Aims, Ethos and Vision

Our Mission Statement

New Brancepeth Primary School is at the heart of the community and the start of your child’s learning journey. Our school is a vibrant, welcoming and safe place to learn driven by high expectations.

We strive as a team to inspire confidence, develop resilience, promote democracy and give children the ability to aim high, recognising only the best is good enough.

We challenge children to believe in and reach beyond themselves so they leave proud of their achievements and are ready to make their next steps as confident and responsible citizens in an ever-changing society.

Ethos

At New Brancepeth Primary School we believe in the concept of lifelong learning and the idea that both adults and children learn new things every day. We maintain that learning should be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for everyone; it should be fun. Through our teaching we equip children with the skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to be able to make informed choices about the important things in their lives. We believe that appropriate teaching and learning experiences help children to lead happy and rewarding lives encouraging them to become lifelong learners and successful citizens in an ever changing and evolving society.

Our Aims

We believe that people learn best in different ways. At our school we provide a rich and varied learning environment that allows children to develop their skills and abilities to their full potential. We consider the raising of standards of achievement, social, moral and spiritual development to be the foundation of good teaching. We believe that each individual child should be given the opportunity to achieve their full potential. This can be achieved through good teaching practice and planned learning, targeted at the children’s needs. All staff take responsibility for raising standards in basic skills. We value every member of our learning community; governors, parents, staff and the children who attend the school.

We acknowledge that children come to school with diverse knowledge and from different social and cultural backgrounds. At New Brancepeth all children are valued and supported.

Children learn best when:

• They are happy, confident and independent in a secure caring environment to which they feel they belong.
• They know and understand the learning targets and objectives.
• They have a sense of self worth, feel confident in asking questions and are encouraged to use thought processes as part of their learning.
• The assessment procedures are supportive, positive, diagnostic and constructive based on the recognition of the child’s efforts and achievements.
• They are valued as individuals and their work is positively assessed, with appropriate feedback, by the teacher, their peers and themselves, dependent upon their age, aptitude and ability.
• There are opportunities to work in a variety of situations; as individuals, or groups, with the teacher on a one to one basis, in a small group or whole class.
• The needs of individuals are assessed and supported through planned learning, advice and support from all staff and other external agencies.
• There are clear monitoring procedures.
• Clearly defined policies on behaviour and discipline are in place and consistently implemented by all members of staff.
• The children are respected and respectful and have a sense of ownership about their learning and community.
• An environment exists which enables children to feel happy, safe, secure, stimulated, motivated and healthy.
• The teachers are reflective and enjoy a collegiate relationship with colleagues, which enables them to consider their own teaching pedagogy and its strengths and weaknesses through training and development of all staff within the school.
• The school and parents work in partnership and the parents are actively involved in their children’s learning.
• The children have access to a variety of teaching approaches, experiences and challenges.
• The children are equipped with the skills necessary to become independent learners.
• The classroom structure is made explicit and routines, expectations and targets are clear.
• The children experience consistency in all aspects of discipline and behaviour.
• The children value themselves and others regardless of race, culture, colour, gender, religion or ability.
• There is a shared understanding of high expectations to ensure that all children achieve their full academic potential.
• They have access to a wide variety of resources to aid them in their work.

Effective learning

We acknowledge that people learn in many different ways and we recognise the need to develop strategies that allow all children to learn in ways that best suit them. The psychologist Howard Gardner identifies seven main areas of intelligence: linguistic, logical/mathematical, visual/spatial, kinaesthetic, musical, interpersonal/group working, and interpersonal/reflective. We take into account these different forms of intelligence when planning teaching and learning styles.

We offer opportunities for children to learn in different ways. These include:

• investigation and problem solving;
• research and finding out;
• group work;
• paired work;
• independent work;
• whole-class work;
• asking and answering questions;
• use of the ICT;
• fieldwork and visits to places of educational interest;
• visitors to school
• creative activities;
• use of digital material;
• debates, role-plays and oral presentations;
• designing and making things;
• participation in athletic or physical activity.

We encourage children to take responsibility for their own learning, to be involved as far as possible in reviewing the way they learn, and to reflect on how they learn – what helps them learn and what makes it difficult for them to learn.

Effective teaching

When teaching we focus on motivating the children and building on their skills, knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. We use the school long term curriculum plan to guide our teaching. This sets out the aims, objectives and values of the school and details what is to be taught to each year group in line with the National Curriculum 2014.

We base our teaching on our knowledge of the children’s level of attainment. Our prime focus is to develop further the knowledge and skills of the children. We conduct all our teaching in an atmosphere of trust and respect for all.

To this end as a community we have developed nine key principles which should be evidenced in all areas of our school to maximise the impact of teaching and learning across school these being :

1. Children are respected and respectful and have a sense of ownership about their learning community.
2. An environment exists which enables children to feel happy, safe, secure, stimulated, motivated and healthy.
3. The teachers are reflective and enjoy a collegiate relationship with a colleague, which enables them to consider their own teaching pedagogy and its strengths and weaknesses through training and development of all staff within the school.
4. The school and parents work in partnership and are actively involved in their children’s learning.
5. The children have access to a variety of teaching approaches, experiences and challenges.
6. The children are equipped with the skills necessary to become independent learners.
7. The classroom structure is made explicit and routines, expectations and targets are clear.
8. The children experience consistency in all aspects of discipline and behaviour.
9. The children value themselves and others embracing all i.e. races, cultures, colours, genders, religions or abilities.