Welcome to St. Francis School

For eighty five years, St Francis School has offered children something increasingly rare, a proper childhood. Founded in Pewsey in 1941 with just four pupils, the school now sits in seventeen acres of the beautiful Pewsey Vale, where children climb, dig, sing, question and explore, where mud on knees is a sign of a morning well spent, and where every child is known by name.

I come to the headship of St Francis having previously led a school, and after a career spent working with children and families from all walks of life. That experience has taught me a simple truth, children flourish when the adults around them take both their learning and their happiness seriously. As the first female Head at St Francis in well over a decade, I bring everything I have learned over three decades in education as we take the school into its next era, honouring all that makes this school special while looking confidently to the future.

‘A happy childhood is perhaps the most fortunate gift in life’

Dorothy Richardson

It would be a mistake to think that a childhood-centred school is a soft one. Our academic standards are rigorous and our expectations are high. Children here are taught by specialist teachers in small classes, never in merged year groups, and they leave us as confident, articulate learners ready for the very best senior schools. We believe rigour and joy belong together, and that children work hardest for teachers who know them well.

The best way to understand St Francis School is to visit. Come and hear the noise of a wellies-and-waterproofs playtime on the field, watch our teams in action on the sports pitch, and join our forest school children building dens and lighting fires among the trees. See our classrooms at work and meet the children who make this place what it is. I would be delighted to show you around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karen Austin
Headmistress