We are a mixed, all-ability, and non-faith school. Our purpose is to educate all the children in our diverse local community. For us, stressing what we have in common is as important as celebrating our diversity. By learning together we come to understand and appreciate the different cultures and faiths that contribute to our rich and varied society.
Stratford School Academy educates pupils from ages 11 to 16 and we believe the needs, aspirations, and safety of each child are very important. We aim to provide the very best learning experiences for the children of our local community so that they achieve their full potential and are well prepared for independence and adulthood.
Stratford School Academy is an all-ability nonfaith school. We are situated in a part of London that is home to many faiths and cultures. For us stressing what we all have in common is as important as celebrating our diversity.
We want all our pupils to become the authors of their own life stories not the subjects of them and we provide a curriculum that makes sure everyone can leave us with the qualifications they need to follow their chosen career route.
As an Academy, we can maximize the control of our destiny, although in practice we share with our neighboring schools the common purpose of providing top-class education to the children of Newham.
Some think that we are born with a fixed amount of ability and intelligence. We don’t – because science tells us otherwise. What we now know is that our brains are like muscles: with carefully planned lessons all pupils can become more intelligent, better learners, they can achieve surprising things and get better than expected results. Our job is to do our best to make sure this happens.
School is an important step on the road to learning but it is not the only one. We must teach our pupils not just what they need to know now but also how to become independent learners who understand how to learn – people who, when they leave us, can travel the road to education by themselves.
We provide a curriculum that makes sure everyone can leave us with the qualifications they need to follow their chosen career route. All pupils who want to can take the English Baccalaureate subjects.
As well as teaching our pupils what they need to learn, it’s also important that we teach them how to learn. So we have developed a ‘two-dimensional’ approach to teaching.
In lessons, we teach our pupils not only the content they need to know but also the skills and learning habits that will stay with them throughout their lives and which will stand them in good stead whatever they chose to do in the future.
Doing homework is part of this equation so we set homework every day and we expect it to be done: there are school homework sessions available every day to provide support and guidance to pupils who feel they need it.
We also run a wide range of extracurricular activities because taking part in physical, artistic, and community tasks is important in a well-rounded education.
