Prospectus
Dear Parent/Carer
I am pleased to offer you the latest edition of our school prospectus. In it you will find information about the educational experience available to the young people who join Wilnecote High School.
At Wilnecote we aspire to be an outstanding school. The Ofsted inspection we received in January 2011 was very positive about the work of the school and found that the vast majority of what we do is good and some things are outstanding. It also stated that the school continues to improve. Clearly we are moving in the right direction. This was confirmed in November 2011 when we achieved Dyslexia Full Status, a prestigious award that recognises the high quality of our classroom practice.
As a school we are proud of the many successes of our students – in examination, in the Arts, in Sport and in the many other activities we offer. We are committed to improving the opportunity for all students to flourish as global citizens in the 21st Century. Examination results are consistently good and improving over time.
We recognise that such successes can only be achieved in an environment based on respect and positive relationships and in which young people feel safe, well cared for and supported. It is for this reason that “The Wilnecote Way” is so important to our ethos and that we place such a high emphasis on our student support systems.
The school is a genuine community school. The majority of young people in the area come to our school but students from across the town also come here. We are very proud of our strong community links and of the many fundraising and charity events we organise and support during the year. We provide a very wide range of community activities in the evenings, weekends and holidays – activities that many of our parents participate in.
Our status since 2001 as a Specialist College for the Performing Arts, along with the Arts Mark Silver award gained in 2010, ensure that we have excellent facilities and staffing in this area. This provides exciting opportunities for all students but does not compromise other aspects of school life. We will continue to emphasise and provide opportunities to excel in all areas of the curriculum.
The positive Ofsted judgement we received in January 2011 and our continued successes have allowed us to choose our own way forward and to put in place the next stages in the development of the school. We are currently embarking on two exciting new ventures in partnership with our learning community:-
From 31st August 2012 we have been a founding member of the Tame Valley Co-operative Learning Trust along with Dosthill Primary, Heathfields Infants, Manor Primary, Stoneydelph Primary and Wilnecote Junior - a family of schools who share a common set of values and principles and a shared desire to improve the learning of young people.
From 1st November 2012 we will become a Co-operative Academy, an academy that will be very different from others in the town. We will NOT be sponsored but will be an academy that puts our learning community (parents, local community, staff and students) at the heart of governing our school. We will remain a genuine community school with the same values and ethos. We will NOT change the way the school is run on a daily basis - our name, uniform, school day and term dates will remain the same. But the increased autonomy and independence the status gives us will help us to achieve our ambition to become an outstanding school.
These two ventures will, we believe, help us to raise standards of achievement, improve the quality of learning and strengthen the relationship between our school and its learning community.
Students and parents can find more information on the school website at www.wilnecote-high.staffs.sch.uk. Individual discussions and visits may be arranged through Ms Julie Price, Assistant Headteacher, who can be contacted through the school office.
