Our Vision
Introduction Our object, at Laxton Junior School, is to provide an education of the very highest class. This education is a product of our core values and develops in our children not just the qualities that they will need to succeed and thrive in all aspects of their future lives but also a happiness that will ensure their experiences at our school are thoroughly enjoyed and never forgotten. Our children will face many challenges as they take their next steps into senior school and, indeed, into the world that lies beyond, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they are able to overcome each hurdle and do so with resolute determination and self-confidence. To fulfil this important responsibility, we have a strong desire to continually improve and develop our school such that every child receives an outstanding education that prepares them for their future. In pursuit of this, we engaged in a community wide vision-building project whereby children, parents, staff and governors all contributed their ambitions for the future of Laxton Junior School; through this collaborative process, we have created the LJS Vision. We are hugely excited by this body of work: it provides a clear structure for how we will grow, improve and develop over the coming years; it links beautifully with Oundle School’s strategic objectives and thus ensures that our Vision supports the overarching direction of
The Corporation of Oundle School; and it communicates how we intend to develop our school so that our children arrive at their senior school ready to flourish and achieve in all that they do. This document provides an overview of the Laxton Junior School Vision, outlining our Values and Mission, as well as the strategic objectives that will help to shape our future. We hope that you will enjoy exploring our new Vision and that you will be as excited as we are by the opportunities that lie ahead for our brilliant school.
Sam Robertson Head
3
"My teacher is really caring; if you have a problem she wants to hear about it and you can tell anything to her and she won’t mind." Vedika in Year 6
Our Values These are the qualities that resonate throughout all aspects of a Laxton Junior School education; they are our guiding principles, shaping our behaviours and decisions, and represent what we believe to be our absolute priorities both now and in the future. Our values are:
1
A love of learning
2
Opportunity
3
We believe in a love of learning, where children and adults happily take risks and overcome challenges together, united by a shared motivation to acquire, share and celebrate new knowledge, skills, ideas and expertise.
We believe in the provision of opportunity, which enables positive participation in a wide variety of events and activities and the development of passions and talents that will last a lifetime.
Care We believe in caring for each other, ourselves, the community in which we live and learn, and the world around us; this is reflected in a positive sense of personal wellbeing, cohesive relationships and the valuing of diversity.
4
Community
5
Quality
We believe in supporting, contributing to and being inspired by our community; children, staff, parents and governors are integral to the education we provide, and their input and involvement is encouraged and appreciated.
We believe in delivering a consistently excellent quality of educational provision in all that we do as well as having the highest expectations of ourselves and each other.
"It’s great how girls and boys can play every sport at LJS; boys can play hockey, girls can play cricket, and I’m really looking forward to being involved with this." – Henry in Year 5
4
5
"Learning can happen anywhere; we can go out to our woodland garden and see the tadpoles and even do some maths."
Our Mission
Tilly in Year 5
Driven by our school values, our mission is to prepare all Laxton Junior School children for both their chosen senior school and the life that lies beyond. This preparation develops in them a series of essential characteristics that we believe will enable them to thrive in whichever direction they wish their lives to take; indeed, we want our children to be:
6
Confident and Resilient
Open-Minded and Well-Rounded
Where a love of learning ensures challenges are embraced and obstacles are overcome.
Where all opportunities, whether new or challenging or preferred, are embraced with enthusiasm.
Kind and Respectful
Collaborative and Independent
Where the development of social and emotional skills ensures all relationships are positive and caring.
Where the knowledge of how to work together, both within and beyond the School community, is balanced with a strong sense of who they are and what they can achieve as an individual.
"If someone’s made my teacher proud, she takes the thing that’s made them proud and puts it up on her Proud Cloud."
"I created our Community Concert, where anyone from the local community can come and listen to our music, and I also was the host of it as well."
Annabel in Year 1
Olivia in Year 6
4 2
5
3 7
Our Strategic Objectives To enable us to achieve our mission and ensure that we are delivering an excellent education that embodies our values, we have developed a series of strategic objectives; the following section outlines the direction that our future development will take and introduces some of the action we will be taking in support of this.
1. Deliver a distinctive and outstanding education that prepares children for their future This objective seeks to create teaching and learning opportunities that result in excellent progress being made by all children in all aspects of the curriculum; it will ensure that we are constantly delivering educational programmes of the highest quality that instil in every child a love of learning that lasts far beyond their time at Laxton Junior School.
STEM Innovation A new Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) programme will be designed that will focus, particularly, on the development of an integrated approach to science, design and technology and engineering; it will rethink the skills needed to prepare children for the challenges of an increasingly innovative and pioneering world.
Integrated Assessment
2. Promote community wellbeing
We will be enhancing and digitalising our assessment procedures, interweaving our day-to-day observations with the more formal, summative evaluations, and feeding these back, with precision, into the teaching and learning process such that next steps are quickly identified and responded to.
This objective seeks to support our community in feeling happy, safe, respected and valued; it will ensure that our level of care continues to be exceptional and that, whenever required, our support structures prioritise the positive wellbeing of those in need.
Life-Long Learning Staff development will be prioritised, with up-to-date learning opportunities provided and individual programmes created, which will empower staff to improve outcomes for themselves, the children and the school as a whole.
We will be establishing pastoral systems that accurately track and support the wellbeing and mental health of the school community, providing immediate support and assistance should they be needed, and making available the professional guidance of our wellbeing team.
Wraparound Care
"Sometimes I look at things and I say ‘why is it there?’, and in our Science you can ask this and get a really detailed explanation." Tilly in Year 5
8
Positive Wellbeing
In support of our busy families who are under pressure to balance home, school and work, we will be building on our already excellent Griffin Club provision, improving the quality further and looking to increase our capacity so that all families wishing to use this superb service are able to do so. 9
Reception, at LJS, is absolutely magical and delivers an individualised learning and development programme that not only provides the best start to our children’s educational journey but also results in incredibly happy, polite and well-rounded children. Miss Sandall, EYFS Teacher
3. Maximise our purpose and performance within The Corporation of Oundle School This objective seeks to emphasise the position of Laxton Junior School as the 4 to 11 day component of Oundle School; it will en-sure that we are offering a quality of service reflective of that delivered by the Senior School, as well as reinforcing the link be-tween the schools so that there is a fluid transition from one to the other.
Investment Opportunities We will be identifying those aspects of our service and provision in need of capital investment and, in conjunction with our over-arching strategic plan, designing and developing a range of exciting projects that will offer new and improved opportunity to our school community.
Oundle School Transition We will develop improved transitional procedures and curriculum, which will see greater collaboration between Laxton Junior and Oundle School staff; out of this, a more seamless learning journey will be created that supports our children, for whom Oundle is their agreed next step, from Reception, through Laxton Junior School and into both Scott House and The Berrystead.
10
4. Be in control of our market This objective seeks to strengthen the reputation of our school as a nationally recognised independent junior school; in doing so, we wish Laxton Junior School to be the school of choice for the local community, with a full roll and waiting lists for each class.
EYFS Development We will further develop our EYFS provision, ensuring that our already excellent facilities and resources are market leading and reflect the outstanding quality of teaching and learning that we offer; new and exciting opportunities for prospective parents to interact with our Early Years programme will also be created.
National Reputation Our online presence will be grown further, building on the early success of Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and ensuring that the fantastic experiences we provide are shared widely and often; the Laxton Junior School website will likewise be updated and developed, offering an improved service to both existing and prospective parents.
11
"My friends and my teachers always support me and I feel really safe here." Jack in Year 5
5. Nurture global contributors This objective seeks to embrace the local, national and global trends that are affecting the world that our children will eventually emerge into, and will ensure that we are offering an innovative and relevant educational experience throughout their time at Laxton Junior School.
Community The building of strong relationships with our local community will be an important part of our development, which will encourage children to give back to the people and place in which they live and learn, whilst appreciating the value of mutual respect, collaboration and togetherness.
12
Environment Our children must have an appreciation of the world around them and how they can play their part in its sustainability and, as such, we will expand our environmental education programme through the ongoing development of our woodland garden and outdoor learning curriculum; this will promote a love of learning in the outdoors and a recognition that we are all responsible for the future of our environment.
Technology New technologies will be explored as children engage with up-to-date infrastructure and the latest digital experiences, whilst recognising the importance of making healthy decisions about when they should utilise these; this will run alongside an increased focus on online safety, which will ensure children understand how to use technology positively and confidently, recognising risk and remaining safe at all times.
"We made a film about El Dorado where we used a green screen to film it all and it actually looked really funny!"
"Singing lessons are just amazing and get you into a really happy mood."
Olivia in Year 6
Isabella in Year 4. 13
The LJS community spirit is as strong in the parent body as it is in the children; for parents, LJS offers a fantastically supportive and welcoming environment that the whole family benefits from.
14
Delene Abbott and Susie Blundell – Chairs of the PFA
15
Laxton Junior School, East Road, Oundle PE8 4BX T: 01832 277275 E: info@axtonjunior.org.uk www.laxtonjunior.org.uk