Hedingham School and Sixth Form

Hedingham School and Sixth Form enjoys the benefits of a superb location in rural Essex. The extensive buildings are situated in large grounds in a scenic landscape.

The School usually supports 7 forms of entry in Year 7 with an average class size of approximately 28.

Although many students travel to and from Hedingham on buses, parents are very supportive of out-of-school activities and after school sports clubs are particularly popular. A late bus is provided on Wednesday to facilitate participation.

Hedingham is an 11-18 school with a strong Sixth Form. There are over 20 A2 courses and good provision for BTEC level 2 and 3 courses.

Student outcomes are above national average in many areas of performance. The value added measure from KS2 to KS4 has also been well above the national expectations.

Ofsted inspectors made the following judgements about Hedingham School and Sixth Form:

Overall Effectiveness: Good
Achievement of Pupils: Good
Quality of Teaching: Good
Behaviour and Safety of Pupils: Outstanding
Leadership and Management: Good

The vision for the school and its core purpose is summarised in a booklet enclosed. There is an emphasis upon the quality of learning and teaching, effective assessment, IAG and active citizenship.

Hedingham is a very caring, supportive and ordered environment that allows us to have high expectations of achievement and excellence from students and staff.

Learning Areas are responsible for curriculum delivery. Each team has coherent and consistent approaches to its work to deliver a personalised learning programme. Within this context, the school creates a positive learning environment where all students achieve to the best of their ability. Leaders are expected to maintain an emphasis on student learning through curriculum delivery, monitoring of progress and evaluation of practice.

Student progress is monitored and supported by strong pastoral teams organised by a highly credited House System which is driven by vertical tutoring. Decisions are based upon the philosophy that all students are central to everything we do. We are committed to providing the best possible service for them. Parents receive progress reports every term.

The School Development Plan is informed by Learning Area and subject development plans which are produced as a result of a systematic and ongoing self-evaluation process.

Teacher Performance Reviews are conducted in October and new objectives are set with reference to school and individual priorities in the context of maintaining a positive trend in raising student achievement and focusing on teaching and learning.

There is a successful CPD programme which addresses generic training and the needs of individual teachers.

As a school we pride ourselves on the quality of our community partnerships. We are linked with our Partner Primary Schools through the Colne Valley Consortium. We aim to ensure continuity and progression for students from the age of 5-19. There are link projects for Maths and English.

We are a key strategic partner in The Saffron Alliance which is a teaching school alliance developing key educational areas including school to school support.

I hope that you will recognise a vibrant school that is engaged in a number of innovations to further raise standards of achievement and enrich the provision for students.

We are committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and young people in our care and expect all staff to share this commitment. We follow safer recruitment practice and appointments are subject to satisfactory DBS certification and references.