Menston Primary School

Values & Ethos

At Menston Primary School we are proud to be an inclusive school where we work together to challenge, inspire and motivate all children to become successful, confident and caring citizens of our diverse world. We work together to create a happy environment where all members of the school community feel safe, can enjoy, achieve and make a positive contribution to the school and the wider community.

We promote a culture where pupils are happy, believe that they can succeed, take responsibility for their learning, set targets for their own achievement and develop as independent learners.

Our six core values have been agreed by pupils and staff:

Our aim is that all our children should:

• Enjoy their primary school years and develop high self-esteem regardless of their academic starting points
• Feel safe and secure and keep healthy in class, playgrounds and after school activities
• Enjoy equal opportunities to succeed
• Have a passion for learning and experience success within and beyond the classroom
• Develop lively, enquiring minds and become confident communicators
• Experience teaching of the highest quality and develop core skills to a high level
• Develop perseverance, flexibility, independence and a wider range of other learning skills
• Be well mannered, respecting themselves, others and the environment
• Make a positive contribution to the school and the wider community
• Appreciate the beauty, the diversity of the world and their duty to protect it

We aspire to achieve these aims by:

• Putting the personal development and well-being of our pupils first
• Having high and consistent expectations of all pupils, families and staff
• Maximising the time allocated to learning
• Emphasising pupil activity and independence in learning – more doing less listening both within and beyond the classroom
• Providing a broad, constantly evolving, innovative, exciting, forward-thinking curriculum that enriches and challenges and takes account of the pupil voice
• Offering all pupils an entitlement for learning outside the classroom within a progressive framework
• Providing opportunities for children to develop skills of investigation, enquiry, communication and co-operation
• Maintaining a school environment that is welcoming, organised, stimulating, tidy, clean and safe
• Creating a happy, industrious atmosphere that models, promotes and celebrates good behaviour
• Working in partnership with parents, acknowledging and supporting their role as the primary educators of their children and providing them with the information to help their children learn well
• Involving the children in community activities to develop their sense of belonging and responsibility
• Offering an enriching programme of extra-curricular activities and visits
• Being an inclusive school that uses a wide range of teaching and learning strategies, technologies and high quality resources in order to ensure that all learners reach their full potential
• Using systems of recruitment and support that attract high quality staff and governors
• Developing everyone’s knowledge and understanding of the issues in their own environment and the wider world
• A School Development Plan based on efficient systems of self-evaluation and effective use of the school budget