headteacher-secondary

48 teachwire.net X X X X X X X X X X X ordinarily see our students ‘off timetable’, with staff delivering around 60 different experiences. Students get to pick one activity, one creativity task and one service role each term – we then run everything from fencing to Portuguese language lessons to baking, you name it. Pre-COVID, we would also have had over a hundred students volunteering in the local community each week, in primary schools and care homes, for example. Something that sets us apart from state schools, and even some independent schools, is the breadth of the curriculum we offer. There aren’t many schools that can offer five languages at GCSE Victoria Hearn reflects on how a deep commitment to inclusion helped Impington Village College address a unique set of challenges during an extraordinary year classroom life I mpingtonVillage College is a genuinely comprehensive school, in thatwe're not selective in anyway. We teach students who are the children of academics from nearby Cambridge University, students from fairly disadvantaged backgrounds and a large number of students with SEN. Around 90 of our students have EHCPs, which is more than some special schools. As an International Baccalaureate World School, our ethos and mission are tied around the idea of being ‘inclusive’, ‘inspirational’ and ‘international’, which we try to keep at the heart of everything we do. A number of our students have physical disabilities, who came to us because of the specialist provision we’re able to offer. We’re also a Stonewall Champion School, and were the first school in our area to win a Carnegie Gold Award for excellence in mental health. Inclusivity in every sense is really important to us. Curriculumbreadth Our ‘inspirational’ component involves us recognising the importance of academic excellence, but not at the expense of extracurricular opportunities and a positive all-round learning experience. Year on year our students will earn grade 9s, despite us being completely non- selective. Our International Baccalaureate outcomes in sixth form are similarly strong, but for us, the opportunities students have to develop outside of the classroom and beyond those exam grades are hugely significant. We run an enrichment programme called ICAS – Impington Creativity, Activity and Service – which runs as part of our timetable. Tuesday afternoons would A warmwelcome (10 at sixth form), and we’re similarly passionate about the arts. In all, we offer over 30 courses at GCSE, and around 35 choices as part of the IB Diploma programme. Learner profiles At the heart of our pastoral system and behaviour policy is the IB learner profile. The philosophy of the IB is centred on developing students who are knowledgeable and inquiring, but also caring, principled and open-minded. We’ll remind students when they might not be demonstrating those attributes, but also recognise when they are. A big part of the IB philosophy focuses on reflection; making sure that students are reflecting on 48 IN NUMBERS Date established: 1939 Age range: Y7 to Y13 Student population: 1,400 Staff: 200 Of note: Impington Village College was recently chosen as the top non- selective secondary school in East Anglia by the Sunday Times’ Parent Power 2021