Cadoxton Primary wins national award

Cadoxton Primary School won the community and collaboration award at the tes school awards held on Friday 25 June.

Judges praised the school for ‘illustrating what going the extra mile really means’ during the coronavirus pandemic. Staff have worked tirelessly to ensure that pupils, their families, and the wider community have been supported throughout the pandemic. 

One example of this is the school’s ‘pay as you feel shop’, which was established in May 2020 and is run by parent volunteers involved in Cadog’s Corner. The aim of Cadog’s Corner is to improve wellbeing in the wider community.

The group offer training and volunteering opportunities as well as running the ‘pay as you feel’ shop and café. The ‘pay as you feel’ shop has since expanded to include the ‘Big Bocs Bwyd’ initative, which serves 8 schools in the local area, and the ‘Cadfield’ van which travels around the local community on a Saturday delivering bags of shopping to families for just £4 each.  

 As well as these ventures, pupils run a ‘junk food café’, which helps to develop their cooking skills by making and selling snacks from ingredients that would normally go to waste.   

The school has established positive relationships with parents and carers and helped provide access to accredited training courses at Cardiff and Vale College. It has also developed a relationship with a local care home to develop intergenerational links in the community. Cadoxton Primary School is also a lead partner school with the University of Wales Trinity St David, providing training and work experience opportunities for up to 20 student teachers per year. 

Upon receiving the award, the school’s Executive Headteacher Janet Hayward, said: "We are delighted to receive this recognition from TES. We are so proud of our Cadoxton Family who genuinely take a delight in supporting our children, families and widest school community in so many ways to thrive and be their best." 

The Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Regeneration and Deputy Leader, Cllr Lis Burnett, said: “Cadoxton Primary School is an excellent example of how schools can support their wider community in addition to its pupils and I’m so pleased they have been recognised on a national scale for their work. Lots of schools throughout Wales could learn from the example set by Cadoxton Primary School.”