The culture and ethos of a school stems from the vision and values. We focus on being a school "where we all flourish" and our aim for culture and ethos is to have a community where caring and challenge and citizenship are fundamental to the curriculum and to the daily living.

Four areas where we feel our culture and ethos ensures flourishing:

Safeguarding

We recognise our moral and statutory responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children with their best interests at the centre of our work. We strive to create an environment in which children feel safe, secure and respected. We encourage them to talk openly about anything that worries them; and help them feel confident that they will be listened to. Adults in our school take all welfare concerns seriously, are alert to the signs of abuse and neglect, and trained to follow our robust procedures to ensure that children receive effective support, protection and justice.

If you have a concern that a child or children are being harmed, at risk of harm, or you receive a disclosure (intentionally or unintentionally) you must report it immediately to one of our designated safeguarding leads:

• Designated Safeguarding Lead: Victoria Beevers - head@st-johns-pri.gloucs.sch.uk
• Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead: Joe Vaughan - jvaughan@st-johns-pri.gloucs.sch.uk
• Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead: Debbie Kimber - dkimber@st-johns-pri.gloucs.sch.uk
• Chair of Governors: Jenny Faulkner - chair@st-johns-pri.gloucs.sch.uk
• Safeguarding Governor: Patrick Wheaton - pwheaton@st-johns-pri.gloucs.sch.uk

Behaviour and Relationships

Everything we do builds towards a relationship-based and restorative-based, preventative and pro-active approach to managing and supporting children’s behaviours and attitudes, which is consistent.

We strive to create an environment in which children feel safe, secure, respected and happy. Staff and pupils work together to create a culture where children can flourish. There are six words that encapsulate what all staff strive to achieve in terms of their role, the environment and their approach: Relationships, Role Models, Routines, Recognition, Restorative and Reset (6Rs). All staff teach, model and reinforce three key expectations for the children: Ready, Respectful, Responsible (3Rs). These are simple, memorable and malleable for different contexts and situations in school and in our local community. These key words are referenced consistently to create predictability and routine with the children and the teaching of these behaviours prepares children for life in school and beyond Saint John’s.

Through our restorative and relational approach, which is preventative by nature, children learn to identify and communicate their feelings, understand how their behaviours are influenced by their emotions, identify personalised support strategies for the future and recognise that there are clear consequences for their actions. This is a collaborative approach between the children and a trusted adult. Alongside this, children are taught explicitly about positive behaviours, how these impact their own and others’ well-being and the consequences of these.

Bullying is taken seriously at Saint John’s. In line with our school culture, we adopt a preventative approach however, if cases of bullying occur, they are managed swiftly, effectively and with the best interests of all children at the centre. There are records of accounts noted and retained and both children are offered immediate and continued support to ensure all parties are treated with dignity throughout the process. Families of all children will be kept informed and, in some cases where appropriate, we may choose to involve families in the process.

Diversity and Inclusion

We aim to build a diverse and inclusive organisation where everyone – staff and pupils – can do their best and achieve their full potential. Our pupils know and understand the importance of showing respect to everyone, whatever differences we may have, and to everything, whether it is a school resource or a religious belief. We promote and celebrate diversity by celebrating events, such as different religious festivals and Black History, over the course of each year. We are committed to providing an accessible environment, which values and includes all pupils, staff, parents, carers and visitors, regardless of their education, physical, sensory, social, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs. We are committed to challenging negative attitudes about disability and accessibility and to developing a culture of awareness, tolerance and inclusion. We reflect and represent diverse perspectives throughout our curriculum, through our choice of topics, reading materials and trips out into the community. We want to reflect and represent diverse perspectives across our organisation because we know that doing so will make us stronger, more connected and enhance our pupils' education. Saint John's is an equal opportunity employer. Applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and marriage and civil partnerships.

Please see School Policies for additional detail regarding each of these areas.