Values and Ethos
Larchwood Primary School
Achievement and Enjoyment
Mission Statement
All children achieve their potential, enjoy their primary years and are given opportunities and experiences they will remember for life.
Our children learn within a safe, secure and caring environment where their education, inclusion, well-being and social skills are promoted daily.
We have six key values that we promote daily with our children.
These are:
- Fairness
- Friendship
- Honesty
- Perseverance
- Respect
- Responsibility
Personal Development
At Larchwood, we go beyond what is expected to ensure our children get the wide set of experiences they will remember for life. This includes: developing cultural capital, understanding the world around them and having a lifelong enthusiasm for learning. We want our children to be ready for the next stage of their journey at secondary school, to be well rounded and be fully able to make a positive contribution to the community.
We provide children with a huge range of opportunities including sporting events, special visitors, trips and 30 different lunchtime and after school clubs, the majority of which are free. The school has a children’s kitchen that all year groups use every half term, allowing them to develop essential life skills.
Pupils’ character is developed through our Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education (PSHCE) Curriculum and the work we do to develop their Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) learning. This is achieved through assemblies, where we reinforce our values, learn about other cultures and significant events and celebrate the things children achieve. Special days and weeks (e.g. Safer Internet Day), class discussions and the strong relationships children build with each other and the adults in the school also help to enhance children’s personal development. Children get to take on many responsibilities in school including being elected onto the Junior Governing Board, being a play leader, lunch leader or digital leader.
The school takes part in sporting events through the Shenfield Sports Partnership in both competitive and non-competitive events with other local schools. This includes opportunities for children with special educational needs. We have held the Gold School Games Mark since 2018. All children get additional sporting opportunities to develop themselves that go above the curriculum requirements. In recent years this has included BMX, rugby, cricket and gymnastics. All children in Year 2 will learn to ride a bike.
Pastoral support is provided by our fantastic team of staff including a strong safeguarding team and two adults in every classroom. Those children who require additional support can access pet assisted therapy in school and we refer to outside agencies where appropriate.
Each year group will take part in an additional extra-curricular trip during the year, culminating in a residential trip for Year 6. Each year group welcomes a special visitor to come in and lead workshops on an area of the curriculum being studied e.g. Roman Day. This is on top of additional visits organised by subject leaders for things such as Science Week.
Our Curriculum
