The Waterloo Way describes how we do things at Waterloo Primary School. It brings together our values, rules, routines, signals, rewards and responses so that expectations are clear and consistent throughout the school.

Our aim is to create a safe, calm and inclusive school where every child is known, valued and supported to succeed. The Waterloo Way helps children understand what is expected of them and ensures that adults respond consistently, fairly and with care.

Our Vision

Waterloo is a safe, calm and inclusive school where every child is known, valued and supported to succeed.

We nurture children as individuals while maintaining high expectations for learning, behaviour and personal development. Children and adults should experience Waterloo as a predictable place, where routines are clear, systems are simple and everyone understands what excellence looks like.

Our priority is to ensure that teaching, learning and wider provision are consistently strong, so that pupils achieve national expectations and benchmarks in all areas.

The Waterloo Way brings this vision to life. It provides a shared understanding of how we learn, behave and work together as one school community.

Our Values

Our values guide the way we learn, behave and treat one another:

	STRIVE We work hard, persevere and always try to improve.
	HONESTY We work hard, persevere and always try to improve.
	INCLUSION We welcome everyone and make sure everybody belongs.
	NURTURE We care for ourselves, one another and our school community.
	EXCELLENCE We take pride in our work and aim to be the best that we can be.

We want every member of the Waterloo community to demonstrate these values and help our pupils to SHINE.

Our Rules

Our three school rules are simple, memorable and apply everywhere:

	Be Safe
	Be Ready
	Be Respectful

Children are explicitly taught what these rules look like in classrooms, around school, on the playground and when representing Waterloo in the wider community.

Our Routines

Clear routines make Waterloo calm, orderly and predictable. They protect learning time and help children to develop positive habits.

Our core routines include:

• Wonderful Walking – moving calmly, safely and sensibly around school.
• Awesome Appearance – wearing our uniform correctly and taking pride in ourselves and our school.
• Silent Lines – lining up calmly and quietly, ready to listen and move.
• Calm classroom entry – entering positively, settling quickly and beginning the first task straight away.
• Purposeful transitions – moving between activities efficiently so that valuable learning time is not lost.

These routines are taught, practised and reinforced by all adults.

Our Signals

We use consistent signals across the school so that children know when to stop, listen, respond or participate.

These include “My Turn, Your Turn” for practising and repeating important words, phrases and ideas, as well as agreed visual and verbal signals for gaining attention, moving between activities and preparing to learn.

Adults teach these signals explicitly and give children time to respond. Using the same signals throughout school reduces unnecessary interruption and helps lessons remain calm and focused.

Our Rewards

We notice and celebrate children who make positive choices, work hard and demonstrate our SHINE values.

Rewards include:

• specific verbal praise;
• recognition from teachers and school leaders;
• Golden Tickets, which are placed into the class reward jar and are not removed;
• WOW Cards, which celebrate achievements with families;
• certificates and recognition in celebration assemblies;
• class and whole-school celebrations.

Our rewards recognise effort, improvement, kindness, excellent learning and positive contributions to school life—not simply academic achievement.

Our Responses

Children sometimes make mistakes. When this happens, adults respond calmly, consistently and proportionately.

Our graduated response may include:

1. a positive reminder of the expected behaviour;
2. a clear reminder linked to one of our three school rules;
3. an opportunity to reset and make a better choice;
4. a private conversation or appropriate consequence;
5. reflection, repair and support to help prevent the behaviour happening again.

Where behaviour is serious or repeated, additional support and appropriate involvement from school leaders may be needed. We work with children and families to understand underlying needs while maintaining clear boundaries and high expectations.

Consequences are intended to help children learn. We separate the behaviour from the child, protect each child’s dignity and support them to repair relationships and return successfully to learning.

Consistency with Care

The Waterloo Way combines high expectations with nurture and inclusion. Fairness does not always mean that every child receives exactly the same support; it means that every child receives the support they need while our rules and expectations remain clear.

By working together, we create a school where children feel safe, learning is valued and everyone has the opportunity to SHINE.