St
Tudy School
St
Tudy School was built in 1863 on land leased for 99 years at £1 a year by
Samuel Kekewich, Lord of the Manor of St Tudy.
The school started life as a national School for 80 pupils.
It replaced the dames school, which used to meet in the clink and has now
become a Church of England Primary School.
St Tudy is a friendly school whose caring, family
atmosphere was recognised as a major strength in a recent Ofsted inspection.
The school provides a broad, balanced education to achieve the highest
standards for the children of St Tudy and neighbouring parishes.
The school promotes strong links between home and the school and the high
standards of the school were recently recognised by the inclusion as one of only
three Cornish schools in the Sunday Times Good School Guide.
The school has three full time teachers, including the head teacher Mrs Jackie Long. The school has a board of governors with thirteen members representing the church, Methodist Chapel, local education authority and parents. There are four non-teaching staff including teaching assistants, school secretary and lunchtime supervisors.
St
Tudy School has forty
nine pupils and is Cornwall County maintained and voluntary
aided. Boys and girls are admitted
between the ages of 4 and 11 years. At
the age of 11 children transfer to Wadebridge, Bodmin or Camelford secondary
schools.
The school is in the centre of the village beside the church. Built in 1863 it has been extensively modernised over the years and includes three classrooms, an office and a computer suite. The playground, school kitchen and canteen are situated approximately 100 metres from the school. The school shares a large playing field with the village. The village hall is also used for indoor PE and major school functions.
St Tudy School welcomed a new member of staff this term. Karen Holmes became Headteacher replacing Jackie Long who moved to Roche School.
Karen moved from near Wells in Somerset where she was the head at a similar size school to St Tudy. Her husband David is a keen surfer and they have been coming to Cornwall for many years. At the moment they are living in Bodmin but hope to move to Wadebridge very soon. Karen particularly likes St Tudy as it is big enough to have a shop, pub and village hall. She says that ‘everyone seems to work together utilising the strengths of different groups of people and everyone is really friendly’.
In her spare time Karen enjoys listening to bands and dancing. She enjoys exploring the area and spends a lot of her time at Polzeath watching David surf or trying it herself! She says she knows a lot about surfing but can’t do it yet – body boarding is more her style.
Karen has been busy this term with lots going on in the school. One of the highlights of the term will be a street party celebrating VE day. The term will end with the school performance this year entitled ‘This is your life’. Karen is a music specialist so there will be plenty of singing and dancing.
Karen has come to St Tudy at a time when the school is changing. From September 2005 the school will have two classes and as a consequence one of the classrooms is being extended to accommodate the new class.
This will also be an opportunity to replace old furniture and make the school look better.
Everybody wishes Karen good luck in her new role and I am sure that she will be a valuable asset to the village.
Local history celebrated in modern dance.
