Hartburn Primary School

Values and Ethos

Our School is a place where values are at the heart of all we do.

We believe that happy well motivated children learn best. We work together to understand ourselves and each other. We develop our personal values and bring them to life in all we do.

The school strives to live the values based curriculum programme which it delivers. This encompasses all aspects of teaching and learning in school but particularly focuses on PSHE, Citizenship, SEAL and R.E. We aim for our values to show through everything that is said and done in school by all members of our school community.

We firmly believe that “happy children learn best” and are committed to providing an environment where all pupils feel valued and are able to learn and play together in a caring, happy, co-operative and safe atmosphere. It is the responsibility of children, staff, governors and parents to ensure that high standards are maintained in an atmosphere of mutual respect, trust, honesty, openness, fairness and consistency.

Our school is a place where all learners love to learn

We believe in providing the best opportunities for everyone to achieve their potential. We work hard to provide support and challenge and to make learning fun for all. Our pupils have a voice.

We acknowledge and recognise every child’s entitlement to education as identified by the National Curriculum. However, we actively challenge new initiatives and analyse the benefits for our pupils before adapting our processes – we aim to be a “learning school” at all levels. The staff at Hartburn Primary are a valuable resource – it is their impact which has the greatest effect on learning – we therefore aim to ensure their training and development is central to school improvement.

We enable learners at all levels by providing support socially, pastorally, physically and academically to enable all pupils to have equal access to learning. While our philosophy remains solid, our practices from year to year are therefore adapted to meet pupil needs more effectively.

Our pupils’ views are heard and we give serious consideration to their ideas when any adaptations are made to the curriculum, values or skills philosophy. We value the parental feedback and regularly ask for them to reflect on how the school operates to ensure that they remain at the heart of all that we are trying to achieve.

Our school is a place where progress is paramount

We offer a creative curriculum in a safe, caring and well -resourced environment. Good learning opportunities for all promote the raising of standards and the development of outstanding leaders for the future.

We believe that, as teachers, we need to get it right – our pupils have one chance at primary education and their time at school is short, precious and cannot be repeated. We strive to provide a quality education, to reflect critically on our practices and to adapt and develop our strategies to ensure we offer the most appropriate learning opportunities at all times. We aim for the education we provide to take children confidently into the secondary phase of their education and beyond, as lifelong learners.

With this in mind, we aim to teach our children to recognise and apply sets of skills during their learning opportunities. These skills are age and year group appropriate and are chosen to be built upon year on year, enhancing learning.