The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College
Inspiring Learners for their Futures
Prospectus 2026-27
We are a FAMILY who support our students to ACHIEVE their potential, and INSPIRE students to REACH the very best destinations
Welcome
Welcome to The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College. Our school is ambitious for each one of our students, and we are very proud of the outcomes our students achieve and of our staff who work so hard to unlock student potential and to enable students to have choices and opportunities that determine their future.
The education we provide is guided by our values of FAIR. We are a family, who support our students to achieve their potential and we aim to inspire them to reach the best destinations. These values are particularly important to us as we develop the students into lifelong learners and prepare them for a life beyond school. We are proud of our curriculum and our teaching approach which supports all learners to thrive in the classroom.
We are an 11-18, non-selective school where everyone strives to be the best they can be. Our aim is simple, we aim to “inspire learners for their futures.” We are proud of our warm and welcoming community in which we expect everyone to participate and make a positive contribution. Teachers ensure there are no limits or barriers to student achievement. We care for our students and will do all we can to ensure they succeed. Every decision we make has the students’ best interests at the core.
In order to enrich our successful community we are very proud of the extra and co curricular opportunities we offer and of the personal growth we witness in our students throughout their time here. We are proud of the seven year curriculum we offer to many students, and our ambitious Sixth Form secures excellent outcomes and destinations for our students who choose to study here. By the time students finish their education with us, they will have been challenged academically and nurtured into brilliant young adults.
It is our privilege to welcome you to our school and to share our community with you, and to support you in making the right choice for your family
Helen Buttery Associate Principal
www.ridgewayschool.com
Our Visions and Values
Our vision is to ensure that we are inspiring learners for their future and turning aspiration into brilliant outcomes. We are committed to creating a vibrant, innovative and supportive environment where students develop resourcefulness, resilience, accept responsibility and are challenged to take risks in order to succeed. There are clear expectations of student behaviour so they are ready to learn and are enabled to achieve their best. Maximising individual students’ development and achievement is what every day is about.
Achievement in examinations is high and we offer an extensive range of leadership and extracurricular opportunities that are second to none. Creating a caring and inspiring learning environment is our top priority where everyone’ s achievements are valued.
We aspire to develop confident, mature and engaging young people who believe in themselves. They develop the skills to prepare them for life in the 21st century and it is our aim that students leave us with a passion for life-long learning, where our young people become even more delightful, personable and capable young adults.
Our FAIR Values
Family
Creating a sense of belonging, value and identity
ACHIEVEMENT
Supporting all students to achieve the very best outcomes INSPIRE
Create an environment that is engaging and challenging, fostering a love of learning
REACH THE BEST DESTINATIONS
Working with our students to ensure they reach the very best destinations
Our VALUES decide our character and our CHARACTER decides our values
Finding Your Place
The process of transition from primary to secondary school is an exciting, challenging time for students. We provide a transition programme which seeks to effectively promote our values and welcomes students by acknowledging the change they will experience, providing them with opportunities and trusted adults to facilitate this change.
Care and guidance from their Year Leader, mentors and peer mentors fosters a strong sense of security, direction and belonging. We work closely with our local primary schools to ensure continuity and progression in teaching and learning.
Many of our teachers work collaboratively with the primary schools to foster closer links. We work hard to ensure that new students feel welcome, safe and cared for, and ultimately find their place in their new learning environment with the wide range of enriching, challenging and educational opportunities the school has to offer.
Whatever your interests, talents and ability, we have a school in which we know you can belong and be inspired.
Remembrance Event
Inspiring Learners
Achievement at our school is very high and we support students of all abilities to reach their potential.
Our outstanding curriculum offers an exciting, rich, varied and broad course of study that helps to develop students’ skills for all aspects of learning. Lessons are challenging, thought provoking and call for all learners to think and take an active part. Students will be given a range of opportunities to demonstrate their abilities and interests, work as part of a team, present ideas and be wholly immersed in their learning. Students are expected to put their full effort into every lesson and are recognised when they do so.
We believe in a curriculum that focuses on independence, resilience and creativity. Our teachers benefit from ongoing professional development and have a depth of subject expertise which our students benefit from.
The breadth of our seven year curriculum at all phases ensures that all students are challenged, supported and are given excellent opportunities. This ensures that students enjoy learning and make significant progress. Students are motivated to achieve aspirational and challenging individual targets through clearly identified steps, using a range of feedback opportunities.
An EXCITING PLACE, where students will experience a RICH and DIVERSE CURRICULUM
Inspiring Opportunities
Students are provided with a wide range of leadership opportunities and the chance to be ambassadors for the school; as Community Champions, Sports Ambassadors, Peer Mentors, Prefects, Student Council Representatives and more . We are committed to providing an extensive range of activities, trips and visits outside the main curriculum.
We have continued our tradition of sporting success in both team sports and athletics, as well as hosting our Gym and Dance Display. The fantastic Creative and Performing Arts Department’s seasonal, Remembrance and summer showcases enable our students to experience truly exceptional, professional performances. This leads to high standards of participation at school, district, regional and national level and successful pathways beyond school.
For many years the school has been one of the largest providers of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme in the South West – delivering Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. In 2025, 115 students complete the Duke of Edinburgh award. 72 completing Bronze, 33 completing Silver, and 10 completing the Gold Award.
The enrichment programme run in mentoring is all about participation and developing student wellbeing. Students have the opportunity to socialise, make friends and enjoy new and interesting activities that they perhaps would not have tried. This can include gardening, sports or mindfulness.
We offer a range of extra curricular opportunities and a Year 11 and 13 intervention and support programme, which means hundreds of students engage in school life after lessons have concluded for the day.
Inspiring Care and Guidance
Students, staff, families and the wider community all work together to provide a sense of identity and belonging.
We recognise the importance of connecting our students through a shared sense of belonging within the school, the local and global community. Students are allocated a mentor group for the duration of their time in school. This, along with the house system, provides activities that build confidence and foster a strong sense of team and family.
We encourage students to take an active part in shaping the future of the school. Student Voice through the School Council ensures that students are given opportunities to feedback about all aspects of the school. Many departments use this feedback to inform planning and the design of new schemes of learning.
Student feedback has resulted in the purchase of new picnic benches, the development of the PSHE curriculum and in the design of the school uniform. The school council meets monthly to discuss both curricular and extracurricular issues. The students act as a link for their mentor groups and discussions are shared with the Senior Leadership Team and Pastoral Leaders.
Creating a CARING and INSPIRING learning environment where everyone’ s ACHIEVEMENTS are valued
Developing NEW SKILLS and promoting CREATIVE confidence
Inspiring Creativity in the Arts
There is a culture of excellence within Creative and Performing Arts here at our school. We are lucky to have an expert CPA team. Both the curriculum and extracurricular provision offered by the Creative and Performing Arts faculty is superb and provides students with a broad array of opportunities.
Students are also fortunate to have access to two fully equipped drama studios and three fully equipped art rooms, including studio spaces, ceramics area and a photography area, graphics room and textiles space. We have 5 music practice rooms, a recording studio and Apple Mac music suites with integrated Roland keyboards. Swindon Music Co-operative also offer instrumental and vocal lessons within the school day and we often invite a range of visual and performance artists in to school to work with our students.
The variety of performance and training opportunities on offer support interested students with applications to some of the country’s most prestigious arts institutions and enable all students to enrich their school life and enhance their future.
We regularly host a range of events in order for students to showcase their creative work including industry competitions, community events and our extremely popular Art Exhibition.
Ridgeway Stage Academy, which performs in our annual seasonal showcases, not only support the school, but also local and national events. The RSA have performed at The Vox in Birmingham for a corporate event, as well as community events throughout the year including the annual Remembrance concert as well as supporting local charity events.
Performing Arts opportunities include:
Drama and Performance Groups
Ridgeway Stage Academy
Music Achievement Activities
Rock School
School Production
Wind Band
DJ skills and Music Production
Year Group Choirs (Years 7 – 13)
Inspiring Activities
A positive and active lifestyle is encouraged through an extensive and varied PE curriculum, enrichment activities, house sports and extracurricular programmes.
Our on-site Leisure Centre has superb facilities for students to use. These include badminton courts, a sports hall, a 25m swimming pool, a gymnasium and fitness suite, 2 squash courts, 8 tennis courts and extensive playing fields.
Sports include: Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Dance, Extreme Golf, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Rounders, Rugby, Swimming, Tennis, Trampolining, Ultimate Frisbee, Weight Training and Cross Country.
Every student at our school is a part of the house system through the mentoring programme, every day activities within lessons and on a whole school basis through competitions, activities and challenges throughout the year. The main focus is that all students will take part in activities not only themselves, but also for their house.
Inspiring R6 to be INDEPENDENT and prepare for UNIVERSITY and beyond school
Sporting Success
One of our most important aims is encouraging and motivating our students to take up sporting activity. Whether this be for local clubs or representing the school as part of a sports team, we hope that this starts and maintains a lifelong participation in sport and exercise. Many students choose to represent, train and play competitively for the local clubs across a wide range of activities.
They include:
• Swindon Harriers Athletics Club
• Dance & Esprit Gymnastic Club
• Swindon Wildcats Ice Hockey Teams
• Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Purton, Wroughton & Wanborough Cricket Clubs
• Clay Pigeon Shooting
• Swindon Supermarine, Wootton Bassett, Marlborough Rugby Clubs
• Boxing and Martial Arts Club
• Wroughton ASC, Swindon Tigersharks, Swindon Dolphins Swimming Clubs
• Swindon Shock Basketball
• Swindon Schools Football
• Croft, Lawn, Pinehurst, Raychem Netball Clubs
• Wroughton Girls and Boys & Croft Girls and Boys Football Clubs
• Wilkes, Swindon School of Dance, Wootton Bassett School of Dance, The Judith Hockaday School of Dance
PE Trips
• Wembley/Premier League Football trip
• Swedish Sports Exchange
• Gloucester Rugby trip
• National Basketball finals
• National Badminton Championships
• Netball Internationals
House Games
Each term there is a House Competition.
October – Cross Country – Year 7 – 10
December – Rugby/ Netball – KS3
February - Football Girls and Boys – KS3
April – Swimming Galas - KS3
June - Rounders/Cricket - KS3
July – Summer Games – KS3
July – Athletics Championships Year 7 – 10
Other Events
Annual Sports Day: all students immerse themselves in a day of activities and entertainment from the world of Sport.
Annual Gym and Dance Display – Primary students from schools across the White Horse Federation perform alongside our own students in an array of gymnastic skills and various forms of dance. The show is always highly attended by families, friends and the local residents.
We INSPIRE students to challenge themselves, to be part of their HOUSE and to PROUDLY represent it
Our values nurture students to be INDEPENDENT and RESILIENT in their learning
