Our simple school rules of ‘Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Respectful are understood by all and thread through daily school life. As a consequence children have respectful, trusting relationships with staff which creates a solid foundation for children's personal development. Personal development is both incidental and planned within all of our curriculum. There is particular emphasis within our PSHE, RE and Collective worship programmes for the spiritual and cultural development of our children. Our RE is planned and delivered coherently and are intercultural days produce excellent outcomes. Our PSHE curriculum is based on the guidance provided by the PSHE Association and our mental health and well-being lessons follow the PSHE association's scheme of work.

Our relationships education (RSE) is taught as part of our PSHE programme. The curriculum is based on the Christopher Winter Project scheme of work. Relationships education teaches children about the importance of marriage for family life, stable and loving relationships, respect, love and care. It is also about sex, sexuality and sexual health. It is not about the promotion of sexual orientation or sexual activity. Our programme of lessons is taught in the summer term. 

Throughout the year the children are taught learning behaviours through recognising the qualities of four learning super heroes in the school. Over time this has supported children’s ability to be resilient when facing challenge. The very large majority of children see challenge positively and in lessons reflect on this regularly. They are self-evaluative and can talk about the success of their learning in the context of a lesson or the learning journey of a unit. This is an important vehicle in our children’s character development. Our weekly celebration assembly focuses and affirms key messages around learning, behaviour and good character. When teachers award ‘well done’ or ‘star of the week’ badges the learning behaviour and character of the child is at the centre of the award.

Mental Health

As part of our PSHE programme, our children are taught discrete lessons in identifying and improving aspects of their mental health. Our collective worship programme also includes a series of assemblies that discuss and support mental health topics. 

In addition to our programme of study we provide strong pastoral support for our children. Children are encouraged to share worries or concerns with our staff at any time. If they feel unable to start a conversation each class has a 'worry box' which children can post questions or ask to speak to an adult.

As a school we employ an ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) who leads specific behaviour and therapy programmes for children who require it. She is based in our new 'Butterfly Room'. This is a safe, comfortable place for our children to go to for emotional support.

Programmes of Support for Social, Emotional, Mental Health

For some of our children they may be experiencing some acute anxieties or mental health concerns. These could include depression, low self-esteem, anger and self harm. Children can also suffer from separation anxiety and be school avoidant.

The school have a team of highly skilled staff who are able to deliver programmes of support and reintegration for children who may have fallen out of mainstream education for reasons of anxiety. The school's ideal class sizes, calm learning atmosphere and carefully designed spaces enable staff to deliver their programmes of support.

A number of our staff have been trained to deliver the Rebalance programme which is a carefully designed package of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for children. The school runs therapy sessions for individuals and groups of children.

Our Mental Health Leader is Katherine Manston and parents are invited to discuss concerns with her before any therapy takes place. The school can provide both Art and Play Therapy sessions for children meeting the necessary threshold for this support.

British Values

British Values are taught within our PSHE programmes of study and within our collective worship. We emphasis tolerance and diversity through highlighting different religious celebrations such as Diwali and Eid. Our children learn further about democracy and law through visits to Parliament, Think Safe and visiting Police officers

Diversity

We are proud to be an inclusive school welcoming all children and families. Within our curriculum we actively seek opportunities to celebrate cultural, ethnic and religious difference. For example, we engage the children in Black history month, International day for the elimination of racial discrimination and the Kick it out campaign.

School Council

Our school council is active and last year led a successful campaign to encourage parents not park in certain areas outside the school. They also encouraged children to recycle their crisp packets. Children frequently take part in charity fund raising for example, Children in Need, Cardiac Rehab and the NSPCC. This year we have a drive to encourage our children to focus on environmental and sustainability issues.

Outdoor Learning

As a school we are very passionate about children learning outdoors. Our children take part in 'Trailblazer' lessons which is a local authority scheme aimed at encouraging children to learn more about their local environment and how to preserve it. Where possible, we try to teach lessons from across the curriculum in meaningful ways outdoors. We believe this enhances children's learning experience and improves the health. Many of our lessons are taught in our beautiful outdoor classroom.