Michaela Community School

Our aim is to nurture pupils to become engaged and informed citizens. Michaela Community School graduates will have all possible doors open to them. Should they choose to go to university, including Oxbridge and Russell Group universities, they will apply from a position of strength.
If they choose a different life path, the knowledge and skills acquired during their secondary school experience will stand them in good stead. Their success will be built on the strength of a curriculum that is central to our ethos. Our curriculum will prioritise rigorous, traditional academic subjects. Michaela Community School graduates will receive an education that will rival what many of their counterparts receive in the private sector.

By the time they leave Michaela, they will read novels for pleasure, and understand the basic scientific building blocks of our world. They will appreciate the beauty of maths and its practical uses, and know the joys of learning different languages. They will be equipped to better explore the world in which they live.

In essence, they will develop a love of learning and a sense of creativity that will stay with them throughout their lives.

We aim high at Michaela Community School and expect high standards of behaviour and academic effort and achievement from all of our pupils.

We will enable our pupils to develop the habits of self-discipline. Pupils will appreciate that success needs hard work, however we also ensure that pupils who are struggling to keep up receive the help and support they need to catch up from our teachers.

Our school encourages parental and family involvement. We want parents and carers to play an active part in their child’s education at Michaela Community School and to support our staff as they carry out their responsibilities. We encourage our pupils to take responsibility for themselves and their decisions. Parents and pupils sign a contract at the beginning of the year and parents are encouraged to come in to school and discuss their child’s progress.

We are keen to create an environment where we are all working for the betterment of all of our children. The goal is always that excellent behaviour and excellent learning should be second nature, not something that one has to work at constantly; it should simply be the way that we are. This is a state of mind that we want all our pupils to attain and sustain, not just at school, but for the rest of their lives.

Michaela has a strict uniform policy and pupils are expected to wear their uniform with pride. Parents are expected to uphold our uniform policy and ensure their children attend school neatly turned out and in full uniform.

At Michaela Community School, pupils are active participants in the whole community. They know how lucky they are, and they are encouraged to think about those outside who are less fortunate.

"The loftiest edifices need the deepest foundations.” Our knowledge-led curriculum is distinctive. It is uniquely challenging and coherent, crafted by subject experts to ensure that all pupils achieve broad, deep subject expertise. We prioritise the core academic subjects that are strong preparation for further study, understanding of the world and fulfilling lives.

Pupils study English, Maths and Humanities for at least five hours a week each. We provide four hours of Science and three hours of French. We allocate two hours both to Art and Music, which is double the provision of many schools, and two hours of Sport.

We choose the most challenging content across subjects to teach. In English, in Year 7, all pupils read the classic Greek myths, Homer’s The Odyssey and Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. In Mathematics, pupils in Year 7 dramatically strengthen their mental arithmetic and fluency with negatives and fractions: many pupils go from 10 times tables or division calculations in a minute to over 60. We go into great depth, spending six weeks rather than half a week on solving equations with algebraic fractions. In French, Year 7 are already studying complex tenses, subjunctives, idioms and proverbs, speaking with astonishingly fluent pronunciation, and writing with accurate spelling and use of accents. In Music, pupils learn to read music and play an instrument, and aim for Grade 5 theory by Year 10. The rigour in the Michaela curriculum in every subject we teach is exciting, inspiring and even life-changing for pupils.

Culture is to know the best that has been said and thought. At Michaela, we believe all pupils, whatever their background, have a right to access the best that has been said and thought. This includes a variety of writers, from all parts of the world, and thinkers from all the ages. The curriculum ensures that pupils are knowledgeable enough about the world around them to transform it in the future.

The education provided at Michaela is broadly traditional and academically rigorous. We expect our pupils to be polite and obedient. We encourage competition and allow our pupils to win and lose. We believe that knowledge about the world is central to our pupils’ success. Only when they have acquired this knowledge will they be ready to lead and participate as full citizens.

Pupils are taught the background and context of what they are learning so that they can understand and make connections easily. History is taught chronologically so that pupils are able to grasp the key facts and have a strong understanding of the subject.