Visions, Values and Ethos

Our primary purpose is to inspire a love of learning in every pupil through our designed curriculum for the Head, Heart and Hand. We have three school rules which permeate our vision and core values and they are:

-    Stay safe
-    Aim high
-    Be respectful 

Our curriculum, including the Rights Respecting Curriculum, ensures we teach children the three rules in different contexts. All staff model positive learning behaviours and we are proud of the good behaviour of our pupils. Key to our ethos are the values of tolerance and mutual respect. We celebrate diversity and care for the environment. Through high expectations, care and understanding, we will endeavour to cater for the needs of all pupils, in an environment where they have the freedom to have a go and aim high.

Ultimately, we want children to make excellent progress from their starting point, to be socially and morally responsible, ready for the next stage of their learning and physically and mentally healthy.

To support the journey to the above outcomes, we have four key values that underpin our work:

-    Collaboration
-    Curiosity
-    Compassion
-    Resilience

Collaboration

From Reception Year we develop the skills they will need for collaborative learning, such as listening. Developing such skills at an early age will go a long way to helping pupils become effective communicators. We will encourage a mindfulness of the actions that go hand in hand with listening and dialogue, such as eye contact, offering empathy, and letting others finish. Pupils will be provided with a range of opportunities to collaborate with their peers, learn in a social context and collaborate with children of different ages.

This also extends to our community. Collaborating as educators within the school, across our group of schools within the CARE Foundation and our wider network of schools is an integral part of professional learning. We will always collaborate with parents in the best interests of each and every child. 
 
Curiosity

As human beings, we are naturally curious creatures. We want to tap into this innate tendency and capture the imagination of Lady Joanna pupils, then we can maximise their interest and engagement. Our curriculum will encourage the children to ask questions. The opportunity to develop this further will be through an inquiry curriculum, where pupils are active participants in their learning. 

Adults at Lady Joanna are professionally curious about the pupils in their care, extending from well-being and safety, to pupil learning. Adults will continually use this curiosity to seek new ways to develop an inclusive culture in the classroom.

Compassion
We want children to care about themselves, others and the world around them. All adults will model compassion and acts of compassion and model how positive relationships can contribute to being a good citizen. We will teach the children about their rights through the Rights Respecting Curriculum and we will support others with our own school and beyond. 

Resilience

Resilience has been described as the ability to withstand and rebound from disruptive life challenges, strengthened and more resourceful. At Lady Joanna we want to balance the dynamic interaction between the individual and the support available in their environment. The support to build resilience could be through learning, both inside and outside of the classroom and through discussion and being able to articulate the learning from errors made as well as successes. If pupils need further support we have a pastoral support team to provide more bespoke intervention.