Headteacher's Welcome

Introduction from the Headteacher 

The Henry Box School an exciting place to work and learn. We are committed to providing education that transforms lives and we are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence. We are the leading school in our ‘home grown’ Trust .

This is a hugely exciting time for our school as we are presented with a rare opportunity to make a real difference to the lives and life chances of so many young people.  We believe that education can transform lives.  

Our approach 

To join The Henry Box School is to join a family – staff and students who have the courage to do things differently, if that’s what it takes.  

Here we think deeply about how we can have the biggest impact on students. In a world where the algorithms of life give us more of the same, we believe education has the role to give children something different. We continually ask ourselves the following five questions: 

• Are we securing equity?  
• Is our leadership driving school improvement?  
• Is our curriculum irresistible? 
• Are we research informed? 
• Are we deploying resources effectively? 

 

Our school has a culture of compassion underpinned by high expectations and understanding. We have three rules: ready, respectful and safe. We are a truly inclusive school and passionately believe that every child has a right to mainstream education.  

Our curriculum principles 

We aim to ensure that all our children have access to a ‘box set’ knowledge curriculum that builds students’ schemata.  We work on the understanding that the best type of feedback is in the moment and/or in the next lesson; feedback must be a medical, not a Post Mortem. We limit our interventions to the ones that are evidence based and enable our students to access the curriculum.  Our curriculum is learnt, not experienced and we work hard to ensure a challenging curriculum is available for all.  Our curriculum principles are clear: we aim to make sure our curriculum: 

• Is ambitious and designed to give all learners, particularly the most disadvantaged, the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. 
• Extends beyond the academic by providing opportunities to develop and discover their interests and talents. Learners are supported to develop their character and help them  
• To know how to keep physically and mentally healthy – including resilience, confidence and independence. 
• Prepares learners for life in modern Britain, equipping them to be responsible, respectful, active citizens who contribute positively to society; developing their understanding of fundamental British values. All learners will develop their understanding and appreciation of diversity, celebrating what we have in common and promoting respect.  
• Is coherently planned and sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for future learning. Assessment is used to help learners to embed and use knowledge fluently, to check understanding and to inform teaching.  
• Has a rigorous approach to the teaching of reading, writing and oracy that develops learners’ confidence and enjoyment of learning.  
• Provides a range of opportunities to ignite a passion for.  

If you would like to see what it is like to be part of our school community, we would be delighted to show you around.  The Henry Box School, established in 1660, is built on tradition but we are extremely proud to be educating for the future.

Wendy Hemmingsley