Strategy 2O21
Strategy 2021 Introduction We are delighted that Cokethorpe School continues to evolve as a leading independent day school. This strategic plan considers the next five years, a period during which further change will be embedded and reviewed. In formulating this strategy, we have turned to the Cokethorpe community of Governors, pupils, parents, staff and alumni for their views and ideas. We are proud of our School, and are both confident and determined about making it better. The world carries on changing at an ever-increasing rate, and so it is vital that we continue to reflect on what we do, how we do it, and that we anticipate the skills and attributes our pupils, and indeed staff, will need in the future. The aims within this Strategy are both inspiring and ambitious, and the mission of Cokethorpe School, to develop confident, articulate and happy young people, remains unshakable. The purpose of Strategy 2021 is twofold. First, it exists to guide and inform the practice and behaviours of the School Governors, Headmaster and Senior Management Team and serves to ensure clarity and coherence of approach to the allocation of resources and to detailed planning and decision making at all levels. It is reviewed annually to evaluate progress and to review objectives. Second, it gives clarity for all members of staff and a means by which they may consider how the School’s aims can and should influence their own practice. This document deconstructs the notion of ‘finding the best in every pupil’, examining the component strands. However, no single strand should be read as taking precedence over another, rather they should be taken holistically, encapsulating the School’s values, aims and intent. Indeed, it is vital that the whole community - from teachers and pupils, via Houses and academic departments, to parents and Governors - value, engage with and promote the range and interplay of these various strands in order to allow the individuals, and the School as a whole, to thrive.
Our Values A Liberal Education allows children the freedom to contemplate, explore and respond. In keeping with the School’s leadership traits, Cokethorpe values integrity, courage, empathy, judgement, ambition and responsibility to allow children to live productively in a dramatically changing world. We embrace the diversity of children’s talents, ideas and experiences.
Our Intent Cokethorpe School is committed to developing the self-esteem and character of each pupil, and to supporting them to become confident, articulate and happy young people who go out into the world with a determination to improve it. We are ambitious in our aim to continue to evolve as one of Oxfordshire’s leading schools, recognised for our dynamic and progressive approach to education. We seek to provide an excellent, rounded, liberal education that inspires our pupils to achieve their full potential in order to prepare them for a rapidly changing world and equip them with the ability to think critically and independently. We want all our pupils to have a global perspective and possess a strong moral duty. In-depth subject knowledge will always be important, but the ability to impart that knowledge and make connections across multiple disciplines is crucial. The cognitive flexibility to do this and drive change comes through ‘softer’ skills: critical thinking, leadership, creativity, oracy, and the ability to work with and lead a team. We recognise these attributes as crucial for all pupils. Over the next five years we will continue to improve our teaching and learning, our pastoral care, and our estate. We will work to inspire more pupils to pursue an Oxbridge place, expand extra-curricular opportunities, strengthen management and leadership, extend community relations, and improve marketing and admissions to meet recruitment targets.
Inopiam Ingenio Pensant They make good their needs by their wit
Our Central Aims We will find the best in every pupil by:
A Nurturing Environment
Academic Excellence
Breadth of Opportunity
A Community for Life
Pupils for the Future as Global Citizens
The Impact of our Outreach and Engagement
...and pupils will become their best by embodying these traits: Integrity: Doing what you know to be the right thing Courage: Sometimes choosing the difficult option Empathy: Understanding that other people’s views and experiences might be different from your own Judgement: Knowing when, and when not to act Ambition: Challenging yourself to be better Responsibility: Being relied upon to do the right thing
Providing a Nurturing Environment The foundation of a Cokethorpe School education is the quality of the pastoral care. The House system and the tutor infrastructure with small groups and a broad programme of academic and co-curricular House events, allow tutors and Housemasters and Housemistresses to know each child as an individual and provide the care that results in them feeling confident and supported. Our peer mentoring system, where older pupils support younger peers, will continue to be expanded to reach more pupils. Our pastoral systems will continue to evolve with a greater focus on overall mental health and well-being to ensure pupils thrive in the global environment. We will develop the spiritual growth, responsibility, resilience and independence of all our pupils so that they will be able to deal with the challenges they are likely to face now and in the future. We will provide specialist support for pupils who experience personal or family trauma. This support will be tailored to individual need and circumstance and may involve both internal and external support networks. At the centre of our approach is a desire to help every pupil to thrive whatever personal challenges they may face.
Our Strategy in Action, a current example The Peer Mentoring Scheme Peer mentoring is a nationally recognised way to ensure and instil a culture of good mental health within schools. In 2018, the government’s white paper on Mental Health in Schools placed the onus on all schools to be the first layer of support for young people’s wellbeing and mental health. The government expressed the desire for all schools to be deemed Mentally Healthy. Pupils from Fifth Form are invited to apply for the role of peer mentor in April, before the GCSEs begin. They are then interviewed and appointed based on their understanding of the programme, their listening skills and their level of self-reflection. If they are offered a place, they have to commit to two days training in the beginning of September. The training programme is written by the School Counsellor and covers all the skills needed to be an effective listener. It introduces the basic skills required in counselling such as focused listening, asking open-ended questions, paraphrasing, non-judgemental responses and reflecting. Confidentiality, when to refer on, and safeguarding are also vital parts of the training programme. The training is intensive and good listening skills need to be demonstrated to proceed to becoming a mentor.
Promoting Academic Excellence As academic standards continue to improve, record numbers of pupils are gaining places at the top universities in the UK, whilst others are being accepted to Degree Apprenticeship programmes with industry-leading companies. Recent refinements to our reporting systems have enabled more effective feedback to parents, pupils and students, allowing parents to support their child as they progress through the School. The restructuring of the School day in 2019 has provided more effective lesson time and our academic tracking process has helped support the progress of all pupils. The effective adoption of new technologies and software, as well as the continued focus on Teaching and Learning, will further enhance the outcomes for pupils. We will continue to raise the academic performance of all our pupils through evidence-based research into learning and the continued professional development of our teachers. We will also work to develop the academic culture of the School, by broadening the range of opportunities for children to extend their learning, and for this extension to be celebrated and rewarded through our Sixth Form Leadership Grants and subsequent leadership responsibilities. We will prepare pupils for the future by developing their higher-order thinking skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity and innovation. We recognise that academic excellence is supported by facilities that inspire and provide bespoke, subject-specific resources to enhance learning. To this end, we intend to build a new Science Building, providing more space for our laboratories and greater opportunity for exploring Science beyond the curriculum. We intend to move the Junior School into the Vanbrugh building, creating a more appropriate learning environment for children, particularly in the Foundation phase.
Our Strategy in Action, a current example Microsoft Showcase School Programme Following extensive work on our digital infrastructure, we are progressing towards an objective to gain Microsoft Showcase School status. To achieve this accreditation, we have already created a standardised digital experience in all classrooms, and provided all teaching staff with a Surface Pro. With a plan for all pupils to have personal devices by the beginning of the academic year commencing September 2021, we intend to be accredited in August 2022. We are moving to integrate personal devices because: •
It allows us to deliver a better teaching experience and promote collaborative learning.
•
It facilitates communications between teachers and pupils in terms of feedback.
•
It ensures classroom teaching is refreshed with the availability of lots of assisted technologies to enable personalised learning for pupils, adding a further tool to a teacher’s armoury.
•
It helps to develop motivation amongst pupils in lessons and at home.
• It has a positive environmental impact in reducing paper consumption and reduced cost of using textbooks online.
Delivering Breadth of Opportunity Whether in Sport, Music, Drama, Arts or other areas, participation has continued to grow with more pupils than ever representing the School. Most importantly, all the staff at Cokethorpe are committed to encouraging and developing all our pupils to become well-rounded young people. We will celebrate personal development by inspiring pupils to demonstrate the School’s values of integrity, courage, empathy, judgement, ambition and responsibility. Our pupil reward system is designed around this with “recommendations” being awarded for demonstration of our values. We will develop every pupil’s unique strengths by providing a broader range of curricular and co-curricular opportunities through the three strands of our AOB programme - academic extension, skills and sports - with more than 160 options available to them. Not only are those options provided, but we actively encourage engagement with those opportunities so that all pupils benefit from their time at Cokethorpe.
Our Strategy in Action, a current example Restructuring and profiling – Outdoor Education Cokethorpe offers an exceptional breadth of opportunity to pupils and students with our Outdoor Education offering – a programme that was developed and profiled during the previous strategic cycle. By decoupling Outdoor Education and Sport in 2020 we were able to provide far greater focus and emphasis on a number of areas that were already present as part of the Cokethorpe ‘diet’.
Activities
Trips
Facilities
Clay Pigeon Shooting Air Rifle/Pistol Shooting Kayaking Sailing Climbing Duke of Edinburgh Award Forest School Orienteering Leadership/Teamwork Activities
World Challenge First Form Camp Second Form Camp Ski Trips Junior School Residential Programme
The Boathouse The Shooting Grounds The Climbing Tower The School’s wooded areas
•
Cokethorpe benefits from beautiful parkland in the vicinity of accessible outdoor environments, from the River Thames, to the Ridgeway, the beautiful Cotswolds and beyond.
•
Our recently appointed Head of Outdoor Education leads an impressive programme to ensure all pupils reap the benefits of Outdoor Education whilst at Cokethorpe.
•
We are planning a new Boathouse at our River Thames site for our Kayaking and Canoeing provision, a purpose-built facility allowing us to open up this opportunity to all ages.
•
Our Climbing Tower will be developed and improved alongside opportunities to extend facilities for onsite bouldering and build on the success and enthusiasm of our Climbing teams.
•
The Outdoor Education programme at Cokethorpe incorporates both Junior and Senior Schools.
Creating a Community for Life Old Cokethorpeans and parents are proud of our School and continue to be intrinsic to the development of the School through the work of the CPFA (Cokethorpe Parents’ and Friends’ Association) and the Cokethorpe Society. A supportive parent body and alumni community provides invaluable benefit to a school, and we are fortunate to be counted among that number. Whether through the substantive manner in which they underpin Sixth Form Careers events, such as the Careers Fair, Careers evenings, interview techniques, and work placements, or the integral role played in bringing our community together, tightening bonds and strengthening relationships through the social calendar, these bodies are crucial and a significant benefit to our pupils. We will develop the network such that there is a tangible inter-connection between pupils, parents, alumni and the School for life, with engagement, opportunity and community at its core. We will thus aim to cultivate opportunities for our pupils while they are at School and after they leave by bringing together members of the Cokethorpe community.
Our Strategy in Action, a current example Alumnet During Michaelmas Term 2020, we began work with Alumnet, a tailor-made social networking platform specifically for Cokethorpe Alumni to come together and connect in a closed, safe and trusted environment. This will improve communication around events and campaigns, increase engagement with the Cokethorpe community and provide networking opportunities. Parents will also be invited to join following a soft launch during Lent Term 2021. The platform will be made available to Sixth Form in the summer to allow them to join our lifelong community. Teachers and the Head of Careers will also have access to the platform, providing opportunities to draw on the collective experience of former pupils and parents, making links for advice, work experience, and talks to compliment classroom learning and other opportunities.
Preparing pupils for the future as global citizens “Global competence is the capacity to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sustainable development.” This definition outlines four areas of global competence that people need to apply successfully in their everyday life: • The capacity to examine issues and situations of local, global and cultural significance; the concept of global competence and its implications for education (e.g. poverty, economic interdependence, migration, inequality, environmental risks, conflicts, cultural differences and stereotypes) •
The capacity to understand and appreciate different perspectives and world views
•
The ability to establish positive interactions with people of different national, ethnic, religious, social or cultural backgrounds or gender
•
The capacity and disposition to take constructive action toward sustainable development and collective well-being.
We want students who leave Cokethorpe School to have a positive outlook so that they view new challenges as opportunities not obstacles. This will require self-confidence, self-belief and a strong emphasis on personal attributes and values. The advent of Artificial Intelligence and exponential changes in computing power means that our pupils will need to possess excellent interpersonal skills as well as being adaptable, confident and competent with new and emerging technologies. We will guide and support pupils and students to realise their ambitions by providing personalised careers and higher education advice so that every student leaving Cokethorpe has a clear pathway to follow. We will develop pupils’ and students’ entrepreneurial, leadership and digital competency skills. We will equip our pupils with life skills such as financial competency and public speaking proficiency that they will need to be successful members of society.
Our Strategy in Action, a current example Links Beyond The UK As part of our commitment to developing global citizens we continue to maintain and enhance links with institutions and organisations beyond the UK. We offer annual language and cultural exchange programmes that give our pupils the opportunity to embrace diverse experiences. Like many schools, annual language exchanges to France and Spain are the norm. However, at Cokethorpe we have developed a more holistic link with a leading school in Sweden that has involved both pupil and teacher exchanges. The School is also a regular participant in the Model United Nations.
Extending the Impact of our Outreach and Engagement Building on the principles of our Christian founding and tradition, we want the School’s impact and the impact of pupils past and present to be positive in a local and a global context. Our established mutually beneficial programmes, such as the Corinthian Partnership and the annual Cokethorpe Conference, enable teachers to work collaboratively, share best practice and provide opportunities for engagement with pupils far and wide. Cokethorpe pupils are encouraged to support initiatives that allow them to share their skills and knowledge outside of the School; we encourage charity with fundraising events and campaigns in School chosen by pupils. Volunteering is encouraged not only in pursuit of the Duke of Edinburgh award programme but also through involvement with School outreach activities such as running a Science, Sports or Debating club at a local Corinthian Partnership school. Our alumni are invited back to School to inspire pupils with university options, career choices, and business networking events. By encouraging our pupils to live by the School motto we hope that our impact and engagement will reflect positively on the lives of many.
Our Strategy in Action, a current example The Corinthian Partnership The purpose of The Corinthian Partnership is to offer a credible alternative to academisation through the creation of a collaborative network of local, independently minded schools in order to maximise the resources and skills available to each. The importance of the supportive role and wider work of the Partnership has been particularly highlighted through the response to the current global Coronavirus pandemic. Benefits of membership include: •
A platform through which to develop new approaches, explore best practice, share information and encourage innovation
•
The opportunity for collaboration between Departments/Faculties in order to offer greater opportunities for pupils within individual subjects
•
The ability to share facilities
•
Collaboration on joint initiatives and events, both between individual schools and across the Partnership
•
Increased opportunities for the development of staff through access to joint training events and the sharing
of external training opportunities •
Retention of autonomy in the overall management of individual schools
•
Opportunity for Heads to seek support and advice from Heads within the Partnership.
Cokethorpe School Witney Oxfordshire OX29 7PU
www.cokethorpe.org.uk Telephone: 01993 703921 Email: hmsec@cokethorpe.org Registered Charity No: 309650