The Aims, Ethos and Characteristics

Aims, Ethos, and Individuality

Sherrardswood students are happy, confident learners. Students and staff share respectful relationships leading to a strong community. The small class sizes and high staff ratios means that there is time to get to know students, their strengths, interests and abilities, enabling the pupils to develop into confident, balanced and tolerant young people able to make the most of the many opportunities on offer.

Sherrardswood lessons are interactive and enjoyable. Our Senior Leadership Team have enthused our teachers with the importance of engaging the students throughout their lessons. The breadth of curriculum and variety of opportunities lead to well-rounded individuals who care for each other, the school and wider community. Excellent Teaching and Learning in all areas help pupils develop academically, socially, morally, spiritually and culturally, evidenced through lesson observations, learning walks, book scrutiny and fostered during teaching and learning workshops.

Prep

At Sherrardswood Prep school, every child is known, valued, and celebrated for their individuality. We are a small, nurturing community where each pupil’s unique personality, interests, and passions are recognised and encouraged to flourish.

Our ethos, “No Hiding Place,” reflects our belief that every child deserves to be seen, supported, and challenged. In our close-knit environment, both academic and pastoral matters are given equal importance — nothing goes unnoticed, and every success is shared. Feedback is immediate, purposeful, and positive, helping children to understand their strengths while developing the confidence to embrace areas for growth.
We provide a broad and stimulating curriculum designed to inspire curiosity and a lifelong love of learning. A wide range of subjects and activities encourage inquisitive thinkers who are unafraid to explore new ideas. From an early age, children are taught by passionate subject specialists who bring energy, depth, and expertise to their teaching.

Learning extends well beyond the classroom. Our beautiful grounds provide a natural extension to our curriculum, offering endless opportunities for outdoor exploration and hands-on discovery. Alongside this, an extensive co-curricular programme allows pupils to uncover new talents, develop existing skills, and gain the confidence to try something new.

Our aim is to nurture well-rounded, kind, and motivated young learners who leave us with curiosity in their minds, joy in their hearts, and a firm foundation for the next stage of their educational journey as they progress to Sherrardswood Senior School.

Seniors

Our students have a positive work attitude. With small class sizes there is nowhere to hide and teachers are very proactive if a student is not showing a good work ethic. Our individualised approach means that we are able to intervene at an early stage. Learning to Learn is our venture improving learning skills and we also hold parent sessions on how to support a child while they are revising. We have introduced Academic mentors this year in the Senior school to support students that need help in organising or managing their workload.

Our students are confident speakers and this is fostered in all of their subjects, through the schools focus on Think Discuss Write. Students record work in a way that they understand after discussing it with their peers. Numeracy and problem solving are valued in lessons and cross-curricular lessons are encouraged, particularly in the summer term, after exams, where this is our focus. Parents always praise how eloquent and confident our students are on Open Day when they do tours or run activities in the classrooms. Students have the opportunity to take part in Innovators’ and Gifted and Talented projects and programmes from the moment they join us. These are designed to stretch the students’ academic interest, experience, skills and enthusiasm beyond the traditional curriculum. Looking at areas that are of particular interest to them they learn how to research, construct and present detailed projects. We have a thriving debate team and extensive opportunities for performance and participation in Sport. There are 85 academic and extra-curricular clubs to choose from each week.

Those pupils who have been identified as being most able or talented are encouraged to develop higher order thinking including reflection, exploration of a variety of views, problem-solving, enquiry, independent thinking and learning and of course competitions! The EPQs studied by students in Sixth Form are useful in consolidating these skills before they move on to next steps.

Learning support time, if needed, is used to review work, revising, pre preparing for upcoming lessons, having taught intervention or scaffolding the homework so that it can be completed independently later. This builds students’ resilience. We work with several students that have EHCP plans and once their place has been confirmed, we work closely with parents, the child themselves and with external agencies to ensure that the requirements of Section F are met.

Students have access to many adults; class teacher, form teacher, mentor and pastoral leader. The pupils are able to establish good relationships with others and new children integrate very quickly. Students that arrive anxious visibly blossom in a short time. Our small community allows pupils to be who they want to be: show their true colours, which may not have always been the case at other schools. This contributes to the creation of a caring, happy atmosphere and a very positive and fulfilling learning environment. Pupils are wonderfully accepting of each other, their differences and abilities. Kindness is endemic. Our reputation as an accepting and tolerant school is well founded and pupils benefit from the atmosphere of individuality being valued.

Our strong pastoral network encourages an environment where students are happy to ‘have a go’ both in the class and at clubs meaning that they are exposed to a wide range of academic, social, physical and creative activities and fosters self-esteem. We have a high level of participation in musical activities and performances, sporting opportunities, clubs, drama and residential and other educational visits and trips across all year groups. Sixth Formers are delighted to act as mentors for younger students and we have a thriving “Mentoring Café”, where the hot chocolates are a big hit!

The music department has been ‘instrumental’ in the success of our many bands and soloists, as well as those that are now making money by producing their own music. Many students develop a love of music and performing during their time here, which may not lead to awards or competitions but is very life enhancing for them and us.

Our assembly programme encourages an appreciation of different ideas, backgrounds and cultures. Pupils live in a community at school within which are diverse cultures and religions. We encourage the pupils to celebrate and embrace differences as well as celebrating our uniqueness. This is supported in many subjects including RE, PSHE, History, Geography, Art, Drama and Music. Our ethos is based on the Christian values, particularly important to us are kindness and respect. We believe that one must work hard to take one’s place as a valued and valuable member of society, both now and in the future. Our assemblies also address the fundamental British Values of Democracy, Rule of Law, Individual Liberty and Respect & Tolerance.

Rewards and sanctions are clearly and fairly applied and students are very happy in their school. Stars of the Week in both Senior and Prep is a source of pride, particularly as it is announced in the Newsletter.
We listen to pupils’ opinions and feedback through School Council and the Headmistress meets with the Head of School Council to give formal feedback on student requests. We listen to parent representation at PTA meetings and our active and vocal PTA team are very supportive.

Extensive communication with parents ensures that the students thrive, knowing they are supported on all sides. This communication includes feedback from parents through informal and formal discussions/meetings including informal coffee mornings, information evenings as well as Parent Teacher Information evenings. We compile formal written reports twice a year. Our communication with parents includes the weekly Newsletter and other parent communication sent by email. Pupils and parents in Prep are met on the door each morning and evening by a member of staff.

Sherrardswood is an exciting and vibrant school and we hope that your family enjoys being part of our community.

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