Broadwater is a two-form entry Primary School occupying an impressive Edwardian building in Tooting - a vibrant multi-cultural area of south London.
Our vision for Broadwater Primary School is to be a school where:
- All pupils aspire to achieve and excel in all areas of their learning.
- Pupils are well-rounded individuals, confident, courteous, self-reliant, and successful. Our inclusive community makes all feel welcome, valued, and supported, whatever their background or circumstances.
- We are outstanding, providing a purposeful, exciting, fun, well-resourced environment where every member of the community can say "I'm proud of this school".
This vision is underpinned by the following six core values: Respect, Achievement, Resilience, Aspiration, Empathy, Integrity. At Broadwater, we uphold and teach pupils about British Values which are defined as democracy, rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.
These values are taught explicitly through PSHCE and RE as well as through opportunities that occur across the broad and balanced curriculum that we offer. We ensure that we look for all opportunities to explore these values during our curriculum planning and delivery.
We also actively promote these values through assemblies and whole school systems and structures.
Democracy is an important value at our school. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and Sports Council. The elections for members of these are based on pupil votes. Pupils also contribute to the School Improvement Plan and are encouraged to express their opinions as to how to make our school better, and what their role is in helping to achieve this.
The importance of laws and rules, whether they are those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout regular school days. Pupils are involved in deciding class rules and pupil contracts linked to anti-bullying and anti-racism. Our system for behavior is aligned to an agreed set of class rules and if children are given verbal warnings or sanctions these are always set against the agreed rules.
Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices at our school, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school, we provide boundaries for our children to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and planned curriculum. Pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-Safety teaching. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs. They are also taught that alongside rights are responsibilities that they need to exercise.
Mutual Respect: Our school ethos, as well as our behavior policy, is based around core values such as ‘respect’ and ‘responsibility and these values determine how we live as a community at Broadwater. Assemblies are focused on a different value each half term and these link closely to core British Values. Our half-termly values are central to how we expect everyone to behave at our school.
Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs Enabling all children to show tolerance towards others is central to everything we do at Broadwater. We are privileged to have children and their families from many different faiths, cultures, countries, and beliefs at Broadwater and proud of the way children learn to understand and value difference and diversity.
This consists of the Nursery and Reception classes and has its own Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. The classes work together, the areas of learning and development towards a set of Early Learning Goals for Communication and Language Physical Development Personal, Social and Emotional Development Literacy Mathematics Understanding the World. A curriculum firmly based on active learning and play has many benefits for the attitudes and learning behaviors of children. Children can discover their potential in play and
- Learn to use language creatively.
- Gain a sense of achievement and personal pride through expanding their language.
- Skills and experiences.
- Meet and overcome challenges and learn to experiment without fear of failure
- Increase self-confidence.
- Develop a willingness to persevere.
The School is exceptionally inclusive-there is a strong culture of making sure that everybody is included. Arrangements for keeping children safe are extremely well led and managed. The work with outside agencies is exemplary. Pupils from very positive relationships with each other and adults. The enthusiastic and highly motivated team of subject leaders has developed a rich and interesting curriculum matching the needs of all the pupils very well. Physical Education and sports are other strengths of the school. The Governing Body is knowledgeable and able to provide effective challenge and support.
