Gillingham Primary School is located in the heart of Gillingham town, in North Dorset.  Gillingham Primary School has a busy, vibrant atmosphere and its inclusive ethos welcomes every child and family.  The school prides itself on the excellent care, support, guidance and challenge it provides as everyone works together to ensure the pupils enjoy their years at the school.

The school has a Resource Base (our Sky Base) for a maximum of 14 pupils who have complex communication needs.  Our aim for each child who attends Sky Base is to provide an inclusive environment in which they feel safe, confident and happy to learn so that their self-esteem and confidence increase and they are able to make progress academically and socially.

Our school's vision is 'Enjoy - Engage - Excel' and is the driving force behind everything we do.  We believe that happy, enthusiastic children learn best and we are determined to create a climate that enables them to explore their ideas and develop their abilities and talents to the full.  We have the highest expectations for everyone and seek to develop a thirst for learning that continues long after a child leaves our school.  We also believe that community and working together is the key to success:  this is why we place so much emphasis on working with parents and carers, ensuring they have everything they need to support their children.

Our values are:

• Care and respect:  taking care of ourselves, one another and the environment around us so we can live and learn happily and safely together
• Curiosity:  being interested in the world around us - wondering 'how' and 'why'
• Aspiration:  wanting to the be the best we can be
• Resourceful:  becoming independent thinkers and not relying on others to do things for us that we could do for ourselves
• Resilience:  giving things a go and keeping on trying when things are tough.

Our aims are:

• to ensure every member of our school community is welcomed, included and valued as an individual
• to keep learning and personal development at the heart of all that we do
• to discover, celebrate and nurture the talents, skills and personalities of every member of the school community
• to  encourage and instill a sense of ambition towards, and a readiness for, future challenges and opportunities
• to work together to equip every child with the attitudes and skills that enable them to be positive and giving members of society; guided by a strong moral compass