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Welcome. Our Aims, Ethos, Vision & Values
The Fortuna & Athena Federation
Mission Statement including our Values and Vision
Mission
The fundamental aim of the Fortuna/Athena Federation is to provide a nurturing environment for pupils which is safe, warm, loving and unconditionally accepting of all individual pupils and their needs, for them to become part of a School Community.
Within this community pupils will have the opportunity to flourish and become the best they can be in all that they do. The curriculum will be tailored to the needs of our pupils and will fulfil all the legal obligations set out in the National Curriculum.
This will ensure that children can learn to develop personally, socially and emotionally and will give them the best opportunity to succeed, in terms of their relationships with others and their continuing education and future employment so that they become good and participating citizens.
Values
- We offer unconditional acceptance of all pupils which aims to develop trust through good relationships.
- We take every opportunity to nurture pupils for them to gain the experiential foundation that all children need to be able to develop self-worth.
- Our curriculum is designed to be achievable, relevant and inspirational.
- We recognise and celebrate that all children can change how they see themselves and their world and that they can grow emotionally so that they develop self-worth and become accepting of themselves and others.
- We see play as a pivotal part in developing our pupils social and emotional growth and provide many opportunities for this to happen within the school day.
- We are outward facing because we believe that we have a responsibility to share our excellent practice with other schools and organisations.
- Our parents and carers are a vital part of our community, and we value their support and involvement in their child’s development.
- We recognise the value of working with other professionals outside of the school in order to provide comprehensive and personalised support.
Vision
Teachers and all staff within the Federation are accountable for the learning and progress that pupils make within a tailored curriculum within each School.
Our Teaching and Learning Policy, Behaviour Management Policy and SEN Policy set out detailed expectations within the Federation, but the following essential features underpin all School Policies.
Everything that staff do within the school is related to the needs of the pupils. All staff are pupil focused, honest and positive and have high expectations of pupils potential.
We accept and understand that what pupils present is only the tip of an emotional iceberg and they each have a history which we cannot understand without communication and discussion. It is only through this discussion and detailed understanding of their motivation that we can begin to support positive change in our pupils.
We understand that early childhood development under pins personal and social development and that for some of our pupils this has been fractured or can be missing. It is our purpose to repair and recreate childhood experiences in order to move forward as much as possible with all pupils.
We believe that behaviour can change. We understand that every behaviour has a meaning. Our planning for pupils in school needs to be at this deeply personal level. This must take into account individual motivators.
We embrace the concept of a hierarchy of need; learning can only take place when these needs are met. In planning for progression, we all understand that we build on previous learning and pupil interests.
We recognise that chaotic confrontational incidents provide us with unique opportunities to engage with pupils on a psychodynamic level to help them reframe and internalise appropriate strategies to support their needs being met.
Positive outcomes depend on the effective relationship between adults and pupils. We are effective when we understand that we need to be empathetic, forgiving, appropriately challenging and driven by a generosity of spirit. By doing this we generate trust.
We support all staff to be able to use self-reflection and regulation to enable them to prioritise the needs of the pupils and recognise this can at times be painful and challenging therefore staff well-being is of paramount importance within the federation.
The learning environment must be stimulating, engaging, challenging, relevant and immersive.
We create opportunities to reintegrate into mainstream schools or classes, prepare pupils for life beyond school and for further education or work.
We engage with stakeholders, partners the school community and governors in pursuit of improvement on a regular basis.
We see the federation as being a centre of excellence verified through external validation. We emphasise and value the development of our staff to become excellent practitioners in nurturing approaches to SEMH. We will encourage partners and others to develop their practice along the the lines set out in the values expressed here.
The Federation will work closely with and alongside the principles set out by NurtureUK as developed by Eva Holmes and Eve Boyd(1999), which are:
- Children’s learning is understood developmentally
- It is understood that all behaviour is communication
- The classroom offers a safe space\
- Nurture is important for the development of self esteem
- Language is a vital means of communication
- The importance of transitions in children’s lives is understood