Ethos and Values at DCIS

Motto: From tiny acorns mighty, oak trees grow 

Ethos: At Drayton Community Infant School we strive to create an atmosphere that is happy, caring and challenging. We want every child to feel they belong here and to feel safe and secure. We believe in the importance of developing the whole child through offering a broad, balanced and creative curriculum where both individuality and team-work are valued. We will help our children to begin to develop learning skills that will last a lifetime, so that they can make their best contribution to the community and society 

Our School Values: 

We reviewed our school values at the end of Summer 2021 and received feedback from children, parents/carers and staff. From this we have identified five key values which sit at the heart of all of our learning and personal development at DCIS.  Our school staff support all of the children in developing their own awareness of these values and strive to empower them to take ownership of the development of them within themselves.  By consistently sharing these values and creating a sensitive and supportive atmosphere all of our children are encouraged to:  

A.C.O.R.N 

Learning  

Respect  

Politeness 

Friendship  

Kindness   

Each week through year group assemblies we focus around a different value.  

Rights and Responsibilities 

To ensure that our ethos is reached and our visions met all members of our school community have rights and responsibilities.  We all have a right to an orderly school, which fosters positive relationships and communication with others and it is all of ours’ responsibility to ensure that that happens.  The lists below indicate some other examples of our rights and responsibilities; they are not exhaustive but demonstrate that rights and responsibilities are intrinsically linked and that with every right comes a corresponding responsibility.

Children
Rights	Responsibilities
To be listened to	To listen to others and allow others to listen
To be treated with respect	To treat others with respect and tolerance
To be actively taught social and emotional skills	To try and use these skills as they grow and develop
To have rules which ensure safety in school and to be taught how to stay safe	To follow the rules and therefore work and play safely
To feel that they can safely tell adults about their worries and concerns	To tell adults about their worries and concerns so that they can be addressed
To learn in a positive and supportive atmosphere	To make the most of their learning opportunities and allow others to do the same
To make mistakes in a safe emotional climate	To learn from their mistakes and support others when they make mistakes

Staff
Rights	Responsibilities
To be listened to	To listen to others
To be appropriately supported by peers and managers	To support peers and managers in return  To seek appropriate support when needed
To professionally share opinions	To respect others’ opinions
To be treated courteously by all others in the school community	To treat others in the school community courteously  To help children learn to be tolerant
To be made fully aware of the school’s systems, policies and expectations	To make themselves fully aware of the school’s systems, policies, expectations and to support them in their practice
To receive appropriate training to increase skills and knowledge in all required areas of professional life	To take up, disseminate and put into practice any training received  To actively seek out their own professional development opportunities

Parents / Carers
Rights	Responsibilities
To be listened to	To listen in return
To be treated with respect	To treat all others in the school community with respect
To be kept informed about their child’s social and academic progress, be informed of any circumstances that may arise and have measures put in place to support their child	To attend parents’ meetings, maintain two way communication, inform the school of any circumstances that may affect their child and support any measures put in place to support their child
To have access to the school’s policies and practice	To read the documentation provided and adhere to the school’s policies and practice
To have concerns taken seriously, have them investigated and if necessary, have measures put in to place	To take the school’s concerns seriously, find out the facts of any issues and support any measures that are put in place

Our school vision

Our vision is to be:

• A school where children are at the centre, where they are encouraged to participate and have a voice.
• A school that is happy, safe, nurturing, and offers a broad, balanced curriculum developing enquiring minds, independence and the confidence to make choices.
• A school that develops healthy and positive attitudes to learning and living.
• A school that develops opportunities beyond the classroom to enable children to learn about the world they live in.
• A school that looks to the future, embracing the role of new technologies.
• A school that enables pupils to benefit from professionally developed staff and Trustees.
• A school that works closely in partnership with parents, other schools and the wider community.