St Barnabas Church of England Primary Academy

St Barnabas is a vibrant school in the heart of Openshaw. We place a strong emphasis on the individual child and encourage our children to make the most of each opportunity, in order to gain the best from their education within our Christian setting. We work with the children to help them prepare for the ever-changing world in which we live, and to develop their skills in order to sustain life-long learning as well as strong self-belief and spirituality.

St Barnabas is committed to eradicating the stigma associated with mental health. We have a newly established staff well-being committee and have signed up for a time to change.Our vision and values, Encourage, Inspire, Believe, Achieve, are at the core of everything we do alongside our firm believe that our actions should embody the Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control in the fruit of the spirit They underpin our teaching and learning, and provide an environment which prepares our pupils as confident, happy citizens.

St Barnabas Academy develops all children to achieve personally and academically so that they can think for themselves and articulate their views, in a reasonable way, with the emotional resilience necessary to thrive in the ever changing wider world.

At St Barnabas we strive for excellence in every lesson that we teach. Our lessons are active and enquiry based. The excellent teachers at St Barnabas ensure that there are clear routines and humour in every lesson so that all pupils are able to achieve their best.

The teachers at St Barnabas have worked together to create a Teaching and Learning Promise linked to the teaching standards which is used to help pupils set targets in line with the skills and attributes needed to be good learners.

E-Safety is an important part of keeping children safe and St Barnabas C of E Primary Academy has extensive security measures in place to help safeguard pupils from potential dangers or unsuitable material.e-Safety is taught to all pupils; explaining and demonstrating how to stay safe and behave appropriately online. However, we can only be successful in keeping children safe online if we work with parents to ensure the e-Safety message is consistent.

It is important that parents speak to their children about how they can keep safe and behave appropriately online. It is essential to be realistic, the internet and technological advancements are here to stay; banning them will not work – often it makes a child less likely to report a problem.Education around safe use is therefore essential.

The Department for Education states that there is a need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

We value the diverse backgrounds of all pupils and families and undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these. We, also, actively challenge opinions contrary to these British values.

Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind rules and laws. They are also taught to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences for themselves and others if rules and laws are broken. Our positive behaviour policy encourages tolerance and mutual respect.

The Department for Education states that there is a need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”

We value the diverse backgrounds of all pupils and families and undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these. We, also, actively challenge opinions contrary to these British values.

Pupils are taught the value and reasons behind rules and laws. They are also taught to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences for themselves and others if rules and laws are broken. Our positive behaviour policy encourages tolerance and mutual respect.

The importance of rules and laws for the class, the school or the country, are reinforced. All rules are clearly understood by all so that all children can learn in a safe and happy environment. Also, within our computing curriculum there is an emphasis on E-Safety which as part of it teaches how to be respectful to other users of the Internet.

Within school, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for our pupils to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and an empowering education. Our pupils are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are advised how to exercise these safely; examples of this can be clearly seen in our clubs, over-night residential visits and PSHE lessons.

Respect is one of the core values of our school and it is deeply embedded in our academy rules; class codes of conduct and all that we do at the school. The pupils know and understand that it is expected and imperative that respect is shown to everyone, whatever differences we may have. We enhance pupils understanding of different faiths and beliefs through religious education studies and Collective Worship.Beliefs, traditions and customs are studied in depth. Through this our pupils gain an enhanced understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society.