At Burnside Primary School, we encourage our children to be creative, unique, open-minded and independent individuals, respectful of themselves and of others, in our local community and the wider world. The breadth and balance of our curriculum and ethos promotes life in modern Britain. We work hard to nurture our children so they grow into safe, caring, democratic, responsible and tolerant adults who make a positive difference to British society and the world. 

 

Our values underpin our curriculum and are characterised by the ‘Burnside Bunch’:

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Resilience: We provide positive school experiences through a rich curriculum so that pupils have the opportunity to develop their strengths and interests. We value engagement, enjoyment and play, as well as supporting children in managing their emotions so that they can ‘bounce back’ from adverse experiences. Our mascot, “Resilient Rex”, ensures that all children understand the characteristics of resilience and that they develop these skills in a fun and child friendly way.

 

Equality: We develop an ethos that values and respects all people. Activities and resources within our curriculum celebrate similarities and differences between pupils, their cultures and beliefs, and they learn that different things contribute to identity. Lessons promote diversity in the classroom, and in order for pupils to understand where important knowledge comes from, we make sure our materials derive from a range of cultures and backgrounds. Our goal is to create an inclusive classroom environment with a shared sense of belonging in both the school and the community.

 

Trust: We believe that trust is an important value as it is a strong foundation on which to build relationships between all stakeholders. In addition, honesty helps promote trust between pupils.

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Trust means:

• Feeling comfortable with someone

• Being honest with someone

• Believing that someone will look after us

• Protecting the feelings of others

• Knowing that someone won’t hurt us

 

Potential: We support pupils in realising their potential and building aspirations. Our curriculum offer has the potential to exert a lasting and fundamental influence on the quality of learning and achievement of all children in the school. We encourage all of our children to strive for success and support them in developing their self-belief.

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Empathy: Empathy is the heart of our classroom culture. Our curriculum supports the development of empathy and tolerance through, for example, assemblies, drama and our reading curriculum, as well as topics such as history, Religious Education (RE) and Personal Social Education (PSE) so that pupils build friendships based on positive relationships, helping them to develop their emotional intelligence.

 

Respectful and Responsible Members of our Community: Our curriculum helps pupils become active, responsible members of our school, the locality, the country and the world. It takes into account the context of the community that we serve. Pupils learn about the rich history of our locality, the mines upon the community in the past and how our area has changed over time. They will also learn about the people who live here now and how they can contribute to a sense of community. 

 

Independence: We believe in fostering independence in our children. It is about learning to do things for oneself and taking responsibility for their own learning.

 

Diversity: We aim to combine understanding y ensuring our children see the inextricable link between differences that shape our view of the world, our perspective and our approach. Our children recognise, respect and valuing difference and our curriculum teaches about the protected characteristics.