Happy, Helpful, High Achievers
We are delighted to welcome you to Highfields Spencer Academy, a state of the art primary school that opened in September 2020 in the heart of the new Highfields estate, Littleover, Derbyshire.
Our exciting, knowledge and inquiry based STREAM learning in school will be enhanced by our focus on developing the whole pupil through our RAINBOW curriculum. For more information please see our curriculum statement.
We collaborate with local stakeholders to shape our offer as a STREAM specialist primary school to create choice for the wider community in Derbyshire. Within our governing body we have two STEM governors who have links with Rolls Royce and Morgan Sindall, we have many families who have parents that work at the Royal Derby Hospital and within other sectors where finance, engineering, technology and maths are essential. The first trip our Reception pupils did in June 2021, for example, was to Morgan Sindall’s Burton Car Park project, where pupils were given the opportunity to learn about design work, project management and even got to see the diggers in action!
Our links with our local secondary academies Derby Moor Spencer Academy and John Port Spencer Academy have allowed us to plan for Engineering and Arts links for our children from Year 3 upwards. Pupils from KS2 will attend an Engineering Club at Derby Moor and their Art students will come to work with our pupils in the summer term each year.
We promote Arts through our weekly Creation Station Arts Club and through our curriculum which is inspired by the work of Gomersal Primary School, a leading Arts school. Our aim is to have our own atelier one day, where pupils are able to go for specialist Art lessons. We have taken part in the Burton Swans Project, which was exhibited at the Burton Brewhouse in 2021 and in the summer of 2022 we are working with the artists Henrietta and Celia from Henhouse Arts for our first Sky Arts Week ready for our grand opening celebrations!
We have specialist Music lessons through Rock It Music Project, which will enable all pupils from the end of Year 1 up to Year 6 to take music exams accredited by the University of West London, meaning that the majority of our pupils will have achieved the equivalent of a GCSE in Music by the time they leave us at the end of KS2.
We have been working with Jo Stone, from the Discovery Trust, as our local Ed Tech Demonstrator, to develop our Ed Tech approach at Highfields. Over the next three years we aim to make our use of technology state of the art at Highfields. The programme was set up to offer support to schools and colleges in developing sustainable digital strategies which make effective use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.
It focuses on:
- School recovery
- Reducing teacher workload
- School improvement plans
- School resource management
- Securing an accessible and inclusive curriculum, including pupils/students with SEND and excluded pupils/students
Some example areas of support include:
- Helping schools and colleges to fully utilise the devices supplied by the DfE and procured by schools/colleges and parents to continue the drive to use technology effectively
- Equipping teachers with the skills they need to make the most from the tools they have available
- Supporting senior leaders to embrace the change and embed the positives from the past year into their schools and colleges
A national webinar series is also available which is free to join and is updated every half term with different topics and speakers (details on the website).
Our mission is simple: we strive to educate the whole child so that each individual in our community may grow into Happy, Helpful, High Achievers. Water is essential for life, just as a combination of academic and emotional development are essential for success.
Click here to visit the website.
STREAM is an educational approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics as access points for guiding pupil inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking. The end results are pupils who take thoughtful risks, engage in experiential learning, persist in problem-solving, embrace collaboration, and work through the creative process. These are the innovators, educators, leaders, and learners of the 21st century!
This approach to learning is certainly not an easy task, but the benefits to pupils and the entire school community are tremendous. Pupils and teachers engaged in STREAM make more real-life connections so that school is not a place where you go to learn but instead becomes the entire experience of learning itself. We are always learning, always growing, always experimenting.
Key elements of our STREAM approach include:
- critical thinking and problem solving
- initiative and entrepreneurship
- curiosity and imagination
- collaboration between pupils, networks and local organisations
We have a strong vision for the STREAM provision we will curate at Highfields Spencer Academy. The cross-sector opportunities and national partnerships are going to lead to some really exciting collaborations which will open doors for our pupils in the future. By nurturing the hearts and the minds of our pupils we will work together to ensure that they will all grow, learn and flourish to live our values and develop the STREAM skills to ensure that they are prepared for secondary school and become the highly employable graduates of the future.
At Highfields we know that understanding yourself, building resilience and developing a positive growth mindset is essential for all pupils at Highfields.
Our exciting, knowledge and inquiry based STREAM learning in school will be enhanced by our focus on developing the whole pupil through our RAINBOW curriculum. For more information please see our curriculum statement.
We will collaborate with local stakeholders to shape our offer as a STREAM specialist primary school to create choice for the wider community in Derbyshire.