Welcome to Astley Community High School.
Our school is a mixed 13-18 comprehensive high school maintained by Northumberland County Council. We are part of the Seaton Valley Federation of Schools, together with Whytrig and Seaton Sluice Middle Schools. We are proud of being a school at the heart of the local community.


As part of the Seaton Valley Federation we share the same vision and ethos and use this as a reference point for all that we do.
 

Our Vision

  • To be exceptional in everything we do.
  • To ensure that everyone attends a school where they are safe, happy, successful and have lots of opportunities.
  • To provide a positive learning environment which allows everyone to achieve their potential.

Our Ethos

  • To know every child academically and pastorally as a complete young person.
  • To treat everyone and everything with respect.
  • To strive for everyone to be as good as they can be and to be proud of doing well.

Over the past few years, across the federation, a significant amount of time and effort has gone into ensuring that the curriculum each school offers is as effective as it can be.


Our Curriculum Vision
Each school’s broad and balanced curriculum will provide opportunities (both inside and outside the classroom) that ensure our young people:

  • Have the skills and attributes to be successful members of society regardless of their starting point.
  • Experience teaching and learning which is interesting, challenging and engaging (ICE curriculum).

 

Our Curriculum Intent
LINC
Through the ICE curriculum that our pupils experience we aim for them to be:
Literate
Independent
Numerate
Culturally Aware


BEAM
To ensure that all pupils experience a positive learning environment which allows everyone to achieve their potential, we will support our pupils with their:
Behaviour
Emotions
Achievement
Mental Health

Being a federation of schools allows for us to have close links so that we ensure a smooth transition in terms of curriculum and pastoral from Y8 to Y9. We follow the national curriculum during KS3 in Y9 which then leads into a strong range of GCSE and BTEC subjects during KS4 in Y10 and Y11. Our subject offering of A-Levels and BTECs at KS5 in Y12 and Y13 is also very strong. 

We have recognised the impact that 2 years of lockdown has had on students and we have a school-wide focus on 2 particular aspects of teaching and learning. First is metacognition - providing explicit opportunities for students to consider how they learn and how they can improve this process. And the second is adaptive teaching - staff consistently adapting the teaching within their lessons to suits the needs of the specific students in front of them. 

Across our curriculum there is a significant emphasis attached to the importance of personal development. Through the assembly and tutor time programme and PSHE and RE lessons, students are given tangible opportunities for spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. We also offer a wide range of extra-curricular opportunities - this ranges from sports and fitness clubs to music and drama performances to clubs such as Culture Club, Crochet Club and the Duke of Edinburgh Award. There are also credible opportunities for students to take on positions of responsibility such as year or school council, prefects or student librarians. 

Across last academic year the federation worked collaboratively to introduce a new behaviour model. The bedrock of this is a focus on positive relationships between all members of the school community. We aim to help develop our students’ understanding of what positive relationships and behaviour look like and we strive to support those students who struggle with this.  We are committed to consistently recognising, rewarding and celebrating positive behaviour - letting the students know when they are getting this right and sharing this with parents.  We also see the importance and effectiveness in offering opportunities for restorative justice - so students can seethe error of their ways. In a nutshell from a pastoral perspective we are firm but fair. We understand that students are children and that many aspects of behaviour need to be viewed through the lens of context. We therefore try to understand why students are behaving or presenting in the way they are and work with them and their parents to move forward and make progress.


As part of the federation’s behaviour model we have introduced 3 simple expectations for all members of the school community - to be ready, respectful and safe. As a school we help todevelop students understanding of what these 3 simple expectations mean:

  • Ready - being ready and on time for school and each lesson and prepared for learning.
  • Respectful - showing respect to all member of the school community, to yourself and to the environment
  • Safe - being safe in the community, online, during lessons and around the school.

We strive to support all students to achieve their full potential. This starts first through quality first teaching in each classroom – teachers knowing the students in front of them and adapting their teaching to suit the individual needs. Wraparound support is also put in place for those students who need it, especially from a pastoral and SEN perspective.

We are rightly proud of our school – from the results that students achieve to the way they act and behave in school and the community. We look forward to welcoming you to our school.

Our Head of School is Mr Richard Goodman.

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