1.2 An overview of primary education today

In each UK nation – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – children aged three to four years old are entitled to free early education from the school term after they turn three years old. This might be part of a primary school, which has provision for younger children, or it may be in a private, voluntary or independent (PVI) setting, for example, a nursery or preschool. The number of hours children can attend ranges from 10–22.5 hours per week, depending on the nation’s offer. Hours may be extended, and the starting age lowered for children living in low-income families. Unlike primary schools, attendance in an early years setting is not compulsory and is a parental choice.

Throughout the UK there are over 20,000 primary schools (Statista, no date). Every primary school is different depending on where it is located and who attends. The smallest primary schools may have fewer than 10 pupils, and the largest providing education for over 1,000 pupils. Each school’s characteristics will also vary based on the pupils attending and the characteristics of the pupils, i.e. their age, sex, languages spoken, ethnicity and whether pupils are identified as living in poverty (socio-economic disadvantage).

The vision and values of the school, crafted by the Senior Leadership Team, often in collaboration with the children and parents, reflect a school’s unique characteristics.

Activity 2

Allow 15 minutes

Task 1

First watch the following video in which two Headteachers outline a vision statement and a set of values that have been developed in their individual primary schools.

Video 1 Visions and values

Transcript

Write a vision statement or a set of school values for a primary school.

Using your knowledge of a school in which you work/volunteer or you know well for different reasons, think about the core characteristics of the school – location, size, family backgrounds of those attending. Use these sticky notes to capture these thoughts and other ideas.

Task 2

Using your notes from Task 1, now write your vision statement and school values.

Vision: ‘Be the best that you can be’	Values: ‘Enjoyment, kindness, perseverance, cooperation’
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How does your vision statement/values reflect the values of the local community of the school?

How would you want your vision statement/values to influence the way in which the school community (children, staff, parents) interacts?

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Schools can attune their vision and values to the needs of their children, families and communities. Making connections with home experiences is an important way of supporting learning, as you will see in Section 1.3.