Vision and Values

At Harpenden Academy we believe in Educating the hearts and minds of our children. We do this by providing an environment which is nurturing, stimulating and an exciting place to be. Our curriculum has been designed with our children in mind and ensures that they are able to become the best person they can be.

Our vision for the Academy is to produce responsible young people of whom we can all be proud. In our school community, we have high aspirations for every individual. We firmly believe it is our duty to provide the very best all round educational experience and prepare students for a happy and successful life in an ever changing world.

The shared values of the Academy community are summed up by the Scholars' Education Trust ACE:

• Achievement
• Care
• Excellence

The ACE underpins everything that we do and provides a secure basis for all that we strive to accomplish.

• Achievement in academic, artistic, sporting, cultural and in other forms with a focus on teaching and learning.
• Care for students, staff and others within and beyond the school community
• Excellent standards, manners, honesty, personal integrity and uniform

Please click here for further information from our CEO who explains the joint ethos of all schools in the Trust and how Harpenden Academy fits within. 

Values Education

At Harpenden Academy we believe in instilling into the children in our community the idea of values. Values are things we believe in that help us to make decisions about how to behave. They are the principles that guide our lives. Some commonly held values include; thoughtfulness, respect, trust, love, friendship, courage... There are lots more values and many overlap.

Some values are quite tricky to understand and difficult to do every day; others are easier to spot and simpler to do.

Sometimes we forget about the values that are really important to us; we are too busy or we don't actually know what the values are.

It's not just children who need to learn about values, adults have to think about them too and sometimes need to remind themselves to slow down and think about what is really important to them. All staff members at Harpenden Academy will be trying to live the values at the same time as the children: that way we can all learn together.

Values Education is not just something that helps you to learn when you are younger; it is a set of tools that you will carry with you all your life. Understanding values will help you to make difficult decisions even when our children are all grown-up. To feel valued is a special thing and something we want to make sure everyone experiences at Harpenden Academy.

Here at Harpenden Academy we have been looking at our own values as an individual, as a family, as a class and as a wider school community. We weave these values into our curriculum and our way of life at school so that we grow into good citizens to be proud of.  We will celebrate when people are showing values - by sharing them both on the website and in school. We are sure that as parents you will help your child to understand values at home and will celebrate with them when they have showed them. Each half term we will focus on particular value and will discuss this during assembly times and class circle times.

We have 22 values 1 for each month over a 2 year rolling programme. The values are integrated into our assemblies, lessons and the culture of our school. The values are:

Respect, Resilience, Patience, Hope, Honesty, Love, Fairness, Curiosity, Determined, Faith, Friendship, Positivity, Independence, Courage, Caring, Gratitude, Kindness, Imagination, Humour, Tolerance, Trust, Responsibility.

Gratitude Friendship Poem by Reception Ladybirds, January 2020

 

Positivity Value, Year 4 Austen Class, September 2019

This week the children have been learning about their new value 'positivity'. They were tasked with thinking about a positive place, role model or designing a superhero to represent positivity. We talked about having a growth mindset and learning from our mistakes. As part of a team building activity we created a web of positivity by throwing a ball of string to each other. We then enjoyed tackling the web we made like a Crystal Maze activity. It was a lot of fun and really helped us bond as a class!

Evie 'If you can't find the sun, be the sun.'

John 'You can always fail, but you learn from your failures.' 'Failure is like another teacher, you learn from all your mistakes.'

Sasha 'The beach is my positive place because you can feel the waves relaxing as they wash over you.'

Sian 'You may think you are not great at something, but everyone can do it if they put their mind to it!'

Grace 'Waves on the beach make me think of a new positive thought.' 

Values Tree, October 2018

Year 3, Kipling Class, have had a very busy term with Miss Harvey! Here is just a small snapshot. We have learnt lots about each other and continue to teach each other new things. The school values have played an important part in our learning. We strive to link our school values to all areas of the curriculum. In Kipling class, we have a values tree which is growing with the children as they develop skills and values to take in to the future. All the children have contributed to the tree with their own thoughts and opinions.