Official Knutsford Academy
Our OFSTED Report of 2008 spoke of how Knutsford High “largely succeeds in its aims to inspire learning and achievement, stimulate the development of individual strengths and potential, and prepare students for a successful and fulfilling life”. This endorsement was welcome, for the school sets great store by its role in promoting the broad development of the young people it serves.
The statement of the school’s aims was drawn up by a team composed of students, parents, staff and governors and has had a significant influence in guiding development since.
The phrase “inspire learning and achievement” reflects our desire that there be an inspirational quality to what we do. To inspire – for us - means to instil among students an inner wish to gain knowledge and skills, and to succeed in whatever is undertaken. Academic success is central to this, for we are clear that qualifications are students’ passports to the next stage of their lives. The work we do to ensure students gain results consistent with their abilities is therefore the central part of our activity. So too, though, is promoting students’ overall development as people, and we accord this great significance too.
All young people have “strengths, talents and potential”, albeit varying from one individual to the next. Our task has been to discover what these are, or, more accurately, lead our young people in a voyage of self discovery in recognising their qualities for themselves. Our curriculum structures and processes, described as “good” by OFSTED, are designed to do just this, as is the emphasis in our work on building the excellent climate of relationships recognised in three successive Inspections.
How would we all define “successful and fulfilling”? It does, of course, again depend on individual perspectives. Economic success is one dimension and through our work we aim to facilitate this. Examination attainment once more comes into play here, but so too does the promotion of broader skills and of general well-being, including a proper emphasis on social and emotional development. A truly fulfilling life also arguably includes an understanding that fulfilment stems from more than the economic, which explains our choice of the Humanities – with its emphasis on what makes us human - for our specialism, and on the importance we accord areas such as personal and social education, citizenship and religious studies, all of which feature through to Year 11.
Our aims, therefore, are broad and all-embracing, and central to them lies the individual child, whatever his or her ability.
