Our Vision and Values

Our Vision for Every Child at Roundhill Primary School

We aim for all of our children to become confident, caring individuals who achieve personal success and develop a love of learning.

We do this by:

• Providing the best possible start to school life
• Respecting and celebrating the unique qualities of each child
• Enabling each child to become a happy, healthy, confident, caring and successful learner
• Developing curious and creative thinkers
• Building strong collaborative partnerships with our families
• Being proud of our school and our community
• Teaching each child to take responsibility for their own actions and to have the confidence to make informed choices
• Developing knowledge, skills, values and attitudes relevant to the changing world
• Creating a learning curriculum which is rich and engaging, and widens horizons
• Providing a warm welcoming, inclusive and safe learning environment
• Inspiring each child to work independently and collaboratively and to take ownership of their learning
• Motivating each child to achieve their very best and take pride in themselves and their school

‘Listening, Learning, Achieving Together’

We focus on our seven Core Values - Friendship, Respect, Creativity, Resilience, Aspiration, Enthusiasm and Self-Esteem, incorporating the British Values and linking directly with the children’s 'Gem Learning Behaviours'.  

Gem Powers

As a way of enabling all of our pupils to develop into successful learners, with the attitudes, attributes and skills needed for life, we have developed our 'Gem Powers' as the basis for our learning behaviours:

We have 7 gems and each one represents a key learning attitude or skill:

Ruby Power - this is achieved by being positive and helpful to others. Smiling and being friendly to others, encouraging, praising and supporting others in their learning, and showing good attention to the ideas of others helps you to gain lots of this power!

Topaz Power - this gem helps us to work well within a class – we know when to take turns, when to work with others or alone and how to ask questions and share our learning. You achieve this gem by using the skills of collaboration and group learning. Playing an active part within a team and showing respect for the views of others are key factors.

Diamond Power - this is gained by taking responsibility for solving your own problems, having ownership over your learning and setting yourself goals or next steps. By doing this, you make your brain grow and your learning starts to sparkle!

Emerald Power - this one is key for our school. To achieve this, you need to be willing to take risks with your learning, knowing that learning new things is not easy and that mistakes might happen. Being resilient enough to pick yourself up and try again is what makes our learners dazzle in green! Get that bouncebackability!

Sapphire Power - you can gain lots of this power by staying focused on your learning task and ignoring the 'monster' distractions. Push yourself to achieve your goals without being distracted and you will be shimmering in blue!

Azurite Power - this power works best when you are motivated to learn; be keen and show enthusiasm for learning new things and be positive about all learning experiences. By being enthusiastic, this can help you to enjoy your time in school even more. Start sparkling in deep blue!

Amethyst Power - build your own self-esteem to make your purple power shine. Share your work with others and be gracious when you are praised. Know what you are good at and be proud of your achievements. You can also show pride in learning by being a responsible, organised learner.

The children earn Gem stickers and badges as they develop these learning skills and behaviours.  Showing strong gem powers also earns gems towards a whole class collection. We celebrate this in class and in Celebration Assemblies each week.

British Values

Our promotion of British values in school

The government set out their definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy. These new regulations sit alongside the requirements of the Equalities Act. At Roundhill we focus on and embed the fundamental British values within our values-led approach to learning.

Promoting British values at Roundhill Primary School

The Department for Education’s five-part definition of British values is:

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

At Roundhill children will encounter these principles through everyday school life. We teach these principles through a range of lessons such as Religious Education (RE), weekly news sessions and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), as well as through our daily interactions with each other.  Listed below are some examples of how we promote British values in our school community:

Democracy

Pupil voice is significant at Roundhill Primary. Our pupil-elected school council plays a strong role in our school. They are elected by their class peers and are involved in making our school a better place to learn.

We have an E-Team (Equalities Team) which focuses on how we can promote equal opportunities and equity and celebrate diversity throughout our school.

Pupil questionnaires and interviews are conducted throughout the year. The formation of the pupil councils and their active participation will sow the seeds for a more sophisticated understanding of democracy in the future.

The Rule of Law

Our pupils will encounter rules and laws throughout their entire lives. We want our pupils to understand that whether these laws govern the class, the school, the neighbourhood or the country, they are set for good reasons and must be followed. Our school has a set of 'Golden Rules' which make clear our expectations for behaviour.

This understanding of the importance of rules is consistently reinforced through assemblies and our curriculum. We plan opportunities to debate and discuss the reasons for laws so that children can recognise the importance of these for their own protection. We welcome visits from members of the wider community including police, the fire brigade and many more. We believe that clear explanations and real life stories emphasise the importance of the rule of law for our pupils.

Individual Liberty

We create a positive culture in our school, so that children are in a safe environment where choices and freedoms are encouraged. We encourage children to choose tasks that will challenge them, giving them more freedom to determine their own learning. We offer a range of clubs which pupils have the freedom to choose from, based on their interests. At Roundhill Primary we believe that valuing choice and freedom in daily school life will foster a value for individual liberty as the children embark upon their adult lives and we link this to responsibility for the decisions they make.

Mutual respect

Mutual respect is at the core of our school life. Our children and staff learn to treat each other with great respect. This is evident when walking around school and in the classrooms. Our children are given opportunities to discuss and share opinions across the curriculum; through listening to the opinions of others, and learning to challenge them respectfully, children develop respectful attitudes towards others.

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

At Roundhill Primary we offer a culturally rich and diverse curriculum in which a range of beliefs and major religions are studied and respected. We strongly believe that tolerance is gained through knowledge and understanding. Through our curriculum and the routines of our daily school life, we strive to demonstrate tolerance and help children to become knowledgeable and understanding citizens who can build a better Britain for the future. We have an Equality and Diversity Working party formed in June 2020, from a group of staff and parents, who will work with the E-team and School Council to ensure we have an equitable education at Roundhill.