Headteacher

The Buxton area is a very attractive and unique place to live, work and learn.  This has a strong influence on the learning opportunities we provide and many staff are involved in outdoor/extra curricular activities. There is a strong local tradition in the arts with the well-known Buxton Festival and Buxton Opera House.  We serve a very diverse community with considerable pockets of economic and social deprivation that helps to create our truly comprehensive school. We are proud that our school community represents the whole cross-section of our town’s population and we value all individuals equally.

As the only large secondary school for the town, Buxton Community School prides itself on being able to meet the needs of all learners, regardless of ability or background. We currently have approximately 1045 students on roll, including a growing sixth form of just under 200. Our talented and committed team of staff are dedicated to working with our young people and helping everyone to succeed.  We believe every member of staff has a key role in developing not only our students’ learning but also their personal qualities, self-confidence and future aspirations.  Whilst we have large numbers of students learning at a very high level, we also have a very strong reputation for ‘inclusion’ and we value everyone who tries their best.  Our staff work hard to support our young people to be aspirational, to believe in themselves and achieve at the highest possible level for each individual. We also have a wide range of support staff that make a huge contribution to the quality of learning we provide and the life of our school community.

All staff belong to both a curriculum team and a progress team that provides pastoral support for learning. Everyone has opportunities to be involved in broader school development. For example, a range of staff, students and parents / carers contribute to the review and prioritising for our school development planning process. We aim to learn from and with each other.

We believe in a broad and balanced curriculum provision at Key Stage 3 which develops into a core curriculum supplemented by a wide range of options at Key Stage 4. We realise that learning needs to be the focus of all we do. We want to enable our students to take increasing responsibility for their own learning and ensure that our teaching provides structured opportunities to make this happen. Our curriculum is already characterised by a wide range of additional/extra curricular learning experiences and we see this as a key strength of the school.

We work with ten partner schools as part of the Peak 11 Federation. This involves all staff in wider learning networks that are entirely supportive as we work cooperatively – not in competition.

We are currently judged by Ofsted to be a ‘good’ school with very good aspects of provision, but we are committed to further improvement and strive always to be honest with ourselves in celebrating our considerable strengths and addressing those areas we want to develop further.  We are genuinely comprehensive with all the challenges this involves - and it will continue to be hard work to maintain high standards within the school. We welcome applications from those who share our commitment and enthusiasm for learning and supporting young people of all abilities.