Mayflower Primary School Harwich Main Road, Dovercourt

Our key beliefs and core values emphasise what the teachers and stakeholders, want our school to be known for - to be 'special' to our school.

We believe in providing a safe, inviting and caring environment for all in the school.
- We believe it is vitally important that our pupils and parents feel their school is a safe caring and sharing learning community with a strong nurturing atmosphere. This is important if our pupils are to develop the confidence to take the risks necessary for learning. To do this, we will as a school, and in each classroom, work towards providing a warm secure environment with established routines and clear boundaries.
- To develop such an environment will require us to develop explicit shared values that reflect the special multicultural nature of our nation which will include respect, honesty, and compassion for one another . We want our pupils to develop a positive sense of identity and an awareness of our nation’s racial and cultural diversity.
- We want to ensure our pupils ’ behaviours reflect such values. Thus we want to help them develop respect for one another and each other’s property as well as respect for their natural environment.
- Because of these values, we feel it is very important that we help our pupils appreciate a sense of obligation of living in a community whether it be their family, the school, or their class. We believe that it is important for them to work for the common good of a group and not just for their own self-interest. We want to engender a sense of interdependence in our pupils.
- We want our pupils, staff and stakeholders to have an excellent rapport where there is a high level of mutual trust and respect among all involved.
- To achieve such a positive community, we will need to build a real partnership between the home, community and the school and also ensure our teaching teams are given all the support they need.
  
  We must all work towards helping our pupils take pride in their school and community as well as their own and other people’s achievements.
We believe in instilling in each individual the drive to realize their full potential.
- We believe it is very important that our pupils come to the realisation that it is their responsibility to do their personal best in whatever they undertake. We want them to have the drive to realize their full potential. We worry that too many pupils do not have this need to always do their 'personal best', and we will encourage our teachers to develop this sense of quality in our pupils in all they do.
- We want to help our pupils make the ‘right choices’ in all aspects of learning and behaviour. To achieve this, our teachers will encourage pupils to set their own goals, to plan and assess their own work using negotiated criteria, and to develop the love for learning, endurance and dedication in their work habits.
- We also believe that to be life long learners and able to take advantage of their future education, our pupils will need to be confident in the traditional foundation skills of numeracy and literacy.
  
  If these behaviours and foundation skills are established , our pupils will then be able to become responsible for their own quality learning equipped with the necessary 'can do' attitudes and endurance to complete chosen tasks with a sense of pride.
We believe in helping each child to grow into a well-balanced, thinking and caring pupil.
- We believe it is important that our pupils develop the attributes to thrive in what will be a constantly changing world. To do this, our teachers will not only have to help our pupils achieve sound traditional work habits but, also the emotional and personal well being, team work and problem solving skills and attitudes, so that they develop a necessary 'risk taking' attitude.
- We will ensure our teachers provide pupils with a balanced curriculum promoting academic excellence and mastery in a full range of Learning Areas. F oundation skills of learning are assured and pupils are given opportunities to experience success in the full range of Learning Areas so as to develop their talents and gifts.
- We also want them to ensure that all pupils have an opportunity to have their potential talents developed because these will lead to leisure activities, and possibly future employment. We believe that our Vision and Mission combines the best of traditional teaching with new ideas about how pupils learn. If we can achieve our Vision, in partnership with our parents and community, we believe we can develop future citizens we can all be proud of.