The first pupils at a brand new school are settling into their lessons and although the class sizes are small for now, in a few years it will be one of the biggest primary schools in Medway.

There are 75 children enrolled at New Horizons Children’s Academy but once full, it will cater for more than 600 children from nursery through to Year Six.

Head teacher Susan Daye said they were expecting to start with a low number as they are building the school from the bottom, taking three reception classes each year. This year's intake was of two reception classes, one Year 2 class and a nursery class.

Mrs Daye said: “We are a nurturing, caring school with high aspirations for all the children that come through our door. We want to do the very best and we want our children to be the very best when they are here.”

The new academy is part of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust and follows the national curriculum and the Early Years Foundation Stage Development Matters but underpins this with a “thinking” philosophy.

Mrs Daye said: “The world is changing so quickly, when I was at school we only had one computer and if someone had said to me that soon you would be able to download music and our phone would be a computer in our pocket, I wouldn't have believed them.

“By the time children get into the work place, the world will have changed again so the skills we teach them allow them to be lifelong learners and adapt to changes.”

Thinking schools help children learn how to learn, through a variety of tools and techniques that aid memory and thought processes.

Mrs Daye said: “We use skills such as visualisation and memory maps to help children to structure their thoughts which helps them to remember things so they can become flexible and independent thinkers, and apply different ways of thinking to any situation.”

Children are taught to think creatively, independently, critically and reflectively to develop skills to cope with 21st century life.

Executive head Panna Nagar said: “We aim to engage, encourage and inspire and help children to become confident, adaptable and resilient learners who can think for themselves.”

The academy occupies the former buildings of Chatham South school in Park Crescent but has been refurbished and redesigned to make it light and spacious.

The academy was built to keep up with the increasing birth rate in the Towns which reached record levels in 2011, with the highest number of births on record for the Towns – 3,517. There were 3,503 births in Medway in 2013.

A report to the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee in 2011 warned 595 children would not have a primary school place by September 2016 if nothing was done.

New Horizons will be taking three reception classes for the next academic year as well as pupils for Year Three to accommodate pupils in over-sized classes at Greenvale Infant School, Chatham.

Thinking Schools Academy Trust includes Rochester Grammar School, Chatham Grammar School for Boys, All Faiths’ Children’s Community School, Strood and Gordon Infant and Junior Schools, Strood.