We are a small, friendly, mixed 11-16 Catholic school, comprising 750 students who come from a large number of feeder primary schools. The school is situated on the northern side of Basildon in a most attractive site. As a catholic school we respect and value all faiths, beliefs and cultures and welcome students who wish to share in a Christian education.

We place great emphasis on;

• developing spiritual and moral values
• identifying nurturing and monitoring individual talents and skills so that all students can achieve their full potential
• providing a secure, happy and purposeful learning environment in which the highest academic standards can be achieved and maintained

We try to express the Christian nature of the school, particularly in the way each individual is treated so that every person is valued and accepted as part of a caring community. The happiness of the students is equally important as academic of personal success.

A real strength of the school is the hard work, good humour and support offered by the staff comprising 45 teachers, 12 Learning support Assistants and 13 ancillary staff. It is this that makes De La Salle a welcoming pleasant place to work despite the nature of the 'challenging circumstances' that the school has been identified as facing. Recent school successes have been a positive Ofsted inspection in May 2001, receipt of a DfES School Achievement Award for GCSE improvements in 2002 and, this year achieving the Sportsmark award.

De La Salle has already benefited from collaborative working with other schools on an informal basis. We therefore welcome the opportunity to be a member of the SENLC and look forward to sharing knowledge of what works in the classroom and learning from each others' experiences to find solutions to common problems.

STEVE HEFFERNAN (Headteacher)

  
Down Hall School is a group 2 primary School with 313 pupils on roll this year. The school is situated on the outskirts of Rayleigh in a residential area and the community served by our school is mainly professional/owner occupier.

Down Hall school was built in 1968 as a one form entry school with 7 classes. It has now grown to 11 classes and admits 45 children each year. There are 5 classes in Foundation Stage and KS1 and 6 classes in KS2. Our annual intake number of 45 means that some classes have mixed age groups.

At Down Hall we provide ourselves on the friendly and supportive atmosphere we create within our school. We try to ensure that everyone feels valued and part of the team. School Council is well established and our partnership with parents includes a parents council which helps to ensure good communication and strong sense of involvement.

Our key priorities at present include meeting the needs of more able children, continual professional development for staff, raising attainment. We are currently involved in the Learning to Learn Research Project and are working towards Advanced Healthy School's Award.

ANNE MARIE LAVENDER (Headteacher)

  
Glebe Infant School serves a mixed catchment area and currently has 240 children on roll, 19 of these children are hearing impaired. We have achieved 4 awards over the last 3 years and these are;

• Investors in People
• Advanced Healthy Schools Award
• Essex Schools Award Scheme
• Achievement Award

These awards are very important to us as they are a public recognition of our achievements. PSHE is very important in our school and we have drinking fountains in every classroom. Every class has Circle Time and Class Council timetables every week and our School Council meets every two weeks. Claire Edwards (DH) runs this and if it is possible we try to do whatever the children request. We have taken our Year 2 councilors to 2 award ceremonies where they have represented our school. Claire regularly trains other teachers now for the LEA. Our children's self esteem is very high and we are now keen to take this further into their learning. We are part of the Learning to Learn project and are currently working on developing a 'no hands up' approach. This has involved us in thinking very carefully about our questioning techniques and the amount of thinking time we give the children.

There are 40 staff in total who contribute to the success of our school and all staff take great pleasure in the achievements of our children.

MONICA DIMMOCK (Headteacher)

  
Glebe Junior serves a mixed population in Rayleigh, most of its intake come from Glebe infants, with whom we share a site, but we also attract children from our priority catchment area. We have attractive landscaped grounds which provide shade for our pupils in the summer and many opportunities for imaginative play.

The school is currently in the underachieving category, but our most recent OFSTED (October 2002) was very positive about the impact that the many improvements our hard working staff have put in place will have. The inclusive nature of our provision for the hearing impaired provides pupils with enhanced opportunities to appreciate the diversity of our community and that similarities far outweigh differences.

I have been Headteacher of Glebe Junior School since January 2002. In that time the school has not had the easiest of times including visits from HMI and OFSTED. However thanks to the hard work of a dedicated staff, we are now building on our successes to continue to improve the school.

STEPHAN NICHOLLS (Headteacher)

  
The Kingswood Junior School was opened in 1957, being part of the development of the then rapidly growing New Town. It provides education for the normal Junior school age range. The school has eight classrooms on two floors, a multi purpose assembly hall, kitchen and an administration area. The classrooms are large, airy and well equipped. In addition there is a separate base for learning development and a purpose built Science Laboratory. In May 2000 a computer suite was established to enhance the development of Information Communications Technology.

The school is set in an attractive site close to the town centre and has a large open playing field. It shares a swimming pool with the Infant School.

The school roll has stabilised from a peak of over 500 pupils in the early 1970's to a fairly constant level of 240 pupils which is the current pupils number on roll.

In September 1999 the school became a Foundation School having previously enjoyed the status of being Grant Maintained. Over many years the school has gained a reputation for work of a high quality across the whole of the curriculum which is organised along traditional lines.

Whilst results in national tests in recent years have been excellent, we value and encourage participation in sport, music and drama.

RON BARNES (Headteacher)

  
We were opened in 1997 and as a staff we have worked very hard together since then to recreate a cohesive community where the central focus is teaching and learning.

We are very proud of our supportive culture and the way in which we share our practice in order to provide excellent opportunities for our pupils both in and beyond the classroom. Our slogan in 'Securing Pupils Success' and we are striving to produce young people who will lead fulfilling lives.

We now have over 1200 pupils who are making progress well above national expectations for their ability. Our first OFSTED inspection in 2001 acknowledged this, and the high quality of teaching throughout the school.

We are keen to put the difficulties of the amalgamation of the two schools, Sweyne and Park behind us, and have our current approaches recognised. We have gained a number of awards, including,

• Investor in People.
• The Curriculum Award
• Education Extra Awards
• International Schools Award
• Artsmark Award.

We are a London University Promotional Partnership School and also a partnership school with Cambridge and the OU.

We have gained training school status, beginning in September 2003 and are currently awaiting the outcome of our bid to become Specialist Science School.

Our staff have enjoyed working with other schools and we are looking forward to contributing to and benefiting from being part of the new Network Community.

  
We are an 11-16 mixed community school situated in central Basildon. Since I became Head of Woodlands, we have focused on raising pupil achievement, developing a high quality programme of professional development and working with our community. We have enjoyed success in these areas, which was recognised in our recent OFSTED. Recently we have been designated a DfES Training School as well as receiving a Curriculum Award, Investors in People, Basic Skills Award, International Schools status and DfES achievement awards. Woodlands is committed to working collaboratively with other schools and therefore welcome mentoring of our South Essex Networked Learning Community. I am sure it will add value to the work we do in schools. On a personal note I work as a National Assessor on NPQH and am part of the NCSL Consultant Leader Network. I look forward to working with staff from all our partner schools.

ANDY WHITE (Headteacher)