Hayes School
HAYES SCHOOL ETHOS In partnership with parents and the community, Hayes School aims to provide opportunities for all its students that will enable them to play an active and positive role in the present and future world as global citizens. As members of a co-educational specialist comprehensive school, students will have full access to and experience of the curriculum, regardless of race, class, gender, physical ability and religious belief. The School will promote a sense of self esteem, responsibility and tolerance in young people. It will value and challenge each individual so that they reach the highest levels of achievement whatever their starting point. Hayes School places great emphasis on high academic standards and has at its heart the development of the whole person. Expectations are high and the achievements of students and staff are celebrated. Hayes School will provide a supportive atmosphere based on self-discipline, mutual respect, co-operation and understanding. Students will be encouraged to take responsibility both for their own learning and for the environment in which they live.
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Message from the Headteacher Your child is the most important person to you and to our school. If your child is safe, happy and successful at Hayes we will have a successful and effective school. My mission as Headteacher is to take Hayes from being a good to an excellent school. The aim of this prospectus is to introduce you to Hayes School and the exciting educational opportunities we offer. More than this, it is a challenge to prospective parents and students to join a school where they will be expected to be ambitious for academic success and personal development. Hayes School has a strong academic tradition, a reputation for high expectations and standards and, as visitors’ comment, an excellent atmosphere marked by positive relationships. Hayes School offers: • A calm, well ordered, disciplined and yet caring environment – the right atmosphere for excellent academic achievement. • Experienced specialist teachers with a commitment to ensuring that every student achieves their full potential. • The opportunity for students to achieve the best possible examination results in a wide variety of areas. • Excellent ICT to support learning. • Setting according to ability in relevant subjects. • A wide range of extra curricular activities. • Strong community links. • A partnership with parents to provide success for every student. Ultimately I challenge all Hayes staff to ask themselves “would this be good enough for my child?” If the answer is “no” then it is not good enough for a Hayes student. This brochure gives you a flavour of Hayes School, which I believe a visit will confirm. The commitment to the 5 ‘Cs’ – Challenge, Consistency, Communication, Community and Continuity – to take Hayes School and students from good to excellent is one I hope you and your son or daughter will join us in fulfilling. Mr K J Osborne Headteacher
London Gifted & Talented Partner School
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Challenge ‘To do and be the best you possibly can’. Hayes School has a culture of achievement where we challenge and support every child to achieve the best they possibly can.
“ I have found Hayes school to be a warm and welcoming place that develops pupils to their maximum potential” (parent)
“ Hayes has many very good qualities including its range of wider school activities including Music, Drama and Sports” (Ofsted)
This is firstly in academic areas. We want every student to achieve the very best examination results to provide them with the widest number of options and the brightest future for when they leave school. Hayes is one of the top achieving 25% of schools in the country at GCSE and A level. All Hayes students have benchmarks for every subject, which is what the average student nationally would achieve given their prior performance. At Hayes we expect students to exceed their benchmarks. We believe in challenging all students continually to improve on their previous best. Gifted and talented programmes as well as special educational needs support, run alongside a belief that every person has abilities and talents that will flourish if supported and challenged. The second area of challenge is extra curricular. Hayes students are offered a wide range of opportunities to develop talents and interests. Students at Hayes excel nationally and locally in Sports, Music, Drama and many other areas. However many others benefit from the opportunity to play sports, appear in musicals and dramas or take part in activities and hobbies. Visits and trips locally and internationally provide students with experience and knowledge which is an important part of learning for life. The third area of challenge is personal development. We work together with parents and guardians to help produce young adults, who are confident, responsible and considerate citizens. Hayes students rise to these challenges as witnessed in the outstanding exam results, musical, dramatic and sporting performances, but also by the character they show and the adults they become.
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Consistency Consistency and fairness are requirements of a good effective school. Hayes sets clear expectations and standards for all students. These are reasonable and necessary if everyone is to be safe, happy and successful. We aim to ensure we implement these expectations consistently so that students develop the sort of behaviour and personal responsibility that will mark them as Hayes students. Hayes Code of Conduct says that every student will: 1) Work hard, allow others to learn and follow staff instructions. 2) Come to school on time, in uniform, with the necessary equipment, planner and homework. 3) Be polite, responsible and well mannered and show consideration and respect for others at all times. 4) Maintain a clean, safe and pleasant working environment. We believe then that no student should be allowed to disrupt the learning of others nor do we want any student to experience bullying or become a bully. We work to ensure every student is happy, feels safe and is able to learn and develop in a friendly atmosphere.
“ My child has made a very well managed and successful transition to Hayes school from her small primary school” (Year 7 parent)
We work consistently to achieve this.
“ The teachers are really good, we all work well in lessons” (Year 8 student)
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Communication The home-school partnership is crucial to the students’ success and well-being. We value and encourage the active involvement of parents/guardians. To assist this we have:
“ I have been impressed with the enthusiastic and talented staff who have a good rapport with the pupils” (Year 10 parent)
“ I like being at Hayes because the teachers are really friendly and help you” (Year 8 student)
• A home-school agreement where the parents/guardians, student and Headteacher commit to supporting each other to achieve success for their child. • A student planner where homework, merits and detentions are recorded. • Regular consultation through parents’ meetings – where your child’s progress is discussed. • Reports, reviews and academic tutoring where progress is discussed and targets are set and monitored. • A variety of parents’ information evenings where parents are informed of issues such as the curriculum their child will be studying and of the Personal and Social Health Education and Careers programmes that we offer. • A weekly newsletter informing parents of events and celebrating students achievements. • Tutors and Heads of Year who are the link with parents/guardians to provide information and support. We also want to communicate and celebrate students’ achievements as we believe that which gets recognised and rewarded gets repeated so we hold the following events: • Achievement evenings such as the Sports Award evenings. • Concerts, dramas, sport matches, art exhibitions where parents/guardians can support and take pride in their children. • Assemblies where we celebrate the efforts, contributions and achievements of the students in all areas. • KS3, GCSE, A level and Higher Education celebrations and ceremonies. To ensure students success we must work together in partnership and communication is central to this.
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Community There are two aspects to the Community aspect of Hayes School. 1. Hayes School is a Community All those who study and work here form a caring, supportive community characterised by positive relationships. We are a co-educational comprehensive with 1600 students and 200 staff. We work together to deliver the school ethos and aims, to help each other to develop to be better and more successful people. Parents are also key members of the Hayes community and the PTA is a fantastically active and supportive organisation.
“ We are delighted that our daughter is at Hayes School” (Year 7 parent)
2. Hayes School in the Community and the Community in Hayes School We believe we have a duty to the local community to make Hayes a school people are proud of and want to be part of. Students work in the local community through curriculum projects, work experience, as mentors in primary schools and by links with businesses and local organisations. Through Music, Drama and Sport the school supports and is supported by the community. We also welcome the local community into the school as students on our expanding evening classes programme, as visitors contributing to lessons or assemblies and as helpers in areas such as Sports, Media, and reading support. We want Hayes School to be the pride and centre of the community and for our students to take pride and play an active part in their community.
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“ We have had three children pass through Hayes and are very grateful for the experiences that they have had. A big thanks to all the staff” (Parent)
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Continuity “ Hayes school is a very popular and successful school” (Ofsted)
Hayes School has an excellent reputation built on sound principles of education, traditional values and good relationships. We aim to build on these to make Hayes an even better school in the 21st century. Hayes School developed from the parish school of 1791, but its separate existence as a secondary school began in Gadsden, an imposing Victorian mansion, in 1956. The first students were all boys, but under the first Headmaster, R.W. Bigg, the school was expanded and girls were admitted. We believe that being a co-educational school is an essential element of education for life. Under Dr. J.S. Leeming further expansion and developments took place and the schools’ reputation for quality was firmly established.
“ Hayes school’s under-15 cricket team cemented its place in history by achieving the incredible feat of four consecutive Kent Schools’ County Championship triumphs.”
In 1990 J.R. Catmull was appointed Headmaster. Curricular enhancements and new technology were introduced and the school moved towards self government. In January 1992 the school become Grant Maintained and a new phase of building and expansion allowed the school to expand to 240 student entry. The success of the Sixth Form has also seen the roll increase to 400 students. In 2002 Hayes School was awarded Media Arts Status, which brought extra resources and facilities (especially ICT) in to the school and helped open up new an innovative ways of teaching and learning in the class. We expect all of our departments to be excellent, our Media Arts Specialist status supports this. Throughout its history and continuing today Hayes School promotes traditional values. We encourage our students to prize honesty, personal responsibility, integrity and self reliance and we expect them to show care, tolerance and respect for others. Such values underpin our requirements for students to behave reasonably and sensibly at all times. We attach importance to high standards of personal appearance, regular punctual attendance and courtesy and consideration to members of staff and to each other.
(News Shopper)
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Sixth Form In many ways the Sixth Form is Hayes School’s crowning glory. It is the culmination of 7 years of schooling and the bridge to university, further education or careers that would not be accessible without the qualifications obtained during the 1 or 2 year courses. Hayes Sixth Form has approximately 400 students comprising of the 75% of students who stay on from Year 11 and the large number who transfer to the Sixth Form from other schools. Both groups are attracted by the reputation for academic success, the large number and great variety of courses on offer and the exciting social activities and opportunities that Hayes Sixth Form offers. Hayes Sixth Form offers the opportunity for young people to study, socialise and develop in a structured and caring environment. Greater freedom is matched with the expectation of increased responsibility. Progress is monitored and shared with the students and their parents. We believe this is the environment and structure where students can achieve their potential and develop the study and social skills required for Higher Education and the world of work. In the Sixth Form students develop their leadership skills by being role models for the lower school, taking up roles such as Prefects and by representing the school in the community and even nationally. Equally students can access the impressive range of extra curricular opportunities in Sport, Music, Drama and many other areas. Sixth Formers organise the Sixth Form and run the school council assisted by teaching and non-teaching staff. They also receive guidance and counselling on a whole range of issues from study skills to careers, higher education and financial matters. Ultimately it is the quality of teaching and learning which distinguishes our Sixth Form and we are proud of the success academically and personally of the young men and women who, when they leave our Sixth Form, are in a far stronger position to make a success of their lives and contribute to the world they live in.
“ I chose to stay on at Hayes in the sixth form because I have enjoyed being in the lower school and got good GCSE results” (Year 13 student)
“ I decided to join Hayes school in the sixth form because of all the facilities and its good local reputation” (Year 12 student)
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Hayes School West Common Road Hayes, Bromley, BR2 7DB Tel: 020 8462 2767 Fax: 020 8462 0329 Email: postmaster@hayes.bromley.sch.uk Web: www.hayes.bromley.sch.uk Headteacher: Mr K J Osborne