At Holly Lodge we believe in ambition: for students’ achievements, conduct and future pathways. We believe in opportunity, in noticing what we are lucky to have and in seizing the chances we have in life. And we believe in community: in serving each other through respect, kindness and responsibility.

Ambition

At Holly Lodge we believe that a truly excellent education should be the entitlement of every single young person. This means we pursue an ambitious, knowledge-rich curriculum, made accessible and memorable for all. We believe that our curriculum and teaching should equip students to pursue high-flying further study and careers on their chosen paths, and to join “the great conversations of humankind.”

As Aristotle said, “Excellence is a habit.” Thus hard work from students and staff alike sits at the heart of our ambition. Our job is to help students develop good habits of hard work, and to effectively support them in their learning. We are immensely proud of our SEND and EAL provision, and are committed to inclusion in education. We are ambitious not only for our students’ academic success but also for their personal development, soft skills and wider cultural capital. To this end we model and expect excellent conduct from all our students: “We are becoming the best versions of ourselves.”

Ambitions such as these do not come easily. When we are pushing ourselves we should expect to feel challenged; we should embrace the obstacles we face as opportunities to grow and learn. Resilience is therefore the final component of our Holly Lodge Ambition. If it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing.

Opportunity

An education at Holly Lodge represents many, many fantastic opportunities, from the learning itself, to extra-curricular clubs, to trips, to life-long friendships made. We see opportunity as a value in itself: it is a way to see the world, to notice, seize, and make the most of the opportunities we are so fortunate to have.

Crucial to our opportunity outlook is appreciation. It is vital that we take time each day to notice all the wonderful things we are lucky to have – even in the darkness there is light.

At Holly Lodge, we make the most of our opportunities by valuing efficiency. We spend our time on the things that make a difference, and we don’t waste time on things that don’t work. Every second counts: whether it is for learning, rest or leisure.

Openness is key to opportunity: openness in our minds and outlooks, a willingness to try new things and consider other viewpoints, and to receive and act on feedback that helps us to get better every day.

Community

Communities are valuable because together we are stronger. At Holly Lodge we value our school community and the wider community we serve as a school. Community is based on respect: tolerance, trust and consideration. It is also based on kindness: we do things to help others because it is the right thing to do. Finally, we take responsibility: we are independent thinkers and we have the power to make the world a better place – it is up to us to do so, in our actions every day.