Highgate Primary School

[EduCativ]

Highgate Primary is a happy and successful two-form entry community school where there is great enthusiasm for learning from pupils and a highly committed and experienced staff team. Adults are referred to by their first name and we have a no-uniform policy. Music, art and whole-school performances, Mandarin, philosophy, and sport are all highly valued and give our children many opportunities to shine. Our curriculum reflects our children’s interests and enables all pupils to achieve standards of which we are extremely proud.

At Highgate Primary children succeed because:

• We are ambitious for every child.
• We know that consistently great teaching leads to outstanding achievement
• We know that strong pastoral support can make all the difference.
• We know that children learn best through positive messages.
• We are there for our community from birth to secondary.
• We listen to what children say and allow them to dream.
• We have also been working with a local artist to produce a set of images that exemplify these statements.
• We care for our school buildings and grounds.
• We want to become the best primary school in the world.

Our Values:

• Love learning - We want everyone to enjoy learning and to achieve their best. Inclusive - We want everyone who uses our school to feel involved and included.
• Supportive - We want everyone involved with our school to feel supported.
• Green - We want our school to look and be a greener place.
• Healthy - We want our school to be a healthy place for our minds and our bodies.

We aim for all our children to move through school with confidence, good friendships, and happy memories. In the summer term, the school worked closely with Education Consultant to establish a vision for the school for the next five years. This piece of work soon became known as Highgate Primary 2020 Vision.

We have also been working with local artist Brigitte Herrod to produce a set of images that exemplify these statements.

At Highgate Primary School, we foster a love of learning by delivering an innovative curriculum rich in creativity and academic rigor. From Nursery to Year 6, cross-curricular topics have been created that cover the National Curriculum subjects in a relevant and engaging way. Topics reflect the interest and enjoyment of our children, whilst at the same time providing a high degree of challenge.

Our topics have also been created to make full use of the local area. Other recent topics have included Flight, Explorers and Adventurers, and The Circus. We aim to develop all of the children’s unique skills and talents and provide opportunities for everyone to shine.

We understand that children learn in different ways and all sorts of environments, so we aim to be learning outside the classroom and outdoors as much as possible. It could be storytelling in the Peace Garden, tree climbing and bug hunting in Highgate Wood, or a trip to the National Gallery.

Thinking skills are at the heart of our curriculum. We have recently introduced philosophy sessions in which the class is presented with a different thought-provoking stimulus to encourage discussion. The stimulus could be a book, an object, or an animation. The children are encouraged to think, listen, reflect, express what they think, and respect each other’s opinions.

In Reception class, we aim to make sure that children feel settled, confident, and happy coming to school. We also strive to build supportive and positive relationships with children’s families. The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum emphasizes the development of the whole child and it is through strong relationships between home and school that we support the holistic development of the children in our class.

PSHE is perhaps the most important part of our curriculum as we support children to acquire the knowledge, understanding, and skills they need to manage their lives, now and in the future.

As part of a whole-school approach, PSHE education develops the qualities and attributes children need to thrive as individuals, family members, and members of society.

The benefits to pupils of such an approach are numerous as PSHE prepares them to manage many of the most critical opportunities, challenges, and responsibilities they will face growing up in such rapidly changing and challenging times. It also helps them to connect and apply the knowledge and understanding they learn in all subjects to practical, real-life situations while helping them to feel safe and secure enough to fulfill their academic potential.

The promotion of pupils’ personal and social development underpins other learning. PSHE education contributes to personal development by helping children and young people to build their identities, confidence, and self-esteem and understand what influences their decisions. Developing self-understanding, empathy, and the ability to work with others helps our pupils to enjoy healthy and productive relationships in all aspects of their lives.

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 the provision of a safe environment and empowering education.

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