Personal Development

The British Values form our core values.  Children learn about the values in assemblies and also throughout the school day in their lessons.   Children are given a range of opportunities to apply the values, for example when voting for Head Boy and Girl. 

Values: 

Democracy
Individual Liberty 
Mutual Respect 
Rule of Law
Tolerance 

Click here to read our British Values Statement.  

Children were involved in developing the school’s Learning Habits and had opportunities to input their views and preferences on the Learning Habits through the School Council. We cover one Learning Habit each half term.  Learning Habits provide children with the tools they need to understand how they can improve as learners and in so doing support them to develop positive attitudes to learning.  

Our learning habits are:  

Reflection 

Responsibility 

Resilience 

Teamwork 

We believe that providing children with opportunities to take on responsibilities helps develop the resilience and commitment they will need throughout life.  We want all our children to experience the great sense of pride and achievement with comes with taking on a responsibility. We therefore have a wide range of opportunities for children to develop the skills necessary to become responsible. This includes the following:  

• Assembly Helpers  
• Classroom Monitors 
• Litter Pickers – A Class Rota is in Place  
• Playground Leaders 
• Play and Lunch Equipment Monitors  
• School Council  
• Team Captains  

We invite a wide range of visitors to our school throughout the year who offer workshops and performances which the children can take part in.  These are linked to but extend beyond the requirements of the National Curriculum and provide children with opportunities to develop further knowledge and skills.  We also invite visitors from different faiths and cultures into the school and this provides opportunities for children to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of a range of cultures and faiths.  

Workshops and performances such as Irish Dancing, Hula Hooping, Climate Change and Fantastic Fred take place throughout the year. Visitors who have helped build on children’s understanding of different faiths and cultures include Buddhist monks, rabbis and pastors.  

African Mask Painting

Irish Dancing

One World Animals

We also provide opportunities for those children who excel in specific areas to develop their talents and skills outside of the classroom.  Examples of this are chess tournaments, writer’s workshops, access to facilities at secondary schools and visits to a recording studio. Each class also has an opportunity to perform learning from music lessons to their peers during assembly and to parents during our music concerts.   

Greater Depth DT workshop at Jubiliee High

Hula Hooping 

All classes attend at least three trips throughout the year.  These are linked to the curriculum ensuring that skills and knowledge learned in the class are extended outside of school.  

We have a wide range of clubs and extra-curricular activities on offer at Sayes.  All members of staff lead on a club either before or after school.  We also have a number of outside providers who deliver clubs before and after school.   

To view our range of clubs please click here.

We believe that it is important for children to be given opportunities to develop some of the skills necessary for the world of work early on in their lives.  We also believe it is important for them to have knowledge about the careers available to them and for them to be thinking about possibilities for their own careers.  We have therefore begun to look at the skills, knowledge and experiences children need to start this process and have engaged the support of a secondary colleague to adapt a careers framework which details the skills, knowledge and experiences we believe are needed.  Many of the criteria are covered during subject specific teaching and we exceed this by inviting visitors including parents to discuss their careers.  Our Sayes Court Passports also provide children with opportunities to begin considering their interests and talents and how these could inform their careers.   

Children are provided with a wide range of opportunities to develop Cultural Capital through our curriculum and the extra-curricular opportunities on offer.  We are passionate about this at Sayes Court and strive to give our children all the opportunities possible to develop an appreciation and love of music, the arts and sport.  This includes educational visits and workshops that expose children to these areas as well as sporting fixtures against local schools. Across the year we ensure there are opportunities for children to learn about and celebrate diversity. We also focus on ensuring that children have an understanding of our democratic parliamentary system and how this links to our British Values.  We believe that reading is also a key way in which to develop Cultural Capital and we have our own reading canon which has been put together to ensure that children encounter stories and can read information that develops their Cultural Capital.   

Pillars of Opportunity - The 5 Cs  

In order to prepare our children as learners and for future life, we focus on providing opportunities through our Pillars of Opportunity to ensure that every endeavour is made to provide equal access to all children and to build Cultural Capital. 

Experiences provided through our Pillars of Opportunity are linked to learning and developing skills and knowledge.  The same rigour applied in refining our curriculum has been applied when deciding on which opportunities to include.  These are recorded in our Sayes Court Passports and form part of our promise and guarantee to all children that they will have access to these opportunities during their seven years at Sayes. 

Click here to view our reading canon.  

Click here to view our nursery rhyme canon.

Examples of activities and experiences to develop Cultural Capital include:  

• Assemblies  
• Festival of Creativity - In Collaboration with Secondaries  
• KS2 Online Parliament Session 
• Lessons across the Curriculum 
• Music Concerts  
• Music Specialist Visits 
• Trips  
• Wide range of visitors to the school from a range of backgrounds, careers, beliefs and faiths. 

We are very proud of the diversity which exists within our school community.  We have children, families and staff from a wide range of cultures, backgrounds, beliefs and faiths.

In order to ensure that children understand behaviour expectations we use the Good to be Green scheme across the school.  This is used consistently in all classrooms from Nursery through to Year 6.  As a result of the consistent manner in which we approach behaviour management, behaviour and attitudes across the school are exceptional.  

Each term we have a Money Management focus.  This involves each class receiving a budget.  From here the children decide on a product they want to make and sell, and they use to the budget to buy the necessary items to make their product.  At the end of the term, each class hold a sale to their peers and parents. They then work out their profits and are allowed to decide what to spend this on.  Through the work done in this area, children are beginning to understand the value of money, and are also learning to be entrepreneurial, self-sufficient and develop Human Capital.  

We have a number of ways in which we engage with our parents, this includes Class Dojo, Parent Questionnaires, Parent/Teacher Conferences, a range of events throughout the year.  

Our PSHE curriculum is carefully designed in order to teach, support and promote the qualities that children need to build positive and successful relationships with others. This includes how to deal with conflict, how to express our needs, knowing our rights but also our responsibilities and also how to identify if relationships are positive or negative. Children are taught to be critical thinkers. There are clear, close links to our learning habits and values. Our PSHE curriculum also teaches children strategies to promote positive mental health and wellbeing, including mindfulness time at the start of each session and regular reflection points.  

Click here to go to our PSHE page and read more about our PSHE Curriculum 

We use regular Pupil Voice sessions to ensure that we capture the lived experiences of Sayes Court pupils, which enables us to reflect on success and ways forward. School Council, subjects, clubs. 

Our RE curriculum is carefully designed in order to make it more exciting and engaging for our children. We want them to understand that RE lessons are a safe space for enquiry and asking BIG questions about the things in life that are confusing or complicated. Children are taught to be critical thinkers. There are clear, close links to our learning habits and values. Our RE curriculum also equips pupils with a greater understanding of people who are different from themselves, and that diversity is something to be celebrated.  

Click here to go to our RE page and read more about our RE Curriculum 

RSE is taught at Sayes Court as part of our PSHE curriculum (Jigsaw). We believe that by providing children with age-appropriate information about their bodies, we are empowering them. Relationships education is a key part of this – we aim to provide children with the skills they need in order to interact positively with others, as well as identifying safe, positive relationships both on and offline.  

All children at Sayes Court have a Sayes Court Passport.  This is a book in which they record many of the rich experiences we provide as part of our Sayes Court Passport Promise. These are the experiences which often go beyond the expected and provide opportunities for children to develop their interests and talents.  

We believe it is really important for children to have dreams and goals and be aware of what they enjoy and what their strengths and talents are.  The front page of the Passport provides a place for children to record these.  

Throughout school and in all lessons, children are afforded opportunities to talk either in pairs in small groups or as a whole class.  To ensure that all children have an opportunity in the school day to voice their opinions and share ideas, we use Talk 4 Learning.  This ensures that our children develop the necessary skills to communicate effectively, confidently and thereby also develop their social skills.  

We have an active School Council who are instrumental in ensuring that children across the school have a voice.  Through the School Council children are given many opportunities to voice their opinions, share ideas and vote on matters that are important to them. Adults in school take this seriously and changes have been brought about as a result of the work of the School Council.   

Click Here to go to our School Council page and read more about their achievements. 

We have a robust transition programme at all stages and phases in order to ensure that children are fully prepared for the next stage in their education.  All children EYFS, KS1 and 2 children meet their new teachers just before the start of the second half of the summer term and after this they spend time on a weekly basis with their teacher in their new classroom.  Children coming into reception are invited to attend these sessions, and in addition to this they have a range of events which they attend with parents such as a teddy bear’s picnic and stay and plays.  

Visits from local secondary colleagues are arranged for those children transitioning to Year 7.  These take place before and after schools are chosen.  We also arrange additional meetings with our secondary colleagues for our SEN and vulnerable children and their parents on a 1:1 basis.  We arrange as many opportunities as possible for our children to take part in events at local secondaries prior to transitioning.  This includes events such as our KS2 sports morning and class assemblies where children have had an opportunity to perform in a professional theatre.   We also have a number of colleagues from secondaries carry out learning walks and deep dives so they are familiar with how we work as a school.