Our Church School and History

Shankhill Church of England Primary School

We are proud of our Christian heritage and our Christian school vison which we live out every day in school life. Our school was built by the Church of England in 1874 to provide an education for all children in Solport, Shankhill and surrounding areas.

Our Vision

Creative learning, personal achievement and happiness.

Enabling everyone to flourish and live life in all it's fullness (John 10:10) 

Our school community, based on Christ's teaching, seeks to develop, in each child, a vision of human flourishing, built on wonder, kindness, gentleness, excellence and academic rigour, explored through moral and creative learning experiences.

We are proud of our flourishing Church school family. As trustees of a Church of England primary school, we fulfil our responsibilities to provide high quality education for all. An education that is inspirational, challenging and inclusive. 

This page explains more about the benefits of being a Church school.

Church Schools

Church of England schools are established primarily for the communities they are located in. They are inclusive and serve equally those who are of the Christian faith, those of other faiths and those with no faith.

Church schools are recognised for their distinctive Christian ethos and the impact this has on standards and all round education. The proportions of Church schools regarded as ‘good’ and 'outstanding' (by Ofsted) is much higher than the national norm and yet the Church schools remain fully inclusive.

Church of England schools comprise 23% of all maintained schools in England and Wales.

The schools include infant, junior, primary, middle, all age secondary schools and academies. The Church does not currently run special schools, sixth form colleges or Further Education Colleges.

Shankhill Church of England Primary School

We are a voluntary controlled Church of England school in the diocese of Carlisle. Our successful and thriving school works in accordance with the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Church, as required by the Trust Deed and the instrument of governance of this Church of England School. Our school ethos and mission ensure that we are sensitive to the individual members of our school and wider community. We aim to support the academic, spiritual and character growth of every child respecting those of the faith, those of other faiths and those of no faith. Everyone is welcomed and cherished. 

St. Mary's Church, Stapleton

As a Voluntary Controlled School, Shankhill has a strong Christian ethos; the Christian Values underpin the schools ethos and drives improvement.  The school has excellent links with the Parish of Solport and Stapleton, and in particular St. Mary's Church.

For further information regarding St. Mary's, Stapleton please click here.  

The Diocese of Carlisle and Board of Education

For more information regarding our local Diocese and the Board of Education please click here.

SIAMs Inspection

For our most recent SIAMs inspection (Dec 2021) please click here   

History

The original school was built in 1874 by the Church Of England on land from Netherby Hall and consisted of one school room. This situation existed until the 1960's, when a second classroom was built, and then, in the 1970's, a third classroom and a kitchen were added. The old schoolroom is now known as "our library classroom", and is used by Class 2 and also hosts our full fiction and non-fiction library.

In 2007 a new hall extension was added to the school, which is used for assemblies, PE, eating lunch and school performances. we also host our weekly Parent, Baby and Toddler group and regular community lunches.

We also have space to accomodte training and other events, like local first aid training and other professional training days, such as an Early Years INSET training day that we organised in our hall for our staff team and 41 teachers from our schools across Cumbria. 
 
In 2015, thanks to a Lottery Grant, we unveiled our new school garden, which included:

• a vegetable and planting area;
• a sensory area;
• a water feature (with thanks to the Carr family for support)
• glazed gazebo for outdoor learning - now our quiet, reflective, spiritual area;
• bird watching hide;
• 20+ bird boxes, toad homes and a bug hotel; 
• outdoor benching and stage area in our woods;
• bog garden.

In 2016, we refurbished our Class 1, redesigning it to offer everything a child in our early years could desire, both inside and out. 

More recently, in 2020, thanks partly to a grant from Hallburn Community Trust, school invested in a mile track around our extensive school field. We also extended our playground to create a bigger interactive play area and resurfaced our 40m long play trail.

Our next projects include:

• extending and developing our EYFS outdoor learning environment
• further developemnt of our forest learning environment
• a bike shed, bikes and ride-ons to ensure evryone in school can ride confidently before Bikeability, and are safe on our rural roads