Our Vision
Our vision of Nurture, Grow, Thrive underpins our mission for Emmbrook Junior School:
We are a welcoming family which fosters a warm and nurturing environment where children grow and learn to take responsibility, develop their resilience and become respectful to all, enabling their personal development and academic curiosity to thrive.
Our Aims
We will:
- Provide a nurturing and inclusive environment, where all children enjoy learning and feel happy, safe and valued.
- Develop our children’s understanding of respect for the feelings, beliefs and opinions of others.
- Develop hard working, curious and collaborative children who take responsibility for their own learning.
- Enable children to face challenges and embrace change through developing their own resilience.
- Prepare all our children for the next phase of their education.
- Recognise and celebrate the achievements of all.
Nurture
We know that in order for education to be successful, we need to make sure that we have the right conditions for all pupils. We are very proud of our extensive nurture programme, where we offer a range of opportunities at both a universal and bespoke level. This includes having a full-time Family Support Worker and a trained nurture assistant to provide small group and 1:1 nurture provision, a dedicated nurture classroom, a sensory room, outdoor learning provision, Nurture through Sport with the Primary Stars programme with Reading Football Club, drama workshops for developing self-esteem and supporting transition as well as a therapy dog that regularly visits our school! If you are interested in finding out more about our nurture programme and how this may help support your own child, please speak to our deputy headteacher responsible for inclusion, Chloe Liddiard.
Grow
We are passionate about the core responsibility of educating and shaping young minds, and we aim to support learning for all pupils regardless of their starting points. We have a bespoke school-based curriculum which includes the content taught in each curriculum subject as well as detailing the progression points for each stage of learning within our school. Our curriculum is ambitious and broad, and we strive to ensure that all pupils are represented within he content of their learning. We aim to weave our golden threads of diversity, sustainability and technology throughout the curriculum in addition to the core learning within each subject.
We are proud of the journey our children go on in their time with us, and we ensure that every child is ready for the next stage of their educational journey by continuously assessing the impact of our teaching. This is done through daily assessment and feedback in lessons, through regular planned assessment opportunities and through termly diagnostic assessments where teachers are able to identify gaps in children’s understanding and plan appropriately for this.
Thrive
We also know that school is more than sitting in a classroom, and we are proud of the personal development opportunities that children experience during their time with us. We want to provide opportunities for every child to succeed, and organise experiences and trips in every year group (including a residential PGL trip in year 6!). We also have a strong sporting culture, and are very proud of our school’s achievements in Primary Sports and Games events. We ensure that every child has the opportunity to represent our school at some point in their time here. We also offer a drama programme, with specialist drama lessons taking place on a weekly basis which all children are able to access.
In addition to these enrichment opportunities, we offer a comprehensive Personal, Social and Health Education programme for all pupils, including Relationships Education. We also offer a range of pupil leadership opportunities, from school council to sports captains.