Vision & Values
A sense of community and belonging is evident as you walk around this calm and happy school - Ofsted 2024
The Wyvern School Values
Following extensive discussions and votes from all of our stakeholders linked to The Wyvern School, we finally chose our refreshed school values.
Be Independent, Show Respect, Connect Community and Spread HappinessWe decided very quickly that they needed symbols to go alongside the wording, so the values could be accessible to all. Obviously, inclusivity is absolutely vital for our school.
Be Independent
Spread Happiness
Show Respect
Connect Community
But why have school values and what difference does it make?
These four values have been chosen by us because this is what we are about as a school family. On these four values lay the foundations to what we want to model to the rest of society. Especially now we are working our way to recovery from the Covid Pandemic, it is our values that we turn to as the bedrock of every aspect of our lives. Of course, we certainly follow many other values, but it is these four which form the basis of our curriculum both overtly in our planning and activities; but also with our behaviour- how we treat each other, speak to people, the very words we use; how we are considerate towards our class community, school community and wider society; how we develop as individuals to work in steps to work towards and reach our potential; it affects the visual aspects of school both inside and outdoors, including how we treat our environment; our Arts projects alongside our Artsmark award; and even our Sporting events. It is through our school values that we gain a sense of belonging to each other in the room, in the building and how our families are drawn towards our school.
Aren’t the values just for show?
Absolutely not! We have time dedicated to our school values every day in the form of Daily Reflection when we can all share in a time of mindfulness and consideration of each value and think about how we have been acting, considering how we can be in the future and what we need to do to fulfil that school value even better. This is according to the different Pathways we are in, as to how we access the school values. This may be through discussions and active planning, for example with our Keep Wyvern Tidy campaign or being inspired by famous people like Nicholas Hamilton, the Racing Car Driver and learning about his attitude and life lessons, or learning about people from history like Rosa Parks and how she followed her values to make change; or in another Pathway this could be through sensory stories to engage and focus the mind, to instil calm and thoughtful moments to notice and feel the worth in the people and the beauty around us. However we access the school values, we make time for them daily. We teach them overtly as well as within our everyday encounters. We make reference to them in our learning and in unplanned moments when they are relevant. They are part of our planning and are becoming the first thought when considering a new project. The symbols are visible around the building and are continuing to be present through various forms of artwork as requested by the students.
What are the Lighthouse Projects about?
Shine a light!
Connecting Community, Showing Respect, Being Independent and Spreading Happiness are all linked with the Lighthouse Projects as they are all about ‘Shining a light’ on others as a way of supporting them.
The Lighthouse Project for Staff began as a well-being project for Staff during lockdown. We wanted to make sure that Staff at home due to the Pandemic were feeling supported, loved and included as much as the Staff in school and that all were connected even though we were not allowed to mix. It was designed as a ‘Buddy system’ with people paired up to ‘Shine a light’ on each other.
The Lighthouse Project for the children is about re-connecting all the classes as they have been isolated in the classroom or at home, separated from everyone. Each class has been linked with another class nearby, to send them messages, gifts, photos and well wishes so they understand how to reconnect once again with other Wyvern classes.
The Lighthouse Project for Parents and Carers of SEND has been launched to answer common questions. A parent is interviewed to ‘Shine a Light’ on an issue to answer the important questions that maybe don’t get answered elsewhere. It is a chance for parents and carers to support other parents and carers of SEND children.
As our school motto sums it all up as.
Achieving excellence in a learning community valuing happiness, independence and respect