Ravens Wood School

Our School aspires to provide each and every student with an exemplary education. We achieve this goal by carefully crafting a student-centred approach where individual needs are matched with a broad, ambitious and exciting curriculum. The School envisions that when our students graduate, with their personal educational achievements maximised, they are perfectly positioned to seize the opportunities that lie before them.

Here at Ravens Wood, our ethos is embedded in our aims:

• To develop a Culture which fosters a love of learning and intellectual curiosity within a strong and supportive community.
• To deliver a rich and varied curriculum which leads to high academic performance and provides our students with the Currency to open doors to the future.
• To equip students with the tools to develop their individual Character, in an environment which promotes dignity, integrity, self-discipline and self-esteem.

We believe in communicating as effectively as possible with parents/carers, appreciating that your son's journey with us is very much a team effort.

We are very proud of the achievements of our Sixth Form students and the contributions they make to our School Community. With opportunities to develop knowledge, skills and experience in a supportive, challenging learning environment, the Sixth Form offers excellent provision for both internal and external students to access a first class education. Our expectation is that all students will enter the Sixth Form with the goal of maximizing their potential and contributing positively to the Ravens Wood School Community.

The aims of the Ravens Wood Sixth Form are:

• Develop an internationally renowned all-ability school with a mixed Sixth Form.
• Offer an inclusive, broad, balanced and high quality education.
• Maintain high moral values within our community empathising honesty, integrity and respect for all in a disciplined and caring environment.
• To prepare our students to take a positive role in society.
• Foster a spirit of enterprise, to emphasise vocational skills and to offer the opportunity for all students to achieve in a wide range of activities.
• Prepare and provide the opportunities for all in our community to develop themselves throughout their lifetime.
• Prepare our students to meet the challenge of living in the knowledge age.
• Achieve a genuine partnership between parents and the school, its Governors, staff and students in the wider community.

Ravens Wood school has an obligation under section 78 of the Education Act (2002) which requires all schools, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of students at the school. This includes actively promoting British values.

We are very proud at Ravens Wood School as we feel our school values are a true reflection of fundamental British values.

We aim to ensure that our students become valuable and fully rounded members of society who treat others with respect and tolerance, regardless of background and leave school fully prepared for life in modern Britain.

The school has a public sector equality duty (s.149 of the Equality Act 2010) which requires us to have due regard of the need to:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under that Act;
• Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and
• Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

Delivering a well-structured Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship education programme which addresses all of the requirements of the programmes of study (looking at Democracy, Freedom, the rule of law, Human Rights and responsibilities). Through our SMSC programme we ensure that principles are actively promoted which will:

• Enable students to develop their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence
• Enable students to distinguish right from wrong and to respect the civil and criminal law of England
• Encourage students to accept responsibility for their behaviour, show initiative and understand how they can contribute positively to the lives of those living and working in the locality in which the school is situated and to society more widely
• Enable students to acquire a broad general knowledge of and respect for public institutions and services in England
• Encourage further tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling students to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures
• Encourage respect for other people, paying particular regard to the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010; and
• Encourage respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic processes, including respect for the basis on which the law is made and applied in England
• Provide a varied Religious Studies and Ethics programme at every Key Stage. Of particular note is the Year 8 unit on the Holocaust and anti-Semitism which promotes the respect and tolerance of religion. There is also a unit in Year 10 on Religion, State and Authority where the issue of human rights and their formation is studied
• Provide an effective and well-managed School Council enabling students to actively participate in the democratic process
• Offer a broad and balanced curriculum which addresses many of these core values across a range of subject areas
• Provide a clearly communicated and consistently applied Behaviour Policy so that students understand what is expected of them and the consequences of both meeting and failing to meet these expectations
• Encourage charity work organised by the School Council, Sixth Form Leadership Group and within year groups
• Offer a wide range of national and international educational visits.
• Adhere to our Behaviour for Learning Policy which is regularly referred to and communicated with students, reiterating that we are a school community built on mutual respect and understanding
• Deliver an e-safety programme to all students, staff and parents at Ravens Wood School.