Message from Chair of Trust

As we come to the end of another successful academic year across Portico Academy Trust, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our parents and carers for your continued support for our schools. This year has once again highlighted the strength of our school communities, the dedication of our staff, and the resilience and enthusiasm of our pupils. It has been a pleasure to witness the many achievements, both academic and personal, that have taken place across our Trust schools. I send my very best wishes to our year 6 leavers moving to the next stage in their educational journey.

Karen Packer

Friars Primary School and Nursery

2024-25 has been such a great year! From our start in September to our finish in July, it has been packed full of busyness and lots of fun.

We had a strong feeling that we would see Ofsted this year and therefore it was no surprise when they visited us in December, in the penultimate week before the Christmas break. Whilst we would not have chosen that particular time of the year, the festive spirit and the many enriching activities taking place really helped the school to shine brightly. The inspector joined in with the fun, attending a nativity performance and our Christmas dinner. She loved what she saw in the school and said many lovely things both across the two days and in her report. It was a time to celebrate for the whole Friars’ Family. In the written report we were asked to continue our work to improve handwriting and pupils’ attendance. It was acknowledged that we were already doing all we could to encourage children into school and our excellent work with parents in regard to this was recognised. We will continue this focus in 2025-26.

Whilst we always strive to have an excellent curriculum offer and high-quality teaching for all of the children in every phase, we also look to enable a variety of wider enrichment opportunities. Every year group had at least one exciting educational visit this year and we had plenty of visitors come to us too. Local religious figures, the Music Man Project, Father Christmas and Pudsey were just a few of the people who walked through our doors. Each year we have two residential trips for children in Year 5 and Year 6. Year 5 spend two nights camping at the Thriftwood Scout Camp near Brentwood, whilst Year 6 go further afield… this year that being the Peak District. After a successful stay there back in 2022, we returned to Ilam Hall nestled near to Dovedale. We enjoyed an amazing five days which included long walks up the hills of Thorpe Cloud and Mam Tor, a tour of the Treak Cliff Caverns, cycling on the Tissington Trail, the history of Chatsworth House and an action-packed, thrilling day at Alton Towers.

We also like to see the children perform and compete. This year saw us participate in even more sports competitions and, once again, our school choir performed on the biggest stages in Southend: the Palace Theatre and the Cliffs Pavilion. We also took part in an inaugural public speaking competition at Thorpe Hall School. Needless to say, the children love and gain so much from all of these activities.

We tried something new this year... a pop-up swimming pool on the school playground. We believe it is important that children learn to swim as it is such a key life skill but without a swimming pool in close proximity it does make things tricky. For four weeks, we had our very own swimming pool just outside Year 6, and this meant that every year group from Year 1 to 6 had a crash-course of daily swimming lessons. The instructors were excellent and the lessons were of good quality, so much so that we would like to have the pool back in 2026-27.

As a school we are committed to involving parents in school life as much as possible as we know the positive difference it makes. This year there were many occasions that brought parents – and other family members – into school. These included grandparents talking to Year 2 about the games and toys they used to play with when they were young, special assemblies, Christmas decoration workshops, sports days and picnics, stay and play sessions in Early Years, Christmas and Summer Fayres… the list could go on, and on…

Our children remain the very best thing about our school. The Year 6 children are heading off to their new secondary schools with great results in their end of year tests and assessments. Our school Key Stage 2 performance for 2025 was above national averages which is testament to everyone’s hard work; children, staff and parents. We’re already looking ahead to 2025-26 with enthusiasm.

Here's to a lovely summer break and another exciting year ahead.

Hamstel Junior School

Hamstel Junior School had another exciting and successful year.

Our Year 3 classes started their journey with us with an exciting Stone Age theme day, moving into the Ancient Egyptians and learning to be archaeologists. They performed their first Christmas concert in the Juniors and visited Barleylands. In Year 4 the whole year group took part in Bikeability, Roman Day, performed their production of A Hysterical Historical Adventure and had a wonderful visit to Old Leigh on the train. Year 5 enjoyed Greek Day, secondary school WOW day at King Edmund School, their Christmas production and the Skreens Park residential in Chelmsford. And finally Year 6 enjoyed a visit to Duxford, World War Two Day, the Christmas Carol Concert at Holy Trinity Church, a music workshop with a professional musician and composer, an expression and delivery workshop as well as the Year 6 residential and adventure week.

The whole school have had a range of visitors throughout the year but new this year was working with the Clean Air Team from Southend Council, and a retired three-legged police dog called Blu to inspire us all around our Hamstel Habits of courage and determination!

We have continued to use our fantastic school facilities including cooking in our kitchen and having a go at our new orienteering course. We were also lucky to have a sensory Cubbie, which the local authority asked us to trial, enabling many children support with their sensory needs.

We have continued to raise money for good causes. Much of the fundraising has been organised by the school council this year and the money raised went towards the cost of our own Waddle-on-Sea penguin.

The school choir continued to represent the school in the two big choir events across the city, and the local elderly residential home. Due to our work in increasing opportunities to learn and play music across the school, the school applied to be a lead school for music in Southend – a bid in which they were successful. The work to support other schools will start next year.

The school achieved its best ever results in Group Two Borough Sports as the school placed first in the group. We now move into Group One which is a huge achievement. We also participated in the debating competition for the first time. We came second place overall and first for the best chairperson!

It been a busy year with so many great opportunities and experiences for all our children.

West Leigh Junior School

As we come to the end of another busy, packed and exciting year at West Leigh, we reflect on all the wonderful activities and opportunities that have been offered to our pupils.

Our three residential trips to Danbury, Mersea and Ilam Hall (as well as activities for the children unable to attend) allowed the children to strengthen their friendships, develop their communication skills and build their independence. Facing new challenges helped them to grow more resilient, and they were all extremely proud of their achievements.

A new set of core values was introduced to the school this year. We thought carefully as a team about which values would most benefit our pupils, and decided upon integrity, responsibility and empathy. Throughout the year we developed the children’s understanding of these ‘Golden Values’ in a number of ways. Assemblies were planned carefully to allow us to explore these in depth; the children greatly impressed our trustees when explaining the meaning of each Golden Value. We also adapted our ‘Little Golden Thank Yous’ so that children can nominate children who display the values, and MDAs are able to give special golden value stickers when they see the values in action on the playground. Team Challenges have focused on the values – children enjoyed working within their house teams to create Golden Value posters and creatively ‘dual code’ each value. We will continue building on the success of these Golden Values next year.

It has been another exciting and successful year for sport at West Leigh, with 243 children proudly representing the school in various competitions and 364 taking part in sports clubs and trials. Our teams achieved outstanding results across a range of disciplines. We finished third overall in the Southend Borough Sports and were crowned cross country champions for the third consecutive year. Impressively, seven out of our eight cross country teams qualified for the Essex Finals. The Aquathlon team triumphed as Southend champions, while our Tag Rugby team secured second place in Essex. Additionally, our football team made it all the way to the Essex Cup finals, showcasing the talent and dedication of our young athletes.

The school council visited Parliament for the second year in a row, and greatly impressed our local MP with their knowledge of politics! They were instrumental in making change happen across our school and we have adopted some of their many sensible suggestions, such as a special lunch, hooks on the back of toilet doors and some new activities on our playground.

As part of our Careers Day, we were all treated to an assembly with Georgia-Mae Fenton, an Olympic gymnast. She is a member of both the British National Gymnastics Team and the England Commonwealth Games Gymnastics Squad. She inspired us all with her story of resilience and perseverance, which has led her to where she is today. Members of our local community came to share their careers throughout the day. These included a visit from the Hadleigh Farm Community Co-ordinator and our local MP. We were fortunate to have many parents visit and share insights about their diverse professions. From doctors and engineers to artists and entrepreneurs, each parent brought a unique perspective, offering a glimpse into various career paths. Their engaging presentations and personal stories not only broadened the children’s understanding of different industries but also inspired them to think about our own future aspirations.

As always, we made the most of our local area to enrich the children’s learning through a variety of educational visits. Field studies were carried out in Leigh-on-Sea and Southend, with Year 6 even having the opportunity to step inside the council chamber to learn about upcoming positive changes in the community. Year 5 deepened their understanding of volcanoes and earthquakes with a visit to the Natural History Museum, while Year 6 consolidated their World War II studies at Duxford Air Museum. Year 4 explored Roman history during their trip to Colchester Castle, and Year 3 discovered Stone Age farming techniques during an engaging visit to Barleylands. These experiences brought classroom learning to life and sparked curiosity across all year groups.

Our Maths and Quiz Club teams soared to incredible heights this year, earning a place in the prestigious national finals held at Oxford University. Competing against some of the brightest young minds in the country, they tackled exceptionally tough questions with determination and flair. We couldn’t be prouder of how confidently and brilliantly they represented West Leigh—what an unforgettable achievement!

Our choirs have continued to dazzle this year, lighting up stages with their talent and enthusiasm. From the iconic O2 Arena to local favourites like the Cliffs Pavilion and the Palace Theatre, their performances have been nothing short of inspiring. A special highlight was the boys’ choir singing at the Royal Albert Hall and alongside the incredible Music Man Project.

Finally, we are all looking forward to locating our penguin ‘Golden Leigh’ as part of the Waddle on Sea trail this summer. Two children in Year 5 were selected as winners of the design competition, and their designs were incorporated onto our own penguin chick. Most able artists across the school helped to paint the designs, and the finished result is amazing.

It has been a fantastic year, filled with exciting opportunities and memorable moments for everyone. We can’t wait to see what the year ahead has in store!