‘Be Halfpenny - Strive to be the very best version of yourself’
The personal development of all our pupils is at the heart of our mission as a school and we provide a wide range of education, information and opportunities which enable our pupils to develop their interests and talents, and to flourish as young people. Our personal development curriculum is equitable with all other curriculum areas and extends beyond a formal, taught curriculum.
The curriculum has been developed to incorporate key requirements linked to SMSC, British Values, Citizenship, RSE and the Protected Characteristics. Our broad and balanced curriculum offer also provides opportunities to develop our, ‘Be Halfpenny’ school ethos, which is directly linked to our pupil values, explicitly supporting the development of the key learning and life skills. The pupils are very aligned to their chosen school values and are aware that they underpin all aspects of school life – ‘Be Kind, Be Ambitious, Be Resilient, Be Halfpenny.’
We are extremely proud of the personal development offer we are able to offer our pupils at Halfpenny Lane and celebrate the fact that all the pupils across the different year groups are able to engage with such a wide range of different clubs/societies and learning experiences. Our half termly enrichment afternoons also provide the pupils with the opportunity to experience a wide range of different indoor and outdoor activities and games.
We firmly believe in the education of the whole child and do all that we can to enable each pupil to realise their potential, and to leave us as confident, well rounded citizens who are a credit to their communities.
We firmly believe that providing the pupils with strong foundations during their primary career, will provide them with the skill sets and personal attributes they require to access the next stage of their educational journey and when they enter the world of employment.
We wish for every pupil at halfpenny Lane to positively and proudly represent Halfpenny Lane to represent their school, both inside and outside of the classroom. To help us achieve this, learning is enhanced through a range of different school visits, which take place from EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage). We also welcome visitors and guest speakers into school to inspire our children on a regular basis.
The Halfpenny Lane pupils are afforded the opportunity to work together throughout school, as well as being recognised for their personal achievements, when awarded with a range of leadership opportunities - Head Boy, Head Girl, Prefects, Y6 Monitor, Sports Leaders and being voted a member of our Junior Government.
The pupils really enjoy working together as a class each year, as part of the whole HPL School Enterprise Project, which provides the children with a number of real-life opportunities to make a positive civic contribution to their local community.
The Halfpenny Lane ‘50 Things’ initiative, provides all pupils with the opportunity to experience, learn and achieve a wealth of different skills and experiences. These are carefully selected and are matched in line with the different age ranges of the pupils throughout school.
We also have important partnerships in place with local Forest Schools, Classroom Kitchen and Premier Education professionals, who visit to school to deliver specialist and bespoke sessions to the pupils. These sessions are invaluable and provide the pupils with additional opportunities to learn new and important life skills. As well as this, we welcome a professional table tennis, tennis, martial arts and rugby coach into school, who deliver sessions which add further breadth to the PE and active lifestyle offer we present our pupils with.
The Halfpenny Lane PE and Sports leaders work in close partnership with the Trust’s Primary PE coordinator to ensure our pupils can take part in multiple sporting experiences and competitions. This involves our pupils competing against other Trust schools and on occasions schools from the surrounding towns and wider region.
We encourage our pupils to give to others through one of our many charitable initiatives. The school community is immensely proud of the considerable funds we raise each year our close neighbour, The Pontefract Hospice.
The school’s newsletter is an excellent source of information and is a platform we use to share our news with the parents, stakeholders and local community.
PAT Games
The mission of the PAT Games is to give every single one of our primary school students the opportunity to represent their school. The games are inclusive and suitable for pupils of all fitness levels.
The PAT Games are planned and hosted across Pontefract Academies Trust and are in the form of a competition of festival. By participating in the PAT Games, schools collect points which are then tallied up across the year and the winning school receives a trophy at the end of each term.
The games teach pupils important life skills such as determination, passion, respect, honesty, self-belief, teamwork, and developing skills - all of which, belong to our 'Spirit of the Games' characteristics.
British Values
Here at Halfpenny Junior, Infant & Nursery School, we recognise the multi-faith and multi-cultural make-up of the United Kingdom, and believe it is important to promote the inclusive values which make Britain great.
We are an inclusive school. We welcome all pupils entitled to education under British Law, whatever their faith, ethnicity, gender, political viewpoints, sexuality, or gender.
Here are some of the ways that we seek to promote British Values at Halfpenny:
We ensure that children are given a voice. They are empowered by being given opportunities to make choices about things they believe are important. Our school behaviour systems encourage pupils to respect the idea of democracy and respect the views of others.
Children are taught to understand the principles of rules, which enable a community – like a school – to work well. This is supported by our Community Police Officer. Children understand our behaviour systems and the rules we must follow, this helps pupils to make decisions and choices that are acceptable to the school community and society at large. We help pupils learn to manage their behaviour and take responsibility for their actions. We teach them to recognise right from wrong and why we have rules in school and society.
Within PE lessons and in the range of sports clubs which take place at Halfpenny, children learn and follow the rules and regulations of the sport being undertaken. Pupils understand and follow the rules, insisting on fairness and sportsmanship. They then extend this to the games they play in their free time in the playground as well as when taking part in sporting events across the Trust as part of the PAT games.
We encourage pupils to become good and valued citizens. We do this by supporting each pupil to become as independent as possible. Some pupils will be able to take responsibility for particular roles, such as Junior Librarians, School Council Representatives, hall monitors or playground leaders. They understand that with certain rights comes a level of responsibility.
We celebrate achievements in assemblies and with certificates. We encourage children to be proud of their achievements, both in and out of school. We encourage children to take responsibility for their behaviour, to challenge stereotypes and to spread an anti-bullying culture.
We promote each pupil’s inclusion in a range of activities, settings and locations. Our pupils go into the community to meet with a range of people in a variety of situations which include sports events, community events and shared participation with other schools. It is important for our school to be part of the community as the pupils, families and staff have much to offer in the development of community cohesion.
As we live in a multi-faith society, we promote the belief that each person is respected and valued equally without regard to ability, gender, faith, heritage or race. Cultural appreciation and development forms part of our curriculum. We celebrate faiths throughout the year with assemblies, workshops and drop-down days, where parents are actively encouraged to participate. We celebrate our differences and pupils are mutually respectful of these.
We teach Religious Education (RE) in each year group at Halfpenny. Our RE curriculum offers a broad and balanced education on a range of faiths, religions and cultures.
Throughout school, we encourage children to discuss the differences between people, such as their faith, ethnicity, disability, gender and sexuality. We also help them to explore different kinds of lifestyle, including relationships and families and bodily choices.