Values and Ethos

We are proud of our school, our staff, and our students.  Our hope for our school is that it is an exciting place to learn,  a place where our students have the opportunity to become involved in a whole range of learning experiences using modern resources and facilities.  A place where everybody is passionate and enthusiastic about learning and where the timetable and curriculum are varied, balance as well as flexible and innovative.

A place where our students and staff feel valued and work together as partners in learning.  A place where students feel safe and happy and cared for as individuals.  A place where parents are always made welcome and their concerns and anxieties listened to and taken seriously.

Our School Aims

• To create a happy, caring and stimulating environment.
• To encourage a sense of community and responsibility.
• To encourage a positive attitude to learning.
• To prepare our students for their future.
• To develop self awareness and positive self image.

Our Core Values

Wellbeing: To keep ourselves and others around us safe and healthy so that we develop into a mature and understanding person. To be able to cooperate with all members of the school community in a polite and positive manner.

Excellence: To be proud of our personal achievements and to aim to produce work of the highest quality. To be able to set high standards and to set ourselves personal goals for improvement. To make the best use of our talents, time and resources.

Community: To demonstrate that we care for both the school community and wider community. To take responsibility for looking after each other and the environment.

Acceptance: To be able to accept other people and their backgrounds, respect diversity and difference. To work cooperatively with others, to be able to identify issues and find solutions. To resolve conflict peacefully.

Risk: To approach any challenge  with a growth mindset and to understand that making mistakes is a key part of learning something new. To give anything a go!

Enterprise: To be innovative and creative with a can-do attitude and a drive to make ideas happen.

British Values are Wellfield Middle School Values

Wellfield Middle School prepares pupils positively for life in modern Britain and promotes the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith.

These values are taught explicitly across areas of the curriculum such as Life Studies and Humanities and pupils engage with, and live, these fundamentals on a daily basis through all aspects of school life, notably assemblies/collective acts of worship, the school’s behaviour management policy, whole school active citizenship events, and the expectations around the behaviour of all individuals within the school community to uphold these values, and to question and challenge times, events, individuals or groups who are not demonstrating these fundamental values, in any aspect of their behaviour. Explicit teaching and the ethos of the school in promoting the fundamental values, enables all students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence.

Democracy

Students are encouraged to have respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes. Pupils have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our School Council and become involved in the decision making process in the school. The elections of members of the School Council are based on pupil votes. Older pupils engage with the Young Mayor elections every year and we have put forward candidates for that role. Younger pupils have spoken to our local Mayor and discovered the activities that the role includes.

The Rule of Law

Students are taught to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England.

The importance of laws and rules is consistently applied in day to day classroom management, expectations and our behaviour policy.  Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the rights and responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Explicit coverage includes: Out of school workshops investigating scenarios involving authorities such as the police, fire service and representatives from the Metro trains, PSHE topic of why laws are made and who makes them and anti social behaviour.

Individual Liberty

Students are taught to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative, and to understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality of the school and to society more widely.

Pupils are actively encouraged to make choices in a safe and supportive environment. Students can make informed choices 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 across all year groups, Wellfield Middle pupils’ rights and Rights and responsibilities and Human Rights. Pupils are given the freedom to make choices, e.g. signing up for extra-curricular clubs, choosing the level of challenge in some lessons and home studies tasks and generally becoming increasingly responsible for their learning in the classroom.

Mutual Respect

Students are encouraged to demonstrate respect for other people. An underpinning value of the behaviour policy is that everyone has a right to learn and be safe, and to get respect you need to show respect. ‘No Outsiders’ slides and our assembly schedule are central in reinforcing the way children and adults alike, including visitors, are expected to behave towards each other. The children are taught how to react, respond and challenge if they observe, or are victims of behaviour that is disrespectful in any way. Anti- Bullying week, which the whole school embraces through assemblies and form tutor activities, focuses very much on the core value of mutual respect. Posters and certificates in school and the agreed code of conduct in the pupil planner encourage respect.

Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs

All students are encouraged to demonstrate a tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. Learning about, and understanding different faiths and beliefs, underpins much of the Religious Studies and Humanities curriculum across the school.

An increasingly multicultural and diverse Britain is celebrated through assemblies, where pupils embrace differences in faiths, outlooks and beliefs welcoming visitors and visiting a variety of places of worship.