Kings Heath Primary School, a Fully Accessible Mainstream School (i.e. a school with staff and expertise that allows children with specific additional needs to be educated in a mainstream environment) in the south of Birmingham. However, it is the energy, enthusiasm, and creativity of our children and staff that makes our school special, so we hope that you will be able to attend our open days or make an appointment to see around the school, to meet our children and to get a feel for our community.
We work hard at creating a caring and secure environment that children can flourish in, with a curriculum that provides challenge, stimulation, and high expectations for all. Children here learn from skilled and caring staff, make friends with children from a very wide range of backgrounds and develop open and positive attitudes as a result. We are pleased that Ofsted always recognizes our ethos as such a major strength and have identified that at the heart of our school there are ‘very warm relationships in all classes’ which ‘encourage and develop pupils’ confidence and enjoyment of learning.’ Our last Ofsted inspection in September of 2016 noted that ‘The culture of the school is inclusive, and diversity is celebrated. That inspection also confirmed teaching, learning, and progress continue to be good and that our school improvement strategies are having the effect we are aiming for.
We look forward to working in partnership with parents, pupils, and the wider community to build on our strengths and improve our school even further. Kings Heath Primary School is a diverse and inclusive community of learners. We aspire for our children to be:
- Successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress, and achieve.
- Confident individuals who can live a safe, healthy, and fulfilling life.
- Responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.
We believe in education and learning that is stimulating, liberating, and enriching and that helps develop minds that are alive to the diversity of human thought and achievement and the richness of the natural world. Kings Heath Primary School is working towards the ‘Rights Respecting School Award’, seeking to apply the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in all of our policies and practice. In April 2016 we were awarded ‘Recognition of Commitment’ – the first stage of the award.
We believe learning is best when it is:
- Structured: Long-term plans ensure the progressive build-up of knowledge, skills, and understanding. Individual lessons have clear learning objectives and success criteria.
- Active: Learners ‘construct’ meaning, they do not passively receive it: we structure lessons into appropriate ‘chunks’ of time to allow a balance of instruction from adults and exploration/application from the children.
- Reflective: We use open questions to encourage debate and self or peer assessment at the end of lessons.
- Progressive: We practice our skills and learn from our mistakes. We challenge children to move on.
- Co-operative: Shared learning, through group and paired activities, are regular features of our lessons.
- Stimulating: We use a range of teaching and learning styles including auditory, kinaesthetic and visual.
- Motivating: We reward and praise effort, achievement, and creativity.
Children on the special needs register and children with statements of SEND/education health care plans may have individual learning plans specifically tailored to their needs or specific aspects of learning to develop. These are addressed as far as possible as part of the normal classroom teaching but sometimes require specific input involving withdrawal from the main classroom environment for short periods. All children are given full access to the National Curriculum unless their statement/education health care plan of SEND indicates disapplication. Staff will actively support all children to reach their potential regardless of academic ability, race, gender, or age.
