Welcome to Ark Dickens Primary Academy!

Welcome to Ark Dickens Primary Academy!

On behalf of our whole school community, I am delighted to welcome you to Ark Dickens Primary Academy. I am privileged to be Head of School at Ark Dickens Primary Academy where our motto is ‘Be your best’ and this reflects our ethos of ensuring every child is provided with every opportunity to reach their potential. Children are supported in becoming confident and independent young people, who thrive on challenge, and are motivated to learn.  All schools have their own distinctive ‘feel’ which makes each one unique. We believe that the ‘special feel’ at Ark Dickens Primary comes from our caring, supportive, and friendly environment.

Staff, supported by the Ark Network, work hard to deliver a rich and challenging curriculum; to prepare children for future education; and to help them acquire the skills and enthusiasm needed to embrace the opportunities, responsibilities, and experiences of later life.

Our Early Years provision provides the children with an excellent start which continues through the school with staff providing a happy, supportive, and purposeful environment and a curriculum that aims to excite and stimulate children’s imaginations and creative thinking.  The curriculum is delivered through a cross-curricular approach which is further enhanced by whole-school themed days and other events to promote enquiry-led learning.  Trips and visits, community activities and a range of after school clubs aim to further add to the opportunities available to children.

We aim to ensure children understand and develop our school values: respect, unity, kindness, community, aspiration and resilience in themselves and their school. We are committed to a vision where children respect and understand the needs of others, work well together, and contribute fully to the life of the school, making it a central part in our wider enriched community.

We hope, through easy navigation around the website, you can discover more about the achievements and opportunities that are on offer to all our learners and see what life is like at Ark Dickens primary! Should you have any questions, please contact the school office on 02392806514.

We look forward to welcoming you to our school, and to a happy and successful partnership with all our new children and families.

Our vision is to provide every pupil with the opportunity to go on to university or pursue the career of their choice. Our motto is Be your best.

We achieve our vision through Ark's six pillars:

High expectations – We hold the highest expectations for all members of our community. We are committed to giving every pupil at our school the opportunity, by the age of 18, to go on to university or pursue the career of their choice.

Excellent teaching – Our teachers pursue excellence for every child and instil a love of learning in our pupils. They have excellent subject knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. They skilfully plan opportunities for every child to be challenged and to reach their full potential.

Exemplary behaviour – We are a happy, inclusive community and all members of our school community contribute to creating a respectful, tolerant and calm environment that is ideal for learning.

Knowing every child – We strive to know every child and understand their needs, motivations and aspirations in order to support and challenge every pupil to be the best they can be.

Depth for breadth – All Ark Dickens pupils secure firm foundations in English and mathematics and this drives excellence in other subject areas. Pupils are given opportunities to apply English and Maths skills in a variety of contexts, making connections across topics. Regular assessments and interventions ensure that pupils are supported to keep up, not catch up. 
 
Always learning – Excellent teaching is underpinned by high quality professional development and training, which is part of daily life at the academy. We are committed to identifying our team's talent and nurturing individual strengths to create a community of exceptional teachers, highly skilled support staff, thoughtful managers and strategic leaders.

• Kindness
• Community
• Unity
• Resilience
• Respect
• Aspiration

Our values are communicated and reinforced by:

• Modelling (staff, parents, children)
• Challenging (if it’s not challenged, it's condoned)
• Valuing (assemblies; certificates; rewards)
• Agreeing (home-school agreement)
• Displaying (in classrooms, entrances and corridors)
• Training (consistent whole-school culture)