Making learning irresistible
Making Learning
Irresistible
Welcome to a new and completely
unique primary school provision
for Medway.
The New Horizons Primary School is the first ever designated
Thinking School from its very opening. It is a new addition to a
local vibrant and dynamic group of schools belonging to The RGS/
AFS Thinking Schools Trust.
The Trust led in partnership between The Rochester Grammar
School - an outstanding selective school, advanced Thinking
School and National Teaching School and All Faiths’ Community
Children’s School - a highly successful local primary school with
outstanding leadership, and also a dedicated Thinking School.
As the first ever designated Thinking School, New Horizons
Primary School will be the flagship of a growing UK and
worldwide network of Schools. This means that your child
will receive the highest quality education, care and support.
Page 01
Our Mission
“Improve the life chances of all our children
and young people; embed the philosophy of a
thinking school through transforming teaching,
learning and leadership, that will accelerate
children’s progress and cognitive development.”
We believe our new school will be at the heart of its community
serving local children who will be nurtured to develop by
outstanding teachers and leaders dedicated to high expectations,
outstanding teaching, learning and child development.
We look forward to working in partnership with you and your child.
Pages 02 & 03
Care & Support:
Every Child
Achieves
We want all our children to be
happy, cheerful and well balanced;
so they can put their best into all
activities and achieve.
We are an inclusive school, our pastoral care is based on mutual
respect and tolerance. Through these principles we cater for
the needs of individual children of both sexes from all ethnic
and social groups, including the most able and those who are
experiencing learning difficulties.
We have high expectations and treat pupils in a dignified way but
we also expect our pupils to acquire a set of moral values, such as
honesty, sincerity, personal responsibility, on which to base their
own behaviour.
This is why we recognise the crucial role which parents play in
their child’s education and make every effort to encourage parental
involvement in the educational process and participation in the life
of the school.
A stimulating curriculum
at the heart of the school
The school’s curriculum will provide memorable
experiences and rich opportunities for high quality
learning and wider personal development and wellbeing.
We believe in a set of underlying beliefs:
• Intelligence is not fixed, it is learnable.
• Learning is a natural gift and needs to be cultivated.
• Children learn best through guided exploration.
• Young minds like to be stretched, challenged and
perplexed.
• Through happiness in learning children enjoy their
mistakes.
• Children are born with an instinct to engage socially
and emotionally with the world around them.
• The first five years lay the foundations for success in
learning
Pages 04 & 05
The innovative curriculum design will have overall
breadth and balance and provide children with their
full entitlement and it will be customised to meet
the changing needs of individuals and groups.
There will be highly tailored programmes for
a wide range of children with different needs.
Cross-curricular provision will include literacy,
numeracy and ICT. As a result, all groups
of pupils will benefit from a highly coherent
and relevant curriculum which will promote
outstanding outcomes. We will also ensure that
all new research will be taking in to account when
planning the future curriculum.
Pages 06 & 07
Teaching
And learning
“Making learning irresistible”
We want all children to become:
• Successful learners who enjoy learning, making progress and achieve
• Confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives
• Responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society.
• Independent learners who make choices
• Problem solvers who think for themselves
• Effective Learners who evaluate their learning and plan next steps of learning
Growing
and learning
We have planned for three phases
– early, middle and later primary.
The phases will be viewed flexibly
and not as age-related stages.
In the early primary stage, content is generic to the broad area of
learning and links more easily to the early years foundation stage
(EYFS). The early stage of primary will promote the extension of
play-based learning from the early years and will encourage active
learning in the whole primary phase.
Pages 08 & 09
Belonging
and community
The hallmark of any successful
organisation is a shared sense among
members about what they are trying
to accomplish.” Peters & Waterman
The New Horizons Primary School is part of The RGS/AFS
Thinking Schools Trust. This would ensure the vision of a Thinking
Primary school would be at the heart of the school and it will be
part of a larger partnership of primary and secondary schools that
all work together to share best practice and support the highest
standards of education and care. We equally feel it is important for
parents and staff to have a strong voice in the future of the school.
New Horizons will have its own local Governing Body to help the
school and provide challenge for the Senior Leadership Team.
www.newhorizonsprimary.org.uk