Aims of the School, our Philosophy and Values

Our aim is the pursuit of excellence for all. We strive for the development of individual potential in a stimulating and inspiring school that is at the heart of the local community.

Cheam High School aims to create a welcoming and exciting learning environment where we:

  • Provide a rich, diverse and challenging education through excellent and innovative teaching and learning.
  • Celebrate success, promote a "can do" attitude and inspire each to achieve their best.
  • Support personal development, social responsibility and a sense of self-worth.
  • Develop the attitudes and skills that support a healthy and fulfilled life together with the confidence for a lifetime of learning.
  • Work as partners in learning with students, parents/carers and the community.
  • Provide a safe, supportive and well-ordered environment where students and staff are happy and confident as they aspire to achieve.

 

Cheam High School: Educational Philosophy

Cheam High School is a genuinely comprehensive, inclusive school at the heart of the local community.  We aim for all of our students to finish secondary school ‘Undaunted’ – ready to take on whatever challenges await them in their next steps and confident that they can achieve their goals and find their individual routes to personal, social and economic success.

The educational experience that we provide our students centres upon three distinct, yet interrelated areas, each of which is of vital importance to our students’ future success.  The relative importance of each area may depend upon the particular life experience, needs and ambitions of any individual student.

1 – Academic Education

Regardless of their starting points, we know that the best possible academic outcomes are critical to opening pathways and choices to students as they become young adults.  Academic rigour and the highest standards of learning are thus central to our students achieving their full potential, both in their school-based qualifications and in later life. 

We recognise that there are many paths to longer term social and economic success so our curriculum is both broad and ambitious and is supplemented by extensive extra and supra-curricular activities which enable our students to educationally thrive. 

Teachers receive expert, evidence-informed training to drive continual improvements in pedagogy and classroom practice.  This underpins our drive to maximise our students’ academic success and enable them to become masters of their own destinies.

2 – Moral Education and Critical Thinking

The edification of students also forms a core part of our educational philosophy.  We recognise the profound importance that school-based education plays in shaping the moral decision making of individuals and, consequently, the moral parameters of wider society.  

Likewise, we recognise the importance of critical moral thinking to young people navigating their formative years successfully, particularly when faced with the infinite information sources and influences of the digital age, and the contextual safeguarding risks present in the locality and neighbouring boroughs.

This is reflected in our behavioural systems and extensive pastoral support systems, as well as across our curriculum, particularly our PSHE provision which marries with tutor time activities and assemblies designed to promote critical moral thought.  We expect staff to act as moral role models for all students and encourage balanced, respectful critical thought where appropriate both in and out of lessons.

3 - Social Education and Self Development

We believe that well developed social skills work in tandem with a young person’s formal educational success in driving them towards a positive future.  These skills include the ability to develop and maintain relationships, treat others with due respect at all times, as well as the resilience to manage periods of adversity.  By developing these skills, students are also able to develop their academic and moral learning to their fullest potential.  

Without these skills, a student’s potential for long-term wellbeing and success in almost all fields of life is compromised and the potential afforded them by their academic qualifications limited.  These skills, and a developed sense of self built through personal achievements, are mutually reinforcing. 

The value we place on students’ social and self-development is reflected in a culture of mutual respect between all members of the school community which is driven by our behavioural and rewards systems and high expectations of staff.  It is equally evident in the extensive individualised social support provided to students where necessary, as well as in the array of opportunities offered to students to develop themselves and their social skills beyond the classroom environment.

 

Core student values:

 

Core values icons respectRESPECT AND RESPONSIBILITY

We expect all of our students to be respectful at all times.  They must respect each other, school staff, their education and the wider community.  This means they must show kindness to each other and behave with respect for the cultural, academic and interpersonal diversity of the student body.  They must respect staff by following instructions and listening carefully when spoken to.  They must respect their education by being punctual, ready to learn and working hard in their lessons.  

Students must also respect the local community by ensuring that they conduct themselves appropriately to and from school and in the local area.  Students must take individual responsibility for their behavioural choices and learning progress.

 

Core values icons aspirationASPIRATION AND DETERMINATION

We expect our students to be aspirational.  This means that they should aspire to achieve the goals they set for themselves, as well as goals set for them by their teachers.  These goals should be across academic and extra-curricular areas with students aspiring to make the most of all of the learning and development opportunities on offer at Cheam High School, be these in lessons or in the huge range of additional activities offered that make this a thriving school community.

We expect all students to be determined.  Being determined is critical if student are to achieve their goals.  We expect all students to develop an understanding that achieving worthwhile goals may not always be easy.  With the support of the school, we expect our students to work to overcome challenges so that they can become successful young people.

 

Core values icons curiosityCURIOSITY AND CHARACTER 

We expect our students to be curious.  We expect our students to be critical thinkers who want to understand how the world works, why things are as they are, and how they may be able to change things for the better.  We expect our students to get involved, actively seeking out and taking advantage of new learning opportunities in areas that may interest them, both within and beyond the formal curriculum.

We expect our students to develop the strength of character to be themselves and allow others to be themselves, celebrating the differences and diversity between them.  We expect our students to develop a clear moral compass, enabling them to make positive decisions for their own futures and contribute positively to wider society.