Thank you for choosing Shaftesbury Junior School as your child’s place of learning.  I am delighted to welcome you to our caring, friendly school community where the importance of education sits at the heart of everything we do.  We want to inspire our children to be the best they can be through an exciting and relevant curriculum which gives them the opportunity to learn both in and out of the classroom. 

As Nelson Mandela said, ‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,’ and, at Shaftesbury, that is what we aim to provide.

We use Philosophy for Children to promote independent thinking, critical questioning and a deep-seated curiosity in the world.  We want our children to leave us with the skills and knowledge to successfully navigate their way through the 21^st century confidently.  In this world of social media and fake news, it is essential that our children are able to question, check, reason and make themselves heard.

At Shaftesbury, we promote our 30 character values that we feel are crucial in developing life-long learners through everything we do.  By building character, we aim to shape our next and future generations.   

We are passionate about our diverse community and the many different languages that we speak.  We take every opportunity to celebrate this cultural diversity and place a strong emphasis on acceptance and open-mindedness. 

A smile is a universal welcome and I am very proud to say that our children and staff have these in abundance and are very happy to share these. 

I look forward to our journey together.

Karl Stewart

Headteacher