This is the updated version of the Simon de Senlis Primary School vision statement which includes the Digital Vision for the school.

1. At Simon de Senlis, we are passionate about learning.
Through our distinct approach to learning, fuelled by
inspiration, high expectations and innovation, we are
building a community of curious, industrious and agile
learners who have a flair for technology, sport and the
arts and make a positive ‘dent in the universe’.

2. Curious
We are driven by the usual insatiable curiosity of the scientist,
and our work is a delightful game.
Murray Gell-Mann - Physicist
Powerful learning is rooted in genuine curiosity. Our curriculum will
intrigue, excite and inspire learners to embrace their natural
inquisitiveness. Our teaching will encourage and equip learners to
observe, question and think deeply about the world around them.
These are the sort of things that push you on in music - the
curiosity, a passion for new ideas.
Elvis Costello - Musician

3. Industrious
People think I must have been so talented at an early age, but I
don't know - was it talent or hard work? Who knows?
Monica Seles - Tennis Player
Successful people are industrious. All our learners will be
empowered with healthy and effective working habits to
develop an independence, resilience and resourcefulness that
will serve them well in an increasingly competitive and ever-
changing world. Children will be encouraged to enjoy the
challenges they seek out and are set, to understand failure as a
crucial part of the learning process, and to reflect on and
celebrate the fruits of hard work.A dream doesn't become
reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard
work.Colin Powell - General

4. Agile
We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist,
using technologies that have not been invented, in order to
solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.
Karl Fisch - Teacher
The world is changing. The future is radically uncertain. The
agile, adaptable and resilient will thrive in these conditions. Our
learners will develop the agility to embrace change through
authentic opportunities to apply and adapt their existing skills,
knowledge and understanding to new learning situations and
real-world problems.
The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it,
move with it, and join the dance. Alan Watts - Philosopher

5. Making a positive dent...
Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the
ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you
can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.
John Wesley - Theologist & Evangalist
At the heart of our learners’ attitudes is a moral compass which
guides ethical, principled decision making. Teaching this
mindset, alongside ambition and entrepreneurship, will motivate
and equip children to be world-changers.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the
things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw
off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade
winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain - Author

6. We do this through an
approach to learning
built on...
1.Inspiration
2.High Expectations
3.Innovation
4.Community

7. Inspiration
At Simon de Senlis we aim to inspire a love of
learning and this is reflected in all that we do. From
curriculum design to our physical and virtual learning
environments; from questioning styles to learning
resources. Honing an inspirational climate for
learners to broaden their own learning horizons and
to inspire others to do the same is foundational to
our thinking and decision-making.

8. High Expectations
We expect great things of people at Simon de Senlis and
are relentless in encouraging our learners to believe that
they can achieve beyond their own expectations. Our
engaging and uncluttered curriculum, coupled with an
emphasis on providing quality feedback for
improvement, serves to raise the aspirations of the whole
community. We have high expectations of ourselves and
each other; if we commit to something, it should be
achieved with nothing less than excellence.

9. Innovation
Creativity and innovation unlock the potential for
positive change. Demystifying and explicitly
teaching creative and innovative processes,
technologies and mindsets, will empower learners
with the capability and confidence to negotiate
independent and intelligent ways of tackling new
and existing problems.

10. Community
Simon de Senlis is a learning community. Children and adults
embrace the challenge and joy of lifelong learning,
supporting each other to maximise individual and collective
potential. Teachers, children and parents work together in a
positive climate where mistakes are embraced as
opportunities for learning.

11. At Simon de Senlis, we recognise the transformational effect
that technology has on the world and embrace the use of
technology where it accelerates our journey in developing
young people who are curious, industrious and agile learners
and are well placed to make a dent in the universe.
Vision for Technology 1

12. Whilst there are many different elements of school life in which
technology is integrated, it is the direct effect on teaching where we
pay most attention as this is the place where the potential 'wins' of
better engagement,
communication and collaboration lie.
Whilst there is no technology which, itself, will improve teaching, we
know that carefully selected technology in the hands of skilled
practitioners can make learning more effective and that a teacher or
school in the 21st century cannot pretend to be accomplished or
successful unless they are adept at giving children wide opportunities
to learn through, and about, technology.
Our approach around the use of technology within learning can be
separated into the following three areas:
1.Learning about technology and become a skilled user through the
computing curriculum
2.Staying safe online and healthy use of technology
3.Using technology to Make Learning Better
Vision for Technology 2

13. Using Technology to Make Learning Better
At Simon de Senlis, we understand that technology has the power to transform
learning and make learning better through better engagement, motivation,
collaboration and feedback to learners. We want our children to become digitally
fluent across a range of technologies, subjects and contexts. We aim to develop
learners who are adept and confident with technology and enhance the learning
through the empowerment to:
1.discover, capture and curate through technology, creating their own record of
the 'immersion' phase of learning.
2. prototype learning through different media (text, video, art) to make thinking
visible and to receive feedback to make outcomes even better.
3.access a greater range of subject 'experts' (both internal and external to the
school), as well as to share their own expertise as this is developed.
4.reflect upon their own learning, showcase their achievements effectively, and
identify next steps for future improvement.
Our use of technology is based around a focus on a handful of carefully selected
applications and practices which we are confident will impact positively on
learning, rather than a rush to adopt lots of different new ideas and unproven
practices.
“Any teacher that can be replaced with a computer, deserves to be.” – David
Thornburg
Vision for Technology

14. Learning Environments
At Simon de Senlis, we are inspired by the Reggio Emilio belief that that the learning
environment is the third teacher.
We believe passionately that the learning environment plays a crucial role in
enabling high quality learning. To be happy, we need to have bright, welcoming
spaces that promote community; to be creative, children need clean and
collaborative spaces to get messy, explore and generate ideas; to achieve
mastery, children need quiet, individual spaces to consolidate, apply and reflect.
At Simon de Senlis, our learning environments are:
• Decluttered
• Flexible and Functional
• Designed to Make Learning Visible