Brass Teacher

The aim of the school is to raise pupils' expectations and standards of achievement in a secure and supportive environment.  At Broxbourne we try to engage and involve all pupils, to enable all pupils to achieve up to and beyond their potential, to care for all pupils, to support and guide all pupils and to give all pupils opportunities to participate in a broad and varied enrichment programme.  We wish to provide achievement and opportunity for all.  The school provides an excellent academic education within a caring and supportive environment.

The school has been graded as ‘good’ by Ofsted.  “The Broxbourne School is an exceptional place to learn. Pupils thrive due to leaders’ expectation that everyone is ‘respectful, responsible, aspirational and supportive’. Pupils experience a vibrant and caring community. Behaviour is exemplary. Pupils feel safe and respected by peers. There is enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged outstanding if we were to carry out a graded inspection now.” Ofsted 2023

The school was selected as a hub school for Modern Foreign Languages.  We were one of only 9 schools nationally to be awarded this status. As the lead school in our local hub, the school became part of a nationally-recognised network and we were able to share best practice with other schools.

Our aim as a school is to maintain high standards and to continue to improve further the quality of our provision.

FACILITIES

We have recently moved into a £30m "state-of-the-art" new school, adjacent to our previous school.

THE LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

Broxbourne is situated in Hertfordshire close to the A10 about 5 miles north of the M25.  The school occupies a large attractive site in the Green Belt.  The school is about a fifteen minute walk from Broxbourne Station from where there are trains to London Liverpool Street, Cambridge and Hertford.  The school receives pupils from Broxbourne, Wormley, Hoddesdon and Cheshunt and the surrounding villages.

PUPILS

The school's planned admission number is 240. The school is held in very high regard in the community and is always considerably oversubscribed. Although the majority of our students come from four partner schools we admit students from over twenty local primary schools. Each year approximately 1000 parents stated a preference for a Year 7 place. There are currently 1327 pupils on roll which includes a Sixth Form of 230.

Pupils are friendly and well-behaved and are proud of the school.  In our inspection, Ofsted described pupils’ behaviour in their discussions as ‘impeccable’.  Many visitors compliment us on the quality of relationships in the school.  The atmosphere in the school is such that teachers can teach and pupils can learn.

THE CURRICULUM

In KS3, pupils are arranged in mixed ability form groups. An additional form will be added to Year 7 each intake moving forward to ultimately establish 9 forms in each year group.  Each third of a year group will be blocked for different subjects and classes are taught in a mixture of sets and mixed ability classes.  At Key Stage 4, which begins in the summer term of Year 9, the school offers pupils considerable choice.  The compulsory core consists of English, maths, science, RE, PSHE and PE.  Pupils then choose option subjects from a wide range which includes vocational courses.  Each year, about 70% of pupils choose to take a language GCSE.  In Years 12 and 13 the school offers 22 A-levels.  About 75% of sixth form students enter Higher Education each year, with most securing their first choice university.  An increasing number of pupils also secure high level apprenticeships.

GOVERNANCE

The school converted to Academy status in January 2011.  This change of status has not affected our strong relationship with the Local Authority. The school has operated its own admissions policy since September 2011.  In line with the school’s specialist status as a Language College, up to 10% of pupils (24) are admitted on the basis of their aptitude for languages (currently through to Year 9).  After statemented pupils, Children Looked After, siblings and children of staff, others are admitted on distances measured using ‘straight line distance’.

Ofsted said about the leadership team “You act on what your evaluation tells you to ensure that standards continue to rise”.  They also stated “Governors make valuable contributions to improvement planning and are integral to the on-going success of the school”.

The school is in a very strong financial position and as a result finance is available for curricular and other developments.

SENIOR LEADERSHIP TEAM

The Senior Leadership Team consists of Headteacher, three Deputy Headteachers and seven Assistant Headteachers.  There are opportunities for areas of responsibility to change to provide opportunities for professional development.

STAFFING

There are 91 teaching staff and 85 support staff.  Teachers are well qualified and teach their subject specialism.  Staff enjoy working at the school and there is an attractive balance of age and experience.  We recruit excellent staff and retention is high.

Teachers demonstrate high expectations for learning and they plan varied activities that cater for the full range of students’ learning needs and interests, including for the most able.  Teachers have many training opportunities to improve the quality of teaching including participation in the ‘Educator-Led Development Programme (ELDP)’, or breakfast meetings at the Fifteen minute Friday Fortnightly Forums; sharing best practice in the school’s blog or termly newsletter; visits from external speakers and our own in-house teaching and learning programme.  A number of middle and senior leaders are also completing NPQH and NPQL courses.

The school provides support for ECTs and newly appointed staff and provides excellent staff development opportunities.

There is an exceptional sense of team work.  We believe the school is so successful because accountability operates within an atmosphere of openness and trust throughout so that all feel they can contribute and support each other.

PASTORAL SUPPORT & GUIDANCE

Most teachers are form tutors.  There are five Heads of Year, five Assistant Heads of Year, a Director of Sixth Form and two Assistant Directors of Sixth Form.  The school places great emphasis on good behaviour, the encouragement of self- discipline and upon uniform and appearance.  Parents are supportive.

EXTRA-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

The school offers pupils a wide range of clubs and activities both at lunchtime and after school.  There are strong programmes in sport, drama and music.  The quality of performance and music is very high.  The sporting programme is exceptionally strong with school teams achieving success at both county and national level.  Our girls, for example, have won the National Netball Championships at Under 14, 16 and 19 level.  Pupils engage in community service.  The school has high numbers of pupils participating in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze and Gold Award.  The House system involves pupils in a large number of sporting and cultural competitions.  Staff organise many visits during term-time to places of interest in this country and abroad including annual French and Italian study visits, sixth form trip to New York, German exchanges and ski and water sports holidays.  Sporting teams tour Canada and the West Indies.

We are an Equal Opportunities employer. The Broxbourne School is committed to ensuring inclusion, diversity and equality of opportunity. We welcome applications from all suitable candidates and encourage those from underrepresented groups, and/or with protected characteristics, to apply. The school is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects anyone applying to work in our school to share this commitment. All appointments are subject to pre-employment checks, including a satisfactory enhanced criminal records with Barred List check through the Disclosure and Barring service.