Ethos and Values

Netherthorpe Primary School

Our vision is underpinned by our aims and values:

Aims:

At Netherthorpe Primary School we undertake to:

• Provide a broad, stimulating, creative curriculum that engages and motivates pupils.
• Raise levels of attainment for all pupils, enabling every individual to achieve his or her personal best.
• Develop confident, disciplined and enquiring learners, able to make informed choices.
• Foster a love of learning.
• Promote self-esteem, resilience and personal responsibility, linked to respect for the needs and feelings of others.
• Facilitate considerate and positive relationships between all members of the school community.
• Ensure equal opportunities in relation to gender, ethnicity, faith, social class and special needs.
• Provide a safe and happy work place.
• Promote a thoughtful attitude towards the immediate and wider environment.
• Enable the development of literacy, numeracy and social skills essential for adult life.
• Providing lessons which are prepared, structured and paced to make effective use of time.
• Ensuring differentiation of learning intentions by outcome, task or adult support as appropriate.
• Valuing and celebrating pupils’ success and achievements.
• Ensuring that lesson objectives and success criteria are stated clearly and concisely and are understood by pupils.
• Maintaining effective communication with parents.

 

Pupils contribute to effective learning by:

• Attending school regularly.
• Being punctual and ready to begin lessons on time.
• Being organised e.g. taking letters home promptly, returning reading books.
• Conducting themselves in an orderly manner.
• Showing respect for themselves and for others.
• Being positive and encouraging to other pupils.
• Following the school’s Golden Rules.
• Making full use of the opportunities with which they are provided.
• Actively participating in all learning opportunities with a growth mind-set.
• Taking growing responsibility for their own learning.

 

 

Parents contribute to effective learning by:

• Ensuring that their children attend school regularly and punctually.
• Allowing and enabling children to take increasing responsibility as they progress throughout the school, e.g. for uniform, equipment and homework.
• Providing support for discipline within the school.
• Offering encouragement and praise to their children and celebrating successes.
• Giving due importance to homework including reading with their children.
• Keeping staff informed of any changes in children’s circumstances which may affect their learning.
• Bringing any concerns they may have to school at the earliest opportunity.

 

Governors contribute to effective learning by:

• Challenging and supporting the leadership of the school.
• Monitoring the effectiveness of school development plans at a strategic level.
• Knowing the school well and understanding its context.
• Ensuring that the school’s budget is well spent and focuses on priorities identified by the school that are based on evidenced need.
• Attending School Development Planning INSET (or make provision for views to be represented).

 

 

Values:

At Netherthorpe Primary School it is believed that effective learning takes place when:

• Pupils are valued as individuals and are actively involved in the learning process.

• There is an atmosphere of mutual tolerance and respect.
• Teachers have high, realistic expectations of their pupils’ capabilities.
• The learning environment is stimulating, comfortable and safe.
• There is a shared understanding of expectations of behaviour.
• Time is spent ensuring that pupils have deep and meaningful learning experiences that extend beyond the superficial.
• All staff work together co-operatively in a mutually supportive manner putting the needs of pupils first and foremost.

 

Responsibilities:

All members of the school community (staff, pupils, parents, governors and voluntary helpers/students) contribute to effective learning by:

• Encouraging, praising and positively reinforcing good relationships and behaviour.
• Working as a team, supporting and encouraging one another.
• Maintaining a well-ordered environment with a shared understanding of good behaviour.
• Valuing children as individuals and respecting their rights, values and beliefs.
• Offering equal opportunities in all aspects of school life.

 

Teachers and additional adults in school contribute to effective learning by:

• Providing a well-organised, purposeful working environment at all times.
• Providing a welcoming environment, in which courtesy, kindness and respect are fostered.
• Being good role models – punctual, well prepared, enthusiastic and positive.
• Having a positive attitude to change and the development of their own expertise.
• Maintaining useful and informative planning, record-keeping and assessment documents, in line with the school’s record-keeping and assessment policies.
• Providing children with regular opportunities to access and develop “Learning Muscles” actively and reflect on their individual strengths and next steps.
• Regularly reviewing children’s progress and identifying ‘next learning steps’.
• Effective management of their professional time, including making the best use of all time available with children.
• Developing links with the wider community by participating in appropriate academic, sporting, arts based and other events that will enhance pupils’ understanding offered during the year.
• Providing children with meaningful, challenging tasks, related to the National and School Curricula.

Key drivers for the school that run through every subject taught are:

 

• Communication: building on and enhancing speaking, listening and communication skills; developing vocabulary to enable explanations and reasoning; increasing grammatical understanding and accuracy; overcoming speech and language barriers; developing IT skills required to access knowledge and information in the wider world safely; developing self-confidence in drama and public performance/speaking.

 

• Enquiry: developing the skills needed to be active learners, such as resilience, perseverance and other learning muscles; developing a growth mind-set approach to intelligence; understanding that failing is part of learning on occasion; developing curiosity and enquiry skills; developing logical and lateral thinking to apply to problem solving; building on the independent skills learned in EYFS.

 

• Global citizenship: setting all learning in relevant contexts that utilise pupils’ existing knowledge and experience and provide opportunities for acknowledging  and respecting other people’s experiences; making learning relevant and applicable to the world outside the immediate school environment; broadening horizons and raising aspirations about future possibilities beyond that of families’ experience;  developing tolerance, understanding and respect for all people.