Ethos and Values

Transforming Life Chances

The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

‘The Academy conveys a positive, caring and creative atmosphere, demonstrating that careful thought has been put into its organisational structure and visual presentation.’-University of Exeter 

Our Vision

Children at Gordon are enthusiastic and keen to learn new knowledge and skills. Staff strive to provide a range of rich, inclusive learning experiences in all aspects of school life.  They nurture our learners and improve their academic, emotional, moral, cultural and physical development. Our curriculum teaches pupils to become independent thinkers who will be able to approach challenges with resilience and compassion. It is designed to broaden our children’s horizons and empower them to be curious about the world around them.

Staff know that children get one chance at a primary education and ensure that our curriculum and lessons build sequentially and plan for key learning to be frequently recalled and then built upon.  Staff ensure that pupils’ time in school is maximised and that learning time is fully utilised.

Gordon Children’s Academy is at the heart of the community and children are taught to be active citizens. They will learn to appreciate how diversity positively impacts on society and how they can respectfully fulfil their responsibilities within the community.   Our children are friendly, courteous and kind.  They will be given the chance to explore a range of roles and responsibilities across the year groups.  We are aspirational for our children and staff encourage them to embrace opportunities for them to be their best self.

The school will provide the children with a range of experiences and activities to explore where their strengths and interests lie.  Through these, children build their knowledge of opportunities that exist, both in our locality and beyond. This knowledge will enhance and transform life chances.

Achievement

  • To enable all pupils to achieve high standards in all areas of the curriculum, recognising and nurturing individual talents.
  • To ensure all pupils make very good progress in relation to their prior attainment.
  • To promote the acquisition of literacy, numeracy, computing and thinking skills to setting pupils up for the next stage of their learning.

Quality of Teaching

  • To provide all pupils with teaching of high quality that has clear aims, uses effective methods and suitable resources which are well matched to their differing needs.
  • To provide a high quality environment that promotes learning and encourages pupils to develop as critical and analytical thinkers.
  • To create a curriculum that is broad and balanced and engages, motivates and excites pupils and fosters a life-long love of learning.

Behaviour and Safety

  • To enable all pupils to set themselves high standards, to take pride in their work and to strive towards high achievement.
  • To enable all pupils to be confident and self-motivated and to take advantage of opportunities to make a positive contribution to the school and the wider community.
  • To create a happy, relaxed, safe and purposeful atmosphere in which each child and adult can develop personally, socially and morally: where positive and co-operative relationships, tolerance, understanding and respect for all people are inherent.

Leadership and Management

  • To involve parents and the wider community in school life to ensure that all aspects of pupils’ progress are fully inclusive, shared and supported.
  • To celebrate special aspects of the pupils work and life at school and cause the school to pursue excellence in all its activities.
  • To provide clear leadership and effective management at all levels which takes the school forward in its chosen direction.
  • To ensure that cognitive education is embedded within all aspects of the school’s work.
  • To plan realistically, making effective use of the school’s resources in which to achieve the best possible learning outcomes for pupils, together with developing working relationships with all other agencies.
  • To monitor, evaluate and continually improve all aspects of school life.
  • To value the contribution that everybody makes in achieving the best outcome for the pupils.
  • To contribute effectively to the Thinking Schools Academy Trust for the benefit of all pupils within the Trust.

A Nurturing and Safe Environment

All staff at The Gordon Children’s Academy are passionate about caring for and respecting the fantastic children of our school.

Above all we want the children of our school to be happy, safe, have fun and enjoy being here as we know that children learn best when they are in an environment which makes them feel contented and safe.

There are high expectations of behaviour and everyone in the school community has a responsibility for maintaining a relaxed, calm and happy atmosphere. We recognise that all behaviour is communication and that it is our responsibility to listen to the children, verbally or by interpreting their behaviour.

Throughout the school, we will nurture your child’s social development. Providing them with the skills which will enable them to be polite, confident, hardworking members of society.

Making Learning Irresistible

We want to make learning irresistible so that your child comes to school every day happy and eager to learn. We know that children are naturally inquisitive. We aim to develop this curiosity by providing a curriculum that is based on relevant first hand experiences and that engages and inspires the children. Challenges will be provided at the correct developmental level.

High Expectations for All Children

We have an ethos of high expectations, where every child flourishes intellectually, personally and morally. We teach our children to be successful independent learners who concentrate, persevere, take risks and have a willingness to make mistakes. We want all our children to make accelerated progress and achieve well.