Our Aims, Values and Ethos

Our school vision is for every child to become a successful, independent, resilient, lifelong learner and a caring, responsible member of the community, who can achieve their very best. High quality teaching and learning is at the heart all that we do. We strive to provide a learning climate in which children feel safe, can flourish, celebrate differences and develop skills and confidence to build happy, successful futures.

Our ethos is built around our school motto: Be kind. Be Ambitious. Be the best you can be!

At Parkhead Community Primary school we aim to:

• Create a nurturing environment which supports the well-being of all pupils and enables children to be healthy, emotionally literate and able to maintain positive and fulfilling relationships
• Provide exciting, engaging and creative learning experiences which enable all pupils to become active, independent and effective learners who achieve their very best
• Develop pupils’ understanding of their responsibilities as members of a community, encouraging a positive, respectful and caring attitude towards others and the environment
• Enable all of our pupils to become enquiring, responsible, resourceful and reflective young people, who are ready to face the future with confidence and challenge themselves
• Foster strong partnerships with parents and careers, valuing the contribution s they have to make, encouraging their active involvement in children’s learning and developing a relationship based on mutual trust
• Put the school at the heart of the local community enabling children to appreciate aspects of the wider world.

Our Core Values

At Parkhead Community Primary School we believe that children can achieve personal excellence through the teaching and modelling of values and skills. Our shared values are central to achieving our aims and sustaining the positive ethos of our school. As a moral compass, they guide us from day to day in our learning, thinking and decision making. The impact of our values is evident in the daily life of our school.

• Resilience

• Kindness
• Excellence
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Cooperation
• Ambition

Promoting British Values through our Curriculum

At Parkhead Community Primary School, we help our pupils to grow into caring, responsible and tolerant adults who can make a positive contribution to British society and to the wider world.

In accordance with The Department for Education we aim to actively promote British values in schools to ensure young people leave school prepared for life in modern Britain. We teach our pupils the importance of being kind, compassionate and respectful to everyone they meet. Pupils are encouraged to regard people of all faiths, races and cultures with respect and tolerance and understand that while different people may hold different views about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, all people living in England are subject to its law. We support the development of our pupils through our approach to SMSC (social, moral, spiritual and cultural) through our curriculum.
 

The Key British Values are:

• democracy
• rule of law
• individual liberty
• mutual respect
• tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

At Parkhead Community Primary School pupils encounter these in all aspects of school life. Below are some these values are actively promoted in assemblies, through collective worship and across the curriculum:

Democracy
Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and Pupil voice questionnaires. The elections of School Council Representatives are based solely on pupil votes. The school council not only promotes democratic processes, fostering the concept and application of freedom of speech and group action to address needs and concerns but make our school a better place. Our school behaviour policy involves rewards which the pupils vote on as a class group and children are encouraged to come up with their own classroom rules at the beginning of the year. We have welcomed visitors into school to school to talk to pupils about how democracy works in England, discuss the history of parliament and the voting system.

The Rule of Law
Our pupils will encounter rules throughout their lives, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country. We want our pupils to understand that there are reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. We consistently reinforce this throughout regular school days, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school assemblies. Pupils are taught the value and promotion of ‘fair play’, following and developing rules, inclusion, celebrating and rewarding success, being magnanimous in defeat and participation in activities that promote teamwork and affiliation with others. Visits from authorities such as the Police and Fire Service help to reinforce these messages.

Individual Liberty
Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young pupils to make choices safely, through of provision of a safe environment and empowering education. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advise how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons. Whether it be through choice of challenge, of how they record, of participation in our numerous extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, pupils are given the freedom to make choices. We believe that valuing choice and freedom in daily life will foster a value for individual liberty.

Mutual Respect

Mutual respect is at the core of our school life and values. Pupils learn to treat each other and staff with respect. This is evident when walking around school and in classrooms. Our PSHE curriculum involves discussions about friendship and how we treat our friends. Pupils are regularly involved in discussions and assemblies related to what respect means and how it is shown. This is reiterated through our school and class rules, as well as our behaviour policy.

Tolerance of those of Different Faiths and Beliefs
We achieve this through enhancing pupils understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society and by giving them opportunities to experience such diversity. Assemblies and discussions involving tolerance, prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been followed and supported by learning in RE and PSCHE. Children have the opportunity to visit places of worship that are important to different faiths. Through our curriculum and school routines we strive to demonstrate tolerance and help children to become knowledgeable and understanding citizens.