At Icknield Community College, our vision is simple. We aim for our students to achieve their potential in a truly excellent school that is the first choice for all members of our community. Integrity, care and commitment – values which echo the initial letters of our school’s name – underpin everything that we do. These three powerful ideas shape how we build and nurture relationships, how we kindle the spark of students’ enthusiasm, and how we establish and maintain the highest expectations for what our learners can accomplish.
Our students know they must strive for the best exam results they can possibly achieve. Based on their individual starting points, Icknield students make better progress and achieve better grades than they would elsewhere. This is crucial in a world where excellent qualifications provide access to exciting and rewarding opportunities in adult life. But Icknield’s ambition for its students goes far beyond exam success. We challenge our students’ thinking and encourage them to see the bigger picture while raising their sights beyond their local context, and beyond their current life experiences.
Icknield students know that honesty is an essential component of all their endeavours. Members of our community show truthfulness and moral courage in their interactions with others, as well as honesty in their reflections on themselves and their own learning. Icknield’s well-established assessment and feedback systems offer students the information they need to determine their next steps, while structured opportunities are provided to reflect on this feedback and to establish personal goals. Students are encouraged and expected to take responsibility for their progress and to support and enable those around them. Meanwhile, we embrace our responsibility to develop in young people the skills and personal attributes they need for future learning, professional training and employment.
Icknield is an environment in which students feel safe and secure. We have created a school culture where everyone is valued, and where differences are acknowledged and celebrated. We promote respect, mutual understanding and kindness because we want every Icknield student to be thoughtful, considerate and caring towards others, in school and beyond. Our pastoral systems are highly developed, and we support students to maintain a positive outlook while focusing on their studies and extra-curricular activities. Our carefully constructed curriculum has been refined over many years to provide the breadth and depth that students need to gain an understanding of their own cultures and those of the world around them.
Icknield has developed a highly effective learning culture. Our expectation is that students show commitment to their learning, that they work hard and that they make a positive contribution. We are committed to using our collective experience and expertise to support all learners, including those with special educational needs and disabilities, to achieve excellent outcomes. As part of this commitment, we provide students with opportunities and experiences that allow them to develop and grow as individuals while making available extra support for students in financial disadvantage, to enable them to thrive. Finally, we are committed to enabling our students to be open-minded, ambitious and courageous. We want to empower them to break down barriers, to break through glass ceilings, and to realise their ambitions for the future.
