Our Values, Ethos & Vision
Meadowhead School strives to provide an outstanding education for all 11 to 18 year olds, ensuring that students aspire and are challenged to achieve academic success whilst supporting and developing individuals to prepare for the future.
Please use the menu links on the right to view the Meadowhead Vision and Make a Difference curriculum
‘Engage and inspire all’
We will engage students in learning. Our teachers strive to bring out the very best in the students with whom they work. This is through high quality learning experiences that engage and challenge, not only preparing each student for the rigours of examinations but also developing an interest, sense of inquisitiveness and a love of learning that lasts for a lifetime.
‘Be confident to contribute’
We aim to provide a safe and supportive environment where everyone is valued.
Students should not be afraid to give it a go. We believe the students’ voice should be heard and their ideas valued and respected. They should enjoy their time at school and this should be seen in their academic successes and in the way they conduct themselves in and out of school on a daily basis.
‘Cultivate ambition and create resilience’
We want students to develop a sense of resilience so that when faced with a challenge they show resourcefulness, determination and ultimately independence.
We will help students instil a sense of ambition and encourage everyone to have aspirations to challenge themselves.
‘Prepared for the future’
We want students’ experience and education at Meadowhead to prepare them for their future where they can function as successful and fully-rounded individuals in the world of work and beyond.
‘Provide care and support’
We want students to feel part of the community and recognise their place in it. We aim to provide support and guidance to allow all individuals to feel safe, to flourish and succeed creating strong links with parents, the community and other partners.
‘Develop literacy / numeracy’
We recognise the importance of core skills in both school and the world beyond. We will help students develop their functional literacy and numeracy levels that will prepare them for the future.
‘Participate in enrichment opportunities’
We recognise the importance of enrichment activities and seek to provide a wide range of experiences where students can develop their interests, find new skills and enjoy learning beyond the classroom. We encourage all students to take advantage of the opportunities open to them.
‘Engage with families’
We believe that regular communication between home and school is at the heart of a healthy and positive relationship.
We expect families to support the school and their own children to set high standards of aspiration and to enable their child to gain as much from each and every day as they can.
Key Development Themes
There are a number of key themes that link our school priorities.
Aspiration and Achievement
Students should be challenged to achieve personal aspirational targets, raising attainment for all and closing the gaps for those groups that have a history of underperformance. This is in a context of the national drive to raise standards to develop a more aspirational, enterprising and skilled workforce to contribute to the future prosperity of the country.
Truly Outstanding Teaching and Learning
To do so we must continue to improve teaching and learning, increasing the amount of truly outstanding teaching to inspire and support students to fulfil their potential. This links to further development of the “can do” culture supported by specific strategies and CPD.
Embed key skills and ways of working
In order to achieve students need to be determined and resilient, confident and secure in the key knowledge and skills of literacy and numeracy. They need to understand fully how to work independently and collaboratively, think for themselves and present their work for different audiences. It is essential that students fully understand how they are assessed and how to improve, and how to ensure that they develop appropriate and productive ways of working. This is given added emphasis as increasingly attainment will be judged on final written examinations.
Engaging Curriculum
We need to ensure that we have a broad and balanced curriculum that offers a range of appropriate courses at all levels, enabling students to enjoy their studies, to be challenged and to be successful, encouraging aspiration and ambition that enables access to progression routes into higher education and employment.
Outstanding Sixth Form Experience
We need to continue to develop our Sixth Form, using new opportunities as an 11-18 school to improve all aspects of the experience for students: outstanding teaching and learning, engaging curriculum offer, personalised support and enrichment, high quality facilities, valid work related opportunities, all leading to high levels of achievement and progression to higher education and work.
Outstanding Support For Learning and Achievement
As a school we need to continue to develop support for students to address specific needs and encourage all students to be confident, successful individuals well prepared for life after Meadowhead. We need to continue to develop systems to keep students safe with rewards and sanctions to address behaviour, attendance and engagement. We need to ensure that we reach out to families that are less confident to engage with school.
High Shared Expectations and Standards
We need to ensure that we have clear, shared expectations of students and staff, supported by clear systems and structures that all staff and students understand and actively support. Through recruitment, retention and CPD we need to continue to develop a skilled, confident workforce where individual staff fully understand their own role and are proactive in taking a lead with other staff and students.
Effective Leadership At All Levels
At Governance and Leadership levels we need to ensure that the school is in a strong position to adapt and develop to respond to new challenges and take advantage of new opportunities. We need rigorous systems of quality assurance and performance management with effective strategies to identify, plan and implement any necessary changes. We need to ensure that we have robust systems of resource management and development based on secure budget planning and deployment.