Prospectus
Introduction Thank you for showing an interest in our school. We are very proud of our students and community and we hope this prospectus, together with our website and online resources, will provide you with a flavour of the high quality education available at Thomas Tallis. Our school is focused on excellence in all that we do - to raise the aspirations and expectations of every student so that they achieve their full potential. Our motto ‘excellence through creativity’ is the foundation of this, so that each student is given every opportunity to flourish academically, and also develop socially and emotionally to excel in whatever they choose to do in the future. We believe that every student has the potential to succeed and we pride ourselves on our successful inclusive approach, recognizing the individual needs of our students. We are committed to creativity and excellence and our facilities for the arts are outstanding. Our creative ethos is not confined to these areas alone. We want our students to have the opportunity of becoming independent thinkers and to learn to make sense of the world around them and to achieve this we ensure our creative ethos is not confined just to the Arts. Headline results have consistently improved over the past three years and we expect this to continue in 2012/13. We achieved
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record results at GSCE this summer; 67% (+4%) gaining 5+ A*-C grades including English and mathematics; 91% (+12%) gaining 5+ A*-C grades or equivalent and 99% gaining at least 1 qualification. We believe this is a result of good teaching and hard work by our students who are prepared for life after school as confident, successful and active members of society. We are committed to maintaining a friendly and disciplined atmosphere in which we encourage students to value their own cultures and respect others - a vital ingredient of a diverse and modern community. In Autumn 2011, we moved into a fantastic new building which offers the highest quality environment for teaching and learning. We are developing a ‘learning hub’ for the local community with the facilities being increasingly used after school for a wide range of activities. A successful education depends on parents, carers, and the school working together for the good of each student. We give parents up-to-date and regular feedback on their child’s performance through regular reports, parents’ evenings and academic review days which ensures parents can play a full role in supporting their children in their education. We strive to give students the education they deserve. We believe in achievement for all and we are fortunate to have the dedicated teachers and support staff, the outstanding facilities and the good discipline for that success. We warmly invite you to visit Thomas Tallis and meet our greatest ambassadors - our delightful students, and we will arrange for them to guide you around our remarkable school.
Byron Parker Executive Head Teacher
Ken Jones Head of School
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It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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Excellence through
creativity
Thomas Tallis School has a longstanding pedigree of excellence in the arts and creative learning. Tallis has achieved specialist arts college and Leading Edge School status and was selected as one of the first thirty Schools of Creativity in the country. The school recently achieved Artsmark Gold status in recognition of its commitment to providing rich cultural experiences to all its students and its support for creative learning across the curriculum. Achievement in the arts is outstanding. This success is built on the high quality of teaching and learning, an imaginative and diverse curriculum and the sense of fun and engagement that our students bring to the learning process. Pioneering creative partnerships with organisations such as The Helen Storey Foundation, Lottolab, The Royal Greenwich Observatory and Tate Modern help to enrich the curriculum and inspire students and teachers alike. Creative learning underpins the curriculum and approaches to learning at Thomas Tallis School. We accept the challenge of educating our young people for a fast-changing and uncertain world. We believe that knowledge harnessed to a set of skills and habits of mind that support innovation, collaboration, risk-taking, imagination and resilience, will enable our students to shape their lives for the better. We also trust that they will contribute to the design of a better world. We recognise that we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. Learning is more memorable, more engaging, more meaningful when it is fundamentally creative, when young people have a say in how they learn and when the whole of our learning community collaborates effectively. At Thomas Tallis School we strive to create the best conditions for learning so that our students can thrive with passion, dignity and style.
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Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own. -- Cesar Chavez
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Excellence through
community
We are proud of our long history of collaboration with local people. Partnerships with local schools, families, community groups and businesses help to create a sense of belonging and mutual dependence. We designed our new school building as a centre of excellence, a creative hub for the established and emerging local communities. We are proud to share our fantastic facilities with local people. These include an Olympic standard gymnastics hall and Dojo, a professional music recording studio and broadcast room, and a variety of well-equipped performance spaces. Our partnerships are not restricted to the local community to which we belong. We are an outward facing school, eager to take our place in a national and global educational community. We embrace the potential of new technologies to connect us to learners and learning professionals across the globe. We are happy to host annual visits from a group comprising Danish head teachers, government officials and teachers, keen to discover how we make creative use of ICT. Colleagues speak at regional and national conferences and belong to a variety of professional networks. Our students enjoy a wide variety of educational journeys and collaborations with students in other countries. Thomas Tallis has been designated a UNESCO International School in recognition of our commitment to international learning. This summer, when the world’s eyes were on London, our students performed to an audience of millions during their participation in the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Games. They are truly an inspired generation!
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The future is not something that is done to us, but an ongoing process in which we can intervene. -- Professor Keri Facer
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Excellence through
engagement
Our school is a hub for learning within the local area - a place where people can gather to learn and develop together. This is based on authentic engagement with the learners in our care and our wider community, and the high expectations that we have for them all. This engagement begins with our outstanding pastoral system. In a large institution such as Thomas Tallis, it is vital that every young person is known. This knowledge is based on the quality of care and the depth of relationships that begin with the Tutor System. Each year group is under the care of a Pastoral Leader (Head of Year) who leads a group of specialist tutors - each tutor looks after a group of between 25 and 30 students. This means that each student is known as a young person as they grow and learn, so that we can support their development and specifically the enhancement of their self-esteem, confidence and motivation - some of the key building blocks for success. Through regular tutorial sessions we engage with our young people, and we get to know them as individuals. At the same time we engage with them about issues and changes as they arise in and around the school. This is why Student Voice is so important in our community. We firmly believe that academic success and excellence is best supported by a similar approach to the personal and social development of each individual. Therefore, we seek to engage our young people in learning well beyond their lessons. The breadth of our extra-curricular offer is breathtaking, and includes high profile opportunities such as Duke of Edinburgh, and the UK Career Academy, as well as a full range of sporting activities using our first class facilities, and extends to Film Clubs, Tallis News, Drama and Performance groups to name only a few. These are underpinned by regular opportunities to learn and engage with the real world numerous trips and school journeys support and supplement classroom experiences and take place across the curriculum. All these show our commitment to engage and stimulate our young people so that they receive an outstanding education that gives them the platform to succeed and adapt into the future.
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Our task is to educate their whole being so that they can face the future. We may not see the future, but they will and our job is to help them make something of it. -- Sir Ken Robinson
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Excellence through
challenge
Students of all abilities need to be challenged and enthused so their talents and skills are nurtured, their understanding cultivated and their horizons extended so that each one can fulfill their personal potential. We are a fully inclusive comprehensive school which has high expectations of all our community - and it these expectations that are the foundation of excellence at Thomas Tallis School. Our highly qualified specialist teaching and support staff work with enormous dedication and commitment to encourage and inspire the students in their care. We see the successful operation of a partnership between students, staff members and families as central to the success of each individual - so that everyone has the opportunity to aspire to excellence. Our curriculum provides a careful balance between support and challenge so that students develop the skills essential for success, in an environment that supports their development as independent learners and creative thinkers. The curriculum at Thomas Tallis is rich, diverse and balanced. From the moment students join us in Year 7 we tailor our provision to suit their needs - providing extra support where needed, and extending them where greater challenge is required. Teaching and support staff collaborate closely to develop outstanding learning at every opportunity - both in and out of lessons. In Year 10 students start to select courses that they want to study alongside the core subjects. We have a wide array of choices on offer to suit the needs of different learners, to inspire their varied interests and to support them onto the next stage of their education or career. Our Sixth From is well integrated into our school and is a central part of the school’s community. In Years 12 and 13 students personalise their choices even further selecting from a full range of subjects - with a balance of academic and vocational choices so that students can access the Higher Education or career path of their choice.
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In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity - it is a pre-requisite. -- Barack Obama
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Thomas Tallis School , Kidbrooke Park Road, Blackheath, London SE3 9PX
t: (0)208 856 0115 w: www.thomastallis.co.uk f: (0)208 331 3004 e: headteacher@thomastallis.org.uk