Ethos

At Michael Faraday, we believe that every child has the right to the best possible education through an 'ethos of excellence and nurture'.  

Nurture

Michael Faraday strives to create a supportive and caring environment which promotes the growth and development of each child, where they feel valued, respected and encouraged to flourish in their potential.

Excellence

We encourage high standards of academic achievement, personal growth and character development amongst our children.  This helps to foster a culture of continuous improvement and encourages children to strive for their best in all aspects of school life. 

Vision - Leaving a Legacy

Our vision of ‘leaving a legacy’ is about instilling values, skills and a sense of purpose in the children that go beyond their time in school.  It’s a vision that aims to prepare the children to make a positive impact on the world.  We encourage the children to think beyond themselves, considering how their actions could make a positive difference in the lives of others, both now and in the future.

Our vision is reflected in the school's curriculum intent statement: We want to create a learning environment where our children make sense of the world they live in so that they feel that they belong; we also want our children to appreciate and respect the world they live in so that they are motivated to make a difference, to add to the world and to leave a legacy. 

Values

At Michael Faraday, we are passionate about learning.  Children are at the heart of all we do and we strive to provide the very best in primary education, working in partnership with the local community, pupils, staff, parents and governors to pursue excellence in all aspects of school life.

We want to equip the children with essential life skills and values to prepare them for life beyond Michael Faraday. We believe that if the teaching of values underpins everything we do, then it will not only enhance the quality of teaching and learning, but will support the children to make a positive contribution to the development of a fair, just and civil society. 

The school has identified 2 core umbrella values, which we actively teach -  ‘respect’ and ‘resilience’.  The aim is to help the children develop not just academically, but also to support their personal development. Other values are covered when we provide guidance on how the umbrella values are applied in different contexts, for example under the umbrella value of ‘respect’, we discuss ‘respect for diversity’ / ‘respect for the environment’, etc. 

Respect

Respect is also our one school rule.  We teach our children that they have the power to build respect with the way they conduct their lives.   We teach our children to be honest, loyal, lead by example, reflect and ultimately develop integrity - doing the right thing even when no-one is watching, because it is the right thing to do!

Resilience

Resilience is the ability to 'bounce back' when faced with challenges.  We want the children to develop a growth mindset, where they persevere and see mistakes as learning opportunities.  Ultimately, we want to foster children who are committed to be lifelong learners and to keep going no matter the challenge.

Behaviour

We are a restorative school which focuses on building and maintaining positive relationships, resolving conflicts and promoting a sense of community and accountability among children.  Restorative approaches enable the children to reflect about the choices they have made and to make amends if harm was done.

Restorative approaches are based on four key features:

- RESPECT: for everyone by listening to other opinions and learning to value them
- RESPONSIBILITY: taking responsibility for your own actions
- REPAIR: developing the skills within our school community so that its individual members have the necessary skills to identify solutions that repair harm and ensure behaviours are not repeated
- RE-INTEGRATION: working through a structured, supportive process that aims to solve the problem and allows young people to remain in mainstream education.

For more information about our behaviour approach, see our Behaviour Statement and Behaviour Policy in the Policy section of the website.