Academic

At Halliford School, we want to equip our students with the academic, social and technological skills they will need to succeed in the 21st century. We recognise that our world is being shaped by factors such as science, technology, globalisation and geopolitics. To navigate a successful path, they will need to be able to think critically, be confident with technology, be able to relate to and work with people across the global arena and be willing to harness and develop new ideas. In nurturing these attributes, we believe we are preparing our students as best we can for higher education, work and the world of the future.

At Halliford School, we aim to provide students with a safe environment in which to nurture their academic talents; to foster a love of learning whilst understanding that mastery of a subject or skill takes time and effort, and to develop academic resilience so that they are not deterred by making mistakes but rather see those mistakes as a vital part of the learning process. We aim to develop our students’ technological and linguistic skills so that they are technologically confident and able to interact and work with people across the world.

Accordingly, our curriculum is intentionally broad but also flexible enough to adapt to the demands of the 21st century. There is a strong emphasis on the traditional academic subjects of Mathematics, English, Science, Languages and Humanities but also on a variety of creative and practical subjects including Art, Music, Drama, Design Technology and Computing. In addition to our academic curriculum, we strongly encourage our students to get involved in a range of extra-curricular clubs and societies to make and strengthen friendships and to learn other skills such as teamwork or public speaking.

The vast majority of students at Halliford School proceed to study at their first choice university in the UK. We are equally proud of the students who achieve straight A*s at A Level and go on to study at Oxford or Cambridge or a Russell Group university as we are of those who pursue more vocational routes on leaving school.

Our expectations of our students are straight-forward:

• Be proactive in the classroom and at home
• Listen to and act on your teachers’ advice
• Be prepared to work independently and with others
• Learn from your mistakes
• Recognise that education is a marathon, not a sprint, so be patient
• Above all, be proud to be a Hallifordian