The overarching aims of the school for each student are:
• To have the benefit of a fulfilling and rounded education to enable them to develop fully their interests and talents.
• To equip them with the skills, knowledge and confidence to take them forward through to their tertiary education.
• To give them pride in achievement as well as resilience to cope with life’s inevitable difficulties.
• To develop as individuals, including the understanding of others, the confidence to intitiate and think for oneself.
Our aims espouse both short term and longer term goals. The particular aims of individual students is best discussed with parents, initially in the run up to registration as well as on an ongoing basis as the student develops. For some students, it may be that the main emphasis will be to inspire and extend their learning, encouraging a growing independence. For others, bolstering self-esteem and confidence in key areas will be a priority. St John’s is not a one-size-fits-all type of school!
The British National Curriculum is the cornerstone of our curriculum but closely integrated with international philosophies of learning, the levels reached in many cases are well beyond the national average, it is important to realise that the teachers engage with each other in a collaborative learning community to ensure that each student moves along their own potential continuum.
Furthermore pupils at St John’s have the advantage of specialist teaching at a far earlier stage of their schooling, for example:
• Specialist Science teaching from Year 3.
• Specialist Music and PE lessons from Nursery.
• Specialist French and ICT from Year 1.
• Specialist teaching in Art from Year 3.
• A special programme for the gifted and talented in all areas of school life.
• Particular care is taken with pupils having special educational needs and a recent CreSTeD report assessed the quality of teaching as “exceptionally good”.