Headteacher’s Welcome

It is with a sense of pride that I look at the progress we have made; from being a sleeping giant – having a great deal of hidden potential – the school is now a flourishing, creative environment in which everyone genuinely matters, and cares for each other.

The sense of excitement and positive, enjoyable progress has spread across the whole school.

We have undertaken a great deal of developmental work in all areas and continue to work very hard for the school’s further improvement. We maintain an emphasis on creating a learning environment and ethos which creates opportunities for children’s learning. The results of our dedication to this development is seen when we hold open afternoons, and invite comments from parents/guardians – which are always uniformly positive and supportive.

We know where we want the School to be going, because, together with Staff, Governors, Parents and, most importantly, the Children, we originally wrote, and now update, our Vision Statement. This explains not only where we view the School going, but also how we are going to get there. We reviewed it last year, and keep looking, to make sure that it reflects where we are now, and that every-one involved in the school has some input.

The strength of Harnham Junior School is in its relationships, and a most important one of those is between Home and School. Together we are involved in a partnership that has one goal - the development of children as individuals who are able to draw on a wide range of personal, intellectual, physical and social skills to gain understanding.

We have worked extremely hard to make sure our school is a happy, lively, caring community in which children can flourish, trying new things in a variety of ways, without a fear of failure. In the ever- changing world of education, this willingness to review our position and to be brave enough to try out ideas which we feel will benefit the children, has marked us as a community which leads the way. The positive atmosphere and attitude, based on us all being learners, demonstrates and promotes development to the children during their important formative years.

This is especially true in Year 3, where, in September, we focus our approach in a way which is close to Infant provision, and by the end of the year is fully integrated into Junior ways.

We strive to develop in our children the means by which they can learn for themselves, with the flexibility to adapt their skills and knowledge, and with the eagerness to discover more. We aim to develop self-reliance in our children, together with the ability to question and think for themselves. We hope to create an educational environment which will encourage them to demand a great deal of themselves and to take pride in their own achievements.

We place great importance on the social skills of co-operating and sharing, recognising that in their future lives children will have to work with others to achieve their career goals. We foster the attitudes of honesty, reliability, compassion, tolerance, consideration and respect for each other because we understand that the measure of a person is taken not from what they take from life, but what they make of it. To support this we focus on our five Values, which form the bases of Collective Worship in a two year rota.

Please feel free to browse this website to get a view of what we do, and, if you can, we encourage visits to the School so you can feel the atmosphere and ethos in action. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get into contact using the addresses and numbers above.

We all look forward to welcoming you and your children to Harnham C. of E. Junior School. I am sure your association with the school will be happy and rewarding for all concerned.