1. We will develop a culture of creativity

• Develop a rich, relevant and inspiring curriculum that develops pupil’s thinking and self-evaluative skills and different learning styles;
• Plan for the use of open and higher order questions to extend thinking;
• Afford children many and varied opportunities to engage in the planning and execution of their own learning – special weeks/school visits;
• Value and celebrate a wide range of different methods of recording and expressing learning;
• Provide many opportunities for enriching and extending the curriculum drawing upon external sources and expertise wherever possible, including taking part in the Brighton Festival;
• Actively involve and encourage parental and other community participation where possible.

2. We will provide a safe and happy learning environment

• Have modern and exciting resources that capture children’s imagination and interest;
• Make our curriculum active based on high quality, well planned first hand experience;
• Plan the curriculum in such a way that meaningful cross-curricular links are exploited whilst not losing the rigour of subject content and learning objectives;
• Be imaginative in our teaching approaches and curriculum organisation;
• Create and maintain a vibrant, stimulating, high quality interactive learning environment throughout school;
• Provide Child Protection Training for all staff;
• Put into place a range of strategies to enable children to feel safe, including buddy system, ‘talk to teacher’ board, Lunchtime clubs;
• Ensure all staff are supported effectively by each other and are assigned a line manager who is also a member of the SLT.

3. We will provide for a culture of equality

• Encourage and promote ongoing personal and professional development opportunities for colleagues;
• Exploit individual strengths, talents and areas of expertise;
• Value, Celebrate and Praise individual achievement in its widest sense.

4. We will harness a culture of mutual respect

• Offer all Parents/Carers the opportunity to become a Class Representative;
• Develop a set of Golden Rules/Class Rules and Responsibilities;
• Invite children to be ‘buddies’ in year two, encouraging them to take a wider role in the school community;
• Expect everyone in school to treat each other with respect, saying “good morning” to each other;
• Enlist the support of parents/carers on regular occasions to support the school in a variety of ways, e.g. weekly support in class, school visits, specialist weeks, etc.

5. We will support and respect the individuality, initiative and innovation of children, staff and parents

• Our School Council takes an active role in the decision making process for things that directly involve the children;
• Endeavour to find out about parents/carers individual skills and utilise these where appropriate;
• Encourage parents/carers to support in school where appropriate;
• Provide specialist groups to suit the children’s needs, e.g. language groups, social skills groups, etc;
• Identify ‘Gifted and Talented’ pupils in our school and plan appropriately for their range of needs using knowledge of individual learning styles;
• Plan annual ‘teaching and learning’ weeks where the children are at the heart of the learning process;
• Use mind mapping as a tool for finding out what the children already know (including any misconceptions), would like to find out and finally what they have learnt.

6. We will celebrate quality and excellence

• Use fully the potential of ICT as a tool for enriching and extending the curriculum across all subjects;
• Set challenging but realistic class and whole school targets;
• Target appropriately the key areas of literacy, Numeracy and science;
• Regularly assess and track pupil progress in all year groups;
• Set challenging but realistic individual pupil targets and develop their skills in self-evaluation regarding these;
• Develop and implement effective curriculum policies and procedures that inform and guide best practice;
• Make use of displays and reward systems to ensure that all children feel valued and part of a community of learners;
• Set challenging but realistic individual pupil targets and develop their skills in self-evaluation regarding these;
• Develop and implement effective curriculum policies and procedures that inform and guide best practice.

7. We will develop a culture of improvement

• Develop an evolving community of learners who are dedicated to providing the best possible education for the children in our care;
• Evaluate planned learning opportunities on a weekly basis and at the end of each term, evaluating and improving what is on offer to the children according to the cohort/need;
• Ask the children what direction they would like their learning to take place through regular opportunities to talk about learning and through weekly learning journeys in class;
• Hold professional dialogues with staff and have an ‘open door’ policy where colleagues observe each other to seek new ideas or obtain advice;
• Plan a programme of training for all staff;
• Provide carefully planned professional development opportunities for all staff;
• Listen to the opinions of others and take these into account when planning for the future, e.g. outcomes from parent consultation meetings.

8. We will empower a community of learners

• Celebrate achievements of all;
• Plan regular parent workshops that empower parents/carers to actively support their children with learning at home;
• Welcome visitors into our school for a range of purposes;
• Use PPA time to enhance the learning opportunities provided for the children; including ICT and French;
• Offer a range of lunchtime and after school clubs;
• Wherever possible make links with pre-school providers and the Junior school so that we are at the centre of the learning community.