible;
• to ensure that their child is equipped for school with the correct uniform and PE kit;
• to do their best to keep their child healthy and fit to attend school;
• to inform school if there are matters outside of school that are likely to affect a child’s performance or behaviour;
• to promote a positive attitude towards school and learning in general;

The school first opened here as St James School in 1873 and still retains the two original Victorian classrooms, now extensively modernised.

In 1987, following an amalgamation with Enmore Green School, it was renamed the Abbey. We changed from a First to a Primary School in September 2003. There have been several later additions to the building which now provides a total of seven classrooms, a library and music room, computer suite and a large, well equipped hall.

Here’s what our children say about us- Please see these two short films made by the children
This short film about our school was made by the School Council

Are you new to the area?

We do currently have a limited number of spaces in some year groups. Visits to the school are always welcome. We would be delighted to show you around. Please Contact us

The school is fortunate to have extensive grounds with hard play areas, a wildlife pond and play trail. We are developing the grounds with plans for the stomping ground including an activity trail, MUGA court and redeveloped reflective area and new gardening area. We have recently installed a sculpture area.

The oldest part of the building is Grade II listed and dates back to 1873. To see our entry on the English Heritage web site, click here.

The school is on a hill with views across the Blackmore Vale towards Melbury and Compton Abbas. The school’s catchment area is part of Shaftesbury including St. James and Enmore Green plus the villages of Cann, Melbury, East and West Orchard, Guy’s Marsh, Hartgrove, Margaret Marsh and part of Twyford.