EDUCATE FOR LIFE
Cowes Enterprise College, an Ormiston Academy An Ofsted Good school
Click here to view the Cowes Enterprise College virtual tour
WELCOME TO COWES ENTERPRISE COLLEGE It is my pleasure, on behalf of our students, staff, governors and trust, to welcome you to our academy.
Here at Cowes Enterprise College our mission is to educate for life. We are a mixed nonselective academy with a strong record of achievement and we benefit from the guidance of Ormiston Academies Trust. Students achieve high standards of work and behaviour in a positive, friendly but disciplined atmosphere. Our highly qualified staff are committed to ensuring all students reach their full potential, and we work closely with parents to achieve this. In 2017, we were delighted that Ofsted judged the academy to be Good in all areas, including the Sixth Form. The inspection team commented that our pupils “behave well” and “enjoy school”, seeing that our pupils are “well prepared for life” through our “high expectations”. A copy of the Ofsted report is available on our school website. We care for our students as individuals and support them to be happy, confident and successful young people. We stretch and challenge them to achieve their very best in
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all aspects of school life, and we provide a wide range of pastoral and extra-curricular
Principal’s welcome video
opportunities to enrich their personal development. Cowes is a popular and oversubscribed school. We have close and supportive links with our local primary schools, but also welcome students from outside this network. I encourage you to visit us during the working day – we would be delighted to welcome you, and to organise a personal meeting. Please do contact the academy to make an appointment. Rachel Kitley I Principal 2
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EDUCATE FOR LIFE We are proud to define our mission statement and school motto as ‘Educate for Life’.
Educating for life is what Cowes Enterprise College is about: developing a love of learning and preparing students for life itself and all it presents to us. We are a values-led organisation, and it is our aim that we continually challenge ourselves to adhere to the spirit of the Ormiston Academies Trust values: •
Anyone can excel: we believe that you don’t have to be exceptionally bright or naturally gifted in order to excel at something. We know hard work, determination and perseverance pay off.
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Enjoy the challenge: we believe that just because something might be hard, it doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. We know it’s okay to face setbacks too – they can make you stronger.
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Share what is best: we believe that if you’ve done something or created something that others would benefit from seeing or having, you should share it.
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Be inclusive: we believe every child and adult should respect and accept that difference is normal, that everyone should be welcomed and included.
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Every year students achieve success for both Oxbridge and medicine. The progress made by students of all abilities at
Successful academic achievements
STUDENT SUCCESS
all key stages is good, as recognised by Ofsted in 2017.
Cowes students have been very successful in recent years, and the academy has a strong and growing record of academic achievement. The progress made by students at Cowes Enterprise College is strong across a wide range of subjects and qualifications. In GCSE Mathematics, for instance, progress is
Broad and balanced curriculum
regularly in the top 20% nationally. Typically, over 50% of students achieve 9-5 grades and over 75% of students achieve 9-4 grades in both English and Maths alongside a range of widely-respected GCSE courses. Significantly above national average numbers of our students typically continue in education and training beyond 16 and our excellent sixth form results are recognised at national level by the Schools Minister as being “impressive”. Indeed, more than half of our sixth form students study at a Russell Group and our Sixth Formers achieve
Extensive enrichment programmes 6
highly prized and prestigious scholarships, apprenticeships and places at university. 7
A RICH LEARNING EXPERIENCE Our curriculum lies at the heart of all we do at Cowes, and dynamic teaching underpins the breadth and balance of every child’s learning. All students have the opportunity to enrich their core of academic subjects with languages, humanities, creative and practical subjects and physical education.
Our strengths in the classroom are
progress towards challenging, personalised
recognised through the excellent
targets, as well as providing details of
partnerships we have formed, in particular
attendance, punctuality and behaviour.
through our status as the Teaching School
These reports help parents, carers and staff
sub-regional lead for the Isle of Wight,
to support all students to achieve their full
acting as a hub of training and support for
potential.
new teachers and working in partnership
Homework forms a crucial part of our
with other local primary and secondary schools to offer support and to share our practice.
curriculum and parents can see homework set on a handy app. This is an integral part of your child’s learning at Cowes, and
We are also proud to be partnering with
represents an opportunity to practise
the Solent Maths Hub, Bohunt School
retrieval of knowledge, embed technical
Computing Hub and the Thornden
vocabulary and pursue personal interests.
Research School, working with the
More able students are given appropriate,
Education Endowment Foundation and Institute for Effective Education. Not allowing our geography to hold us back in the forefront of teaching development, our staff also lead the way in curriculum development and training within our national trust, the Ormiston Academies Trust. Subject teachers regularly assess students’ work to monitor progress. Any problems are quickly identified and remedied before greater difficulties set in. We issue reports
challenging work in class. Departments also run a range of enrichment activities and students have the opportunity to take part in masterclasses, local and national competitions and summer schools. Cowes students learn on a 30 acre site and in a state-of-the-art school, which provides an outstanding environment in which they can develop their talents to the full and grow into mature and responsible members of society.
regularly and use them to track students’ 8
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WORKING TOGETHER We strongly believe in working with parents and carers for the good of our students. We value parents’ opinions and give parents frequent opportunities to feed back to us. These responses are taken extremely seriously and are used to help us plan for our future. In addition, we publish regular news on our website and the Principal runs a weekly “surgery”, open to all parents, details of which can be found on our website. Our committed and effective governing body takes responsibility for the overall direction of the school. Governors take an active part in overseeing finances, staffing, curriculum and premises, and in planning for the future. They work in partnership with parents and staff to share responsibility for the school’s success and our excellent relationships with the community. Our successful and supportive Trust, the Ormiston Academies Trust, is one of the largest not-for-profit multi-academy trusts in England, educating over 30,000 pupils across six English regions, currently 32 secondary schools, six primary schools, four alternative provision schools and one special school. OAT are one of the longest established trusts. Our collective mission is to become the Trust that makes the biggest difference, both inside and outside the classroom and OAT are committed to raising aspirations, broadening horizons and enriching the lives of pupils across our network.
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YEARS 7-9 A student in the first three years at Cowes will follow a broad and balanced curriculum which develops knowledge, skills and understanding across a wide range of vital areas. English, Maths and Science form the core of the curriculum, and this is complemented by a wide range of creative, practical and artistic subjects. Students select the Language they wish to study before starting in Year 7. Every student participates in two lessons of PE per week. Each week, all students also have an assembly and a personal development lesson called Everyone Matters, delivered wherever possible by a member of the Senior Leadership Team. Every child in Years 7, 8 and 9 takes part in social action to support our local community every year and it is important to us that we enable our students to develop into positive and active citizens.
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We are committed to providing a curriculum which supports the development of the whole child, and place great value on balancing academic success with artistic, creative, spiritual, moral, social and cultural education. In these year groups, our Maritime Futures curriculum is anchored in our local environment, offering opportunities to explore and learn through the maritime sector. This broad offer sees traditional subjects taught through immersion in maritime topics such as designing and building prototype yachts in Design and Technology using knowledge gained in Science, visiting and working with the Education Department at the Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth, in History and experiencing Geography field trips on the Solent to learn about coastal defences. We are proud to have been awarded national recognition and funding for our maritime work and to be steering the national landscape around careers, work which has spearheaded a visit from the Permanent Secretary for Education.
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YEARS 10 & 11 At Cowes, we take GCSE option choices extremely seriously, and organise a very full programme to inform parents and students about the process, and to discuss students’ progress. Every child takes a compulsory core of subjects: English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Double or Triple Award Science and we expect most students to take a Language and a Humanities. In addition, we offer a wide selection of optional courses and encourage every child to experience a breadth of academic and creative subjects. Students typically study for 9 GCSEs in total.
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COWES SIXTH FORM Cowes Sixth Form is extremely popular and highly successful, with students achieving very high standards. Along with the rest of the school, our Sixth Form was judged Good by Ofsted in its 2017 inspection and recent results have been praised nationally by the Schools Minister. Pre-COVID, the percentage of our students achieving AAB or higher was 27% which places us top of all schools and colleges in the Hampshire and Isle of Wight region and in the top 6% of all Sixth Form schools and colleges nationally. Students continue to make strong progress each year. We offer a diverse range of over 20 A level courses tailored to enable smooth entry to top universities and degree level apprenticeships. Our academy’s ethos of high expectations and individual care and support continues into Cowes Sixth Form. In addition to expert teaching and learning, our Sixth Formers enjoy a wide range of trips and activities and are expected to carry out leadership roles in the school and local community. This is reinforced by a rigorous pastoral programme, Everyone Matters, developing further the spiritual, moral, social and cultural education which students receive all
Click here to view the ‘welcome
the way through their time at Cowes Enterprise College.
to 6th form’ video
A separate prospectus for the Sixth Form is available from school reception; alternatively, please visit our website.
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PASTORAL CARE At Cowes, every child is known and cared for as an individual. We pride ourselves on the quality of our care for all students, which begins before they have even arrived! We recognise that the move from primary school to high school is an important step for every child, and we work closely with local primary schools to support all students in this important transition.
Our Success Centre offers additional extensive mentoring and support to provide further care for students. Mental health practitioners, intervention leads, specialist teaching assistants and behaviour intervention experts operate from this Centre, which exists in
We are holders of the Wellbeing in Schools Award, which is testament to the
addition to our caring and effective Oasis Inclusion Department, which houses our
effective support we offer our students. A team of form tutors, led by a dedicated
SEN team.
Assistant Principal and a non-teaching Head of Year, looks after each year group.
Students need to attend school regularly to achieve their full potential. We monitor
This team provides constant personal, social and academic care and guidance, ensuring that every child feels secure to learn and thrive in our school community.
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attendance closely, and we expect every student to achieve at least 98% attendance.
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REWARDS AND DISCIPLINE Whether through the whole school system of rewards and postcards sent home, by a word of praise or thanks, recognition in assemblies, awards meals, or our regular Achievement and Celebration Assemblies, we aim to constantly celebrate our students’ successes. We also recognise great work in displays around the school and through our website. Good school discipline goes hand-in-hand with our outstanding pastoral care. Excellent behaviour is founded on self-respect, motivation, courtesy, consideration for others and an understanding that we all have rights and responsibilities. We expect the highest standards of behaviour, which are a key part of the positive and friendly atmosphere of our school. Students and parents are asked to sign a Home-School Agreement to commit to supporting these high standards of behaviour, attendance, work ethic, uniform and general attitude.
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GUIDANCE AND CAREERS Everyone Matters, our programme of personal, social, health and citizenship education helps our young people prepare for adult life, and this starts as soon as they arrive at Cowes. We are proud to be one of the first schools in the country to be awarded the Quality Careers Standard Award in recognition of our excellence in careers. Across all year groups we provide real life employment encounters, such as working in industry standard facilities, presenting work to real employers and experts for critique and review, experiencing meaningful employment encounters and having employers mentoring students across the year through their projects. Students and their parents may consult our specialist careers staff at any time, or use our extensive careers library. Specific help and advice is given to students at transition points about how best to proceed to the next stage of education, training or employment.
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ENRICHING EXPERIENCES
CHARTER
Cowes students’ achievements are complemented by the broad range
museums, running charity events and carrying out social action
of interpersonal and social skills which they develop. Extra-curricular activities are a vital part of what makes our students become confident, caring young adults.
Our Student Charters run from Years 7-13 and offer a guaranteed set of age-related exciting experiences designed to ensure our students are developing character and cultural capital. Experiences include, for instance, watching live Shakespeare and professional sporting events, visiting within the community.
VISITS There are many opportunities for taking part in visits both at home and abroad. The Languages Department arranges annual exchanges to France and Spain and we offer a summer month-long activity trip to carry out social action for a charity in another country, with recent examples including Kenya, Borneo and Cambodia. Exciting trips are organised in many other departments, including a ski trip in PE, Geography field trips, theatre trips in English and Drama and excursions for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Music students participate in workshops, technology students compete in engineering challenges and a wide range of musical and theatre groups visit Cowes to perform for our students. Mathematics, Science, English and Languages students and our Debating Team take part in local and national competitions.
ACTIVITIES A wide range of fantastic clubs and activities take place after school and at lunchtimes, including the Combined Cadet Force, Young Enterprise, the Duke of Edinburgh Award, chess, sailing, debating and the mock trial experience. A highlight of the year is our annual school production, available for all year groups. In addition, there are many subject related clubs such as sporting, music, film and enterprise. The programme of clubs is published on our website. Cowes also runs a range of academic support for all years and revision classes for students preparing for exams. 24
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Cowes Enterprise College, Crossfield Ave, Cowes, PO31 8HB Website: www.cowesec.org Tel: 01983 203103 E-mail: info@cowesec.org
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