The fundamental aim of Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School is to transform the life-chances of our young people by focussing on removing barriers to learning and raising standards, particularly the basic life skills of literacy and numeracy, as well as employability skills so that all of our students have the best possible start in life. This is achieved through the delivery of a knowledge rich curriculum, which is ambitious for all students. We do this in an environment where students know they are loved and cared for. Our students are developed both academically and spiritually as we adopt a nurturing, supportive and bespoke approach to each individual child. Our school mission statement of “Through God, We Care” underpins every aspect of school life alongside our mantra of “High Expectations, High Aspirations and High Standards, You Will Succeed”
Our curriculum model is the ‘heart’ of our school and it enables each student to receive an integrated, coherent learning experience that contributes towards their personal, academic and professional development. We have an unrelenting desire to ensure our students achieve the results they need to succeed, instilling ambition to see students realise their potential and progress into their chosen career or next stage of education. It is also important that our students are well rounded individuals and sensitive to the needs of others, responding positively in any way they can as good citizens. Our Personal Development Curriculum is designed to support students to become confident, healthy, resilient and respectful citizens, who are fully prepared for life and work. Our Christian values of ‘Hope, Compassion and Endurance’ are fundamental to everything we do and we firmly believe that if these are applied to all aspects of learning our young people will have a strong moral compass which will serve them well in the future.
At KS3 our curriculum intent is to ensure that our students have the opportunity to develop a rich and full knowledge base which will act as a stepping stone, benefitting them in later years. They will be exposed to the events, practices, research and characters that have shaped both their subjects studied and our society and beyond. This foundation of knowledge is the platform for gaining deeper, more fluent knowledge and application of skills in preparation for the challenge of KS4. We want our students to be lifelong learners and we will continually explore how our students learn best, to ensure they retain knowledge through the most effective teaching strategies.
In our curriculum we believe we are able to foster the talents and ambitions of all our young people through a knowledge based curriculum. We have faith in our actions and trust our judgement as we are safe in the knowledge our curriculum is broad, challenging and will holistically develop our students. Our curriculum is always rooted in Christian teachings: Psalm 119:66 “teach me knowledge and good judgement for I trust your commands “