Bishop Sutton and Stanton Drew schools aim to provide an outstanding level of education for all children, striving for academic excellence, a rich creative curriculum and a wide variety of inspiring and enjoyable experiences. We want our children to feel respected and cared for as individuals as well as part of a strong and supportive community.  We work in a collaborative and supportive way to enable our children to succeed, to celebrate their achievements and to be proud of who they are and what they can contribute to the world, now and in the future. We aim for our children to be independent, resourceful and resilient learners, who are aspirational and confident and care for others and the world around them. This is why the Federation’s vision statement is:

‘Where every child can dream, believe and achieve’

Teaching and learning at our schools is based on the principle of:

‘Growth mindset’

Children are encouraged to have high aspirations and take on new challenges, not limited by pre-determined ideas of what they may be able to achieve.  In most lessons, they will have a choice of independent tasks instead of given work to suit a set ‘ability group’. Children are encouraged to take ownership of their own learning and to play an active part in how their lessons, classes and schools are run. We learn that mistakes are 'marvellous' and a core part of learning. When we make mistakes, our brains grow and connect new pathways. This culture is embedded throughout our school - in learning, behaviour and our interactions with other people. We believe that all children should be supported to try, fail, reflect and improve. 

This is underpinned by our 3 core school values: 

Respect       Resilience     Reflection

At the Federation of Bishop Sutton and Stanton Drew Primary Schools, we actively teach British values and promote these in all aspects of our school life. Alongside these, we focus on our school’s values which flow from our vision and are the habits and practices we seek to exemplify in all adults and children at both schools. We are committed to fostering a community where our three core values: Respect, Resilience, and Reflection guide our actions and learning.

· Respect: We value each other’s ideas, backgrounds, and differences, creating an inclusive and supportive environment where everyone feels heard and valued.

· Resilience: We embrace challenges with a growth mindset, persevering through difficulties and learning from setbacks to achieve our full potential.

· Reflection: We take time to consider our actions and learning, using self-awareness to grow, improve, and make positive contributions to our school and beyond.

Through teaching and modelling these values, we empower our students to become responsible, thoughtful, and confident individuals, ready to make a meaningful impact in the world.

These values are taught as part of our curriculum and specifically focussed on in assemblies. Both schools focus on Respect in terms 1 and 2, Resilience in terms 3 and 4 and Refection in terms 5 and 6. Each class then explores a different aspect of our whole school value in depth each term. This allows the children to deepen their understanding of what the value means as well as relate and apply it to their own experiences as they progress through the school.

We strengthen the teaching and application of these values through providing purposeful opportunities for children to lead different activities in school and in the wider community. Examples in school include leading assemblies, having an additional responsibility within the school or a role such as being a mental health ambassador or member of the eco-team. Examples outside of school include connections and work with charities and other organisations.

You can see our full values, class by class, here.

 

Pupil leadership

Pupil Leadership is well established in both schools and all children are given the opportunity to have an area of responbsibility. Some of these roles, for example the School Council, are elected annually as part of our work on 'democracy' others are chosen by application or request based on the desires of individual pupils and what they care about.  In the younger classes, this may be taking responsibility for daily class jobs, and as they get older, they take more and more of a lead in organising and running areas of the school. For example, running after school clubs, play leaders, arranging speakers and workshop leaders to come in to school, organising fundraising events, running Eco campaigns, improving the school grounds, and many more – their work changes from year to year.

As a Federation we have the best of both worlds – two distinct communities but with the benefit of collaboration and shared resources and expertise. Stanton Drew is a very small school, with an ‘extended family’ feel to it, while also enjoying the benefit of the facilities at Bishop Sutton such as playing field, conservation area (used for Forest Schools) and the school hall. By joining together and visiting each other’s schools, children and staff at both schools benefit from working in single year groups, performing to different audiences, hosting events and mixing with a range of friends and colleagues. We often share our resources, such as our school minibus and iPads, which benefits both schools and means we can take part in events and competitions that would be more difficult on our own.