Meet pupils at aspirational Wolverhampton school where children take pride and joy in learning

The school is located in large grounds in Paget Road where there is Forest School and adventure style playground for the pupils to explore.

Trust headteacher James Williamson explains: “Our work at St Jude’s is about ensuring that the children leave us with the highest possible aspirations for themselves. We want them to feel safe secure and nurtured here at St Jude’s and we give then opportunities to explore everything in the classroom and things beyond the classroom

“We get them involved in the Forest School, in music, in dance, in the arts and we ensure when they leave us they are ready to embody our values which are respect, inspire, nurture, belief, outstanding and welcoming.”

“We’re very lucky for an inner city school, we’ve got fabulous grounds where we can offer children opportunities to learn well beyond their classroom providing opportunities that will last them for a lifetime. Just last week we had our Year two Big Sleep Over event. They slept overnight in the field which provided all the opportunities that we’d do on a residential trip , but in the comfort of their own school.

As a Church of England School its chosen ethos is based on the biblical story of Noah’s Ark about a loyal family and the animals which were sheltered in a boat during a big flood. Mr Williamson says all the staff are proud of its reputation in the community and they describe it as 'St Jude's is the ark for the community where we aim to remove any barriers they have’.

“We really do work really hard to remove any barriers that children might have. This seen with the standard the children are at when they leave us and also with our results. We achieve significantly above national figures with our end of Year six data and we’re really proud of that.”

Among the favourite lessons are reading, writing, maths, music, art and geography along with extra-curricular activities include sports and dance which have seen pupils attract scholarships to support their endeavours including football and art.

“Seeing the children performing musically with dance and the other arts is a real pleasure for us and one of our key drivers is that they will be lifelong learners. We really push the children and offer them much more that what’s in the classroom. They have the highest aspiration for themselves as do the staff for them.”

Among the pupil to benefit from the scholarship programme is budding artist Ariyah, aged 11, who prefers drawing sketches, who is an art scholarship student.

There are 492 pupils on the roll at the popular school which is part of St Chad’s Academies Trust. The school was given four areas in the ‘strong standard’ category along with three areas in the ‘expected’ category in its most recent Ofsted inspection in March this year.