Northenden Community School

[EduCativ]

All schools are different. Each school has its character, ethos, and ways of doing things. This is what makes schools unique and able to offer different things to meet the needs of different families and learners. At Northenden, we believe that a real strength of our school is our ethos and the care, guidance, and support that we offer to our children and families. Our school is a friendly place and we expect a high level of co-operation and consideration from all involved in the lives of the children. We believe that we are a successful school but are always looking ahead to be even better.
The ETHOS of a school describes its character and the important values and behaviors which underpin our work and are shown through everyday life at the school. At Northenden, we have three overarching ethos statements which illustrate the important things we value in our school. We believe that RESPECT for each other is very important. It is at the heart of how we treat each other, talk to each other, respond to each other and have regard for each other’s feelings, abilities, backgrounds, family, and other differences, cultures, and needs. At our school, we aim that pupils, staff, parents, governors, and visitors treat each other with respect at all times and that the relationships between these stakeholders in our school are always of the highest quality.
A child or young person has a Special Educational Need if they have a learning difficulty or a disability that calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her. A child might have Special Educational Needs, including a learning difficulty, if he or she has significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age or has a disability that prevents or hinders him or her from making use of the facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools. Special Educational Provision is an educational provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for other children of the same age by mainstream schools.
There are four broad areas of need identified in the SEN Code of Practice. However, the purpose of identification is to work out what action the school needs to take, not to fit a pupil into a category. In practice, individual children often have needs that cut across all four areas and their needs may change over time. For instance, speech, language, and communication needs can also be a feature of several other areas of SEN, and children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) may have needs across all areas, including particularly sensory requirements.
The Governing Body’s role is to provide support and act as a ‘critical friend’ to the school and the Headteacher in moving the school forward and ensuring its success. The Governing Body of a school is accountable for its performance, its finances, and the safety and well-being of pupils and staff. All of the above is done by governors voluntarily, some of whom may not have a background in or work in education. Governors bring a wide range of experience to the school, including business and finance, parenting experience, further and higher education, and administrative expertise. Above all, they bring energy, commitment, enthusiasm, and ideas to share with senior staff in shaping the future of the school. The roles and responsibilities of governing bodies are clear in law and there is a clear distinction between the responsibilities and powers of the Headteacher and those of the governors. The Governing Body should take an overview of school development, and support and challenge the Headteacher and other senior staff. The Headteacher is responsible too for forwarding planning but has paid responsibility for this and the overall running of the school.
The school is one of the longest-established schools in Manchester and certainly one of the oldest remaining of the Edwardian era. The construction of the school began in 1908 and was completed for opening in 1910. The school has undergone many facelifts and has been well-maintained, over the years but without losing most of its original design and the charm that it had when it first opened over 100 years ago. You can see evidence of the history of the building in its external features.
Safeguarding is the ‘umbrella’ term we use to mean everything we do to keep children safe and free from harm. The school has a strong commitment to keeping children safe as well as a range of statutory duties it must carry out in doing so. The SAFETY of the children in our care is of the highest importance to everyone at Northenden Community School. Schools are no longer required to issue and ask parents to sign home-school agreements. However, we believe that a partnership, some understanding, and some expectations must exist between the school, parents, and the children (the partnership triangle) for positive relationships and understandings to exist for the benefit of the children, parents, and the school, including its staff.

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