Location and facilities
Located at the heart of two villages in beautiful West Berkshire countryside, our school uses its rural setting as a rich resource for learning. The grounds include a spacious field, adventure playground and a garden space for quiet reflection. At Harvest, Christmas and Easter, we hold services of celebration and thanksgiving at our local parish church, St Mary Sulhamstead Abbots. Classes take frequent woodland walks, and we have a good working relationship with the educational trust at nearby Ufton Court, which provides themed topic days like a Stone Age Day, or a WW2 evacuee experience.
Classes and houses
Our Reception cohort is made up of a maximum of fifteen children, and they are taught in a purpose built unit with outside area. They benefit from a class combined with Year 1 who are very helpful in settling them into school and setting a good example. The further three classes are organised in mixed-year groups, with Years 2-3 spent in Oak class, Years 4-5 in Ash, and Year 6 in Sycamore. We find this helps younger and older children learn from and help each other – and having the same teacher and classroom environment for two years particularly helps less confident children to flourish. Year 6 being on their own really helps focus their learning in preparation for SATs's and their move to secondary school.
The school houses – Attenborough, Dahl, Hamilton and Parks were chosen by the whole school, after learning about inspirational people. On arrival at school, each child is given a house to represent. House points can be earned throughout the school day, and on occasions like Sports Day, encouraging collaboration between the school years. House points are counted up each week, and at the end of term the victorious house receives a prize!
Pupil leadership
We strive to encourage confident and articulate leaders, able to share their views with any audience, and apply their leadership skills to real-life situations. We offer opportunities for leadership right from the beginning: each class elects a representative to attend School Council meetings, and another to be part of SUN’s eco-conscious Green Team.
Once in Year 6, pupils can put themselves forward for House Captain, and our Collective Worship Leadership team take on the responsibility of organising and scheduling Collective Worship assemblies for the school. We find these opportunities build confidence, and ensure that all voices and opinions are heard.
Curriculum
We aim to provide a creative, wide-ranging curriculum that fires our pupils’ imaginations and gives them a lifelong love of learning, in line with our school vision: 'Dream, Believe, Challenge, and Achieve'. Each of our staff members acts as a particular subject lead, and ensures that skills are taught progressively throughout the whole school, and through a range of memorable activities. As most of our classes are mixed-year groups, we use a two-year planning cycle to ensure themes aren’t repeated. See our Learning at SUN pages for more information.
We’ve previously enjoyed visits from a mobile planetarium, held themed Science Weeks and Sports Weeks, taken classes to Reading Museum and Windsor Castle, and had real, live owls flying around our school hall for the morning!
Extra-curricular activities
Every child is different, and we want to support them in developing their interests and discovering new ones. While most of our extracurricular activities have been on hold during pandemic restrictions, we normally offer a variety of popular after-school clubs, compete regularly in inter-school sports championships, and host Berkshire Maestros musical instrument lessons during the school day.
Our wraparound care provider, Funtastic Kids, holds sessions before and after school in the hall. Take-up and parent feedback from these sessions is excellent.
Values and Community
Our six chosen values are deeply embedded in our school life. Children live out the values, and are rewarded with postcards sent home and a Governors rainbow award at the end of each term. The Head, staff, and Rector of our parish church lead regular worship assemblies, and we attend several traditional village events to support our local community, such as the yearly Ufton Dole. We’re also well supported by an enthusiastic, motivated PTA, ‘Friends of SUN’, who organise events and raise funds. Thanks to the efforts of Friends of SUN, we’re able to take the whole school out to the theatre at Christmas every year, and we now have iPads and laptops for use in whole class groups.
Admissions
Our school catchment area primarily encompasses Sulhamstead, Ufton Nervet and their surrounding area, but we attract and welcome children from further afield, including Burghfield Common, Padworth and Mortimer.
West Berkshire County Council is the admissions authority for the school, and admission arrangements are determined by the school governors, after statutory consultations. More details can be found in our Admissions Policy.
For mid-year placements and children older than Reception age, please contact the office directly.