CHIPPENHAM school St Paul’s is singing its own praises as it focuses on music for its pupils.

Children also have the chance to give feedback in the school council, which has led to some new directions in extracurricular activities.

Headteacher Sheridan Upton said: “We discovered through the council that pupils wanted to have drumming lessons, so we provided a drum teacher so they could learn how to play.

“We also have groups who are currently learning African drumming on Djembe drums.”

The school puts on a party in the park for families each year, with a four-hour display of the children’s musical talents.

Pupils are also taught about values including honesty and respect, and encouraged to take these outside the school walls.

Mr Upton said: “Staff reinforce these values in the classroom and in the playground.

“Children receive assemblies based around values we hope they will take with them throughout their lives, and we write about them in the newsletter so parents can see the values their children are being encouraged to learn about.

“We pride ourselves on the atmosphere created in the school through teaching these values and using them in our everyday terminology.”

Mr Upton said he believes these aspects of a child’s education are just as important as statistics.

“We look at a child as a whole, and not just as a set of data,” he said.

St Paul’s also invites pupils who have left for secondary school back for football matches with the year below.

Mr Upton said: “The door is always open for the new Year 7s.”