Our Values
Compassion
Compassion is caring about others and behaving towards them with humanity, generosity, and concern. It means genuinely caring about other people’s struggles. It is a skill which has practical benefits; treating others with compassion means they are likely to treat you, and others, back in kind.
We recognise the uniqueness of each circumstance and every child in the Trust, liaising closely with families and work to show appropriate compassion for our pupils and community.
The culture of the Trust is affected by the ‘pupil voice’ and we work hard to create an environment in which all pupils know that they have the opportunity to get directly involved in its formation.
We believe that being compassionate includes holding high ambitions for pupils in our care and expecting strong performance and outcomes at every stage.
We recognise that disadvantage impacts pupils in several different ways. Pupils should not be easily identified as disadvantaged, and therefore a high expectation of personal presentation is always expected. The appearance of our pupils reflects the high level of care we provide, and the value we place on education. Uniform is ‘uniform’ across Trust schools, to ensure that no pupil is made to feel different.
Ambition
We work hard to help pupils develop a strong sense of ambition: the appetite for challenge and the determination to look beyond the horizon for inspiration. Whilst we recognise that children have different talents and abilities, we nevertheless expect each pupil to work hard and make significant and tangible progress. Our ultimate aim is to help them to achieve the best results possible, as this in turn will provide a wide range of options for their next stage in life.
We place a particular emphasis upon:
- Reading: this is closely monitored so that children concentrate on keeping up, not catching up. We reward great reading and focus on being consistent with pupils in respect of our high expectations.
- High uniform standards, which support a culture of excellence.
- Completing designated additional homework.
- Ensuring that Special Educational Needs are met, supporting pupils to overcome individual challenges and achieve beyond expectations.
- Working towards the English Baccalaureate.
- Aspiring for the highest outcomes at KS3 and KS4, regardless of a pupil’s background or Special Educational Needs.
Teamwork
Teamwork is an essential communication and social skill and includes compromise, collective effort, active listening, effective speaking and providing support for a group. We encourage our pupils to learn how to listen and be independent, in order to perform their individual roles and function as a cohesive unit, and how to respectfully and confidently express their ideas and opinions effectively in a group setting.
The ability to work as a collective unit towards a shared goal is not only highly valuable for pupils throughout their time with us, but also during their further and higher education, and working lives. Working together to accomplish assigned tasks teaches time management, resource allocation and communication skills, all highly sought after by future employers. Excellent behaviour is a function of great teamwork.
For pupils in the Trust to achieve a comprehensive, well-rounded education, teamwork is essential: between pupils; pupils and teachers, and amongst parents, teachers and pupils. The more teamwork is successfully embedded in school life, the more opportunity exists for pupils to learn these vital skills. This teamwork ethos extends itself to the school-parent/carer relationship as, after all, our shared goal is to ensure that pupils leave us not only with excellent exam results, but also with confidence, resilience and the ability to make their mark as young people heading out into the world. Our academic results are a symptom of great teamwork.