Safeguarding
Margaret Roper Catholic Primary School is committed to the safeguarding of our children and to providing a safe environment for them.
Our Safeguarding Lead is Mr Dermot Mooney, Headteacher
Our Deputy Safeguarding Leads are Mrs Christine Garcia and Miss Emma Holloway, Assistant Headteachers
Our Designated Governor for Safeguarding is Dr. Anne-Marie Sawyer
Should you have any queries or concerns about safeguarding, please contact the school who will refer you to the designated officer.
Our comprehensive Early Help and Safeguarding Policy is available in the policies section and also below:
Early Help and Child Protection Policy 2016-17
Margaret Roper is a Roman Catholic primary school attached to the Parish of Purley, which forms part of the large Archdiocese of Southwark.
In 1861, 20 acres of land in Purley were purchased by a group of professionals and businessmen to provide a school for the orphans of clerks and warehousemen. Their property at New Cross was too small and a large new site was found in Purley. The Prince of Wales laid the foundation stone in 1863. The entrance drive from the Brighton Road was given the name Russell Hill after the first president of the founding group, Lord John Russell.
A similar scheme for the orphans of drapers was set up and in 1887 the schools amalgamated to become the Warehousemen, Clerks’ and Drapers’ school. Eventually, a move to a new site at Addington was considered and in 1921 the school moved to Ballards Estate and became re-named the Royal Russell School.
The Purley site was sold in 1960 to the Southwark Diocese and on 24th September 1962 Bishop Cyril Cowderoy officially opened the two newly established schools of Thomas More secondary and Margaret Roper primary. Mother Mary William opened the school with three infant classes and 99 children on roll.
On 1st September 1972 Mr. Michael Fleming took over the headship, with by now 242 children on roll. Mr Fleming retired in 1986 and was succeeded by Mr. Gary Tanner who was appointed at Easter 1987. He served as headmaster for nineteen years until September 2006 when the current headteacher Mr Dermot Mooney was appointed.
Our Conditions of Learning
At Margaret Roper School we create conditions in which learning takes place: not just the learning that goes on in the head, but the indispensable social learning which creates an educated heart, and vitally, the spiritual, moral and religious learning that leads to a knowledge and love of God.
Most important among our conditions for learning is the team of committed and strong staff. Experienced and caring, they foster the secure and happy climate for which Margaret Roper is well known. These conditions particularly favour children making the transition from home to school to do so with confidence but endure throughout the school.
We believe that primary aged children are extremely eager to learn, to explore, to invent, and to discover. All of our planning considers the needs of children as individuals so that each develops to their own potential. Provision is made for children with special needs, where careful monitoring takes place and individual structured programmes are planned, whether these be for those with learning difficulties or an exceptional intelligence.
Our Curriculum
By building self-esteem and confidence in a nurturing environment we try to open the way for a lifelong love of learning.
During their years at Margaret Roper School, children take the major step from home to full time schooling, learn to function effectively and comfortably in group situations, and grow in self-confidence, independence and responsibility. Sound spiritual, social, and emotional, as well as academic development is our primary concern.
The school’s academic goals and activities are designed to develop numeracy and literacy skills and to promote understanding of the child’s world through scientific investigation, exploration and study. Aesthetic appreciation and self-expression are developed through art, music, dance and drama. Computer work (I.C.T.) forms a vital part of each child’s programme, and design technology, too, is seen as singularly important. Co-ordination and body movement skills are catered for in P.E., and outdoor activities. The Humanities are taught as part of integrated topic work and adhere to National Curriculum guidelines.
There are also many opportunities for children to be voluntarily involved in a range of extra curricular activities, from sports to music together with many charitable fund raising events. In the upper school provision is made for visits and residential programmes, in Britain and Europe. At the start of each term or half term, parents are provided with outline information on their child’s class programme. Communication in a foreign language is highly valued as an opportunity to understand another culture. Accordingly, French has been taught in the upper school for many years. Latin, too, is now offered to pupils in Year 6.
Margaret Roper School has a proud record of success in many areas, but we never lose sight of the fact that the Gospel, rather than worldly notions of success, determines our priorities. Our faith provides the context for our curriculum and as such we try to live our lives through our religion.
Our Parents
We fully subscribe to the Church’s view that "the parents are the first teachers of their children". Accordingly we encourage close ties between home and school. Informal contacts between teachers and families provide a continuing line of communications, helping the School to respond in a caring and positive way to each child’s particular needs. More formal contacts occur once termly.
The School enjoys the active support of an energetic and enthusiastic parents’ Association. The P.T.A. arranges a variety of fund-raising and social events throughout the year, and the School would be unable to function as it does without this valuable input.
Our Pupils
The number of pupils varies but is usually around 220. All children are Roman Catholic. Generally we can only accept students living within the Parish, but occasionally children from neighbouring Parishes are admitted to the school.
Our Facilities
The dominating position and splendid grounds allow for outdoor apparatus and a large play-ground with climbing equipment and quiet area.
An extensive games field adjoins the heated indoor swimming pool, which is loaned one day each week by our sister High School. The Thomas More Sports Hall is used regularly.
Our surrounding grounds become an extension of the classroom with memorial garden, pavilion, well-stocked pond, wild garden and soft-surface play areas, as well as an outdoor classroom and all-weather Foundation stage play area.
Very large classrooms, each with television, video, DVD and full computer equipment, with Broadband Internet access, provide the back-up resources for a comprehensive education programme. Interactive whiteboards in each classroom offer the opportunity for online learning and Information and Communication Technology is increasingly bedded in the curriculum.
Our Patron
Following the example of our patron, Margaret Roper, we aim to foster the ideals of humility, service, love, responsibility and excellence.
Welcome to Margaret Roper School
Dermot J Mooney
Headteacher