Welcome to our school!

Goodrich is a large, friendly school where children make excellent progress and we aim for high standards for all in every subject.

The school, which was built in 1886, is actually made up of four buildings. Over time there have been schools for all ages on this site, including a Secondary girls’ school, a one-form Infants school and even adult education in the Lythgoe building. We are now a three form entry primary school. We are the most over-subscribed primary school in Southwark with about 600 applications for 90 places, but there is a waiting list and spaces do become available as people sometimes move out of London.

Academic achievement is our main focus, but we want to provide a well-rounded education of the highest quality and believe in the importance of teaching kindness and resilience. The school ethos is forward-thinking, friendly and tolerant. We place great importance on Art (including pottery), Music, the Humanities, RE, DT and PE alongside the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. Our broad and balanced curriculum is what is needed to effectively prepare children for life in modern Britain. Children also learn Mandarin.

We are blessed with a loyal and hardworking staff and governors, and there is not much turnover which provides continuity and consistency for the children and their families. All the staff and governors have a deep commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning across the school through professional development, calling on national experts to work with and alongside the staff. This has already had a profound effect on standards and has accelerated progress. There is some really outstanding teaching in our school as a result. We have used this to raise standards and to help other schools. Our mathematics curriculum for example, written by the ex-HMI for mathematics in England, has been purchased by over sixty schools around the country. We have also written our own English, History, Geography, DT and RE curricula which reflect the interests and needs of our children.

We want your children to really enjoy their time at Goodrich and by the time they leave to be equipped with a whole range of skills that they will need in later life. We aim to help all our children to feel comfortable and at ease with growing up, and to exemplify tolerance towards others. Above all else, we hope that they look back at their time in the school with a real sense of achievement and enjoyment.

Goodrich aims to be an open school, encouraging parents and carers to take as wide an interest and involvement as possible because we know that children make faster progress when we work in partnership.

The physical environment is constantly improving as this is very important for the children. This year we aim to redesign the quiet playground with the help of FOG, our parents association. We have also renovated the sensory room and want to develop the new curriculum room which houses our own mini-museum.

We are very well supported by our Friends of Goodrich who raise an incredible amount of money for learning resources through a wonderful programme of events. You are very welcome to join them or just to come along to the different events which will be listed on the website. If you would like to visit the school there are regular tours, please contact Jane McCarthy through the school office