We all get by with a little help from our friends

I’m writing this to a backing track of children singing “I get by with a little help from my friends”.

Those words have reverberated around our corridors for the last week as children from Reception to Year 6 prepare for our House Singing Competition - back after a four year break! And it has just struck me how important those words are.

The success of our school is built upon teamwork in absolutely all areas of school life and the wider community, and that teamwork is based upon much the same principles of friendship - mutual respect and responsibility and taking time to reflect. It is not a matter of coincidence that our three school rules are ‘Be responsible, be respectful and be reflective’.

I’ve spent a wonderful two days this week observing life in our Nursery and Pre-School as part of our rigorous recruitment processes. Relationships formed and friendships made in these very first years at Copthill set the firm foundations upon which future success is built.

Watching three-year-olds focusing intently on helping each other create a potion based upon the parts of a spring flower, ensuring the presence of water and light, taught me a lot about creative thinking and problem solving!

This morning in assembly, sports and music awards were presented as well as a much-coveted and hard-earned Copthill Challenge Scheme golden badge. Every week, the head students shake hands with the proud recipients of certificates for spellings, handwriting, reading, maths challenges, house points and Copthill Learner attributes. These Copthill Learner certificates cover the whole breadth of our wide curriculum, both indoors and outdoors.

During the recent Parents’ Evenings, Year 3 children’s independent explorer homework was displayed. Yes, the information posters, illuminated letters and roundhouses were produced independently at home (perhaps with a little help from families!) but what would the purpose be without the opportunity to share our hard work with an interested audience - learning from each other?

Year 6 children are looking towards their last term at Copthill. It is during our primary school years that we first learn to navigate the ups and downs of friendships - experiences that mould us and upon which we look back and reflect in the future, experiences that shape our individual selves as we exist and grow alongside others.

Our ‘Learning Means the World’ curriculum, based upon the 4 Cs of conflict, culture, communication and conservation gives the National Curriculum a global outlook. Our Explorers (Nursery and Pre-School), Pathfinders (Lower School), Adventurers (Middle School) and Navigators (Upper School) are supported to develop the skills of a Copthill Learner and to be responsible, respectful and reflective.

From sharing to stopping fighting, developing friendships to showing tolerance, listening to explaining clearly, looking after things to thinking big, we do all of this as a team, all “with a little help from our friends”.