The School

Great Whelnetham Voluntary Controlled School is a Church of England Primary School for boys and girls within an age range of four to nine years. 

Children are currently admitted in the September following their fourth birthday.  They leave at the end of the school year in which they have their ninth birthday.

From here most children progress to Hardwick Middle School, which in turn feeds into King Edward VI Upper School, both in Bury St. Edmunds.

The school serves the villages of Great Whelnetham, Sicklesmere, Stanningfield and Nowton, although many children from outside this catchment area are admitted as well.  It is located in the centre of this area, very close to St. Thomas a Becket Church, with which it has strong ties.

There has been a school in Great Whelnetham on the same site since 1849, which is when the original building (now the school hall) was built.  Two classrooms were added in 1954.  A recent extension has added a third classroom, a library and an art and craft area and even more recently a good sized hall and an office have been added. 

Adjacent to the school buildings there is a large grass playing field which includes a football pitch, and activity area. There is also a spacious hard surface playground, a quiet area with a variety of seating areas, a garden and a wooden activity area.

The school has three classes, with small numbers in each. This enables staff to ensure that children are able to have individual help which is so important during a child’s early years in education. Children progress through the school according to age and ability. The first two classes are for children aged from 4 to 7 (the age group from 5 to 7 is called Keystage 1). The top class is for children ages 7 - 9 (children aged between 7 and 11 are in Keystage 2).

Our school role is approximately 70 children, so we are able to ensure that numbers in each class are small. The adjoining Cygnets makes provision for children from 3 years and also provides before and after school care.

We've rung in the New Year with an Outstanding Ofsted Report!!

Click on the link to read the full report.

Happy New Year to you all! There are some photos following, showing some of the things we did last term!

Melissa Zhao is pictured following her performance of "The Peacock Dance". She is with some members of our Chinese Club.

We had a great day working with fabric artist, Trudie Kelly. We produced lots of angels in different styles and some of them went into the Church over the Christmas period.

Now you can have a quick photographic tour of our school while you look at some of the things we got up to!

This wooden tree welcomes you into our school.

Our reception children learning through play.

We have a fantastic hall for PE. We eat lunch there too.

We love our garden. One of our mums runs our gardening club.

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