In June 2022, Finham Park School was delighted to achieve, for the first time, the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) Centre of Excellence award. We are proud that our ethos of respect, opportunity, support, and achievement for all underpinned by our school values of kindness, integrity, perseverance, humility and courageousness have been recognised by this national award.

The assessment process identified several outstanding features and developments around Inclusion, specifically that there, ‘Is a strong sense of the school living its values in an environment where all stakeholders feel unique, respected, valued, and consulted with’. It was recognised that, ‘the sense of positivity at Finham Park is almost palpable. Energy is overt, yet focussed, and drives an ongoing desire to constantly review and develop practice pastorally, to ensure that students are ‘fit to learn’ and can, therefore, access an ongoing evolving, broad and deep curriculum offer, which is delivered using an increasing range of pedagogical techniques’.

We are delighted to be awarded membership of The Anti-Bullying Alliance. The Alliance is a unique coalition of organisations and individuals, working together to achieve the vision to: stop bullying and create safer environments in which children and young people can live, grow, play and learn.

The ABA has three main areas of work:

• Supporting learning and sharing best practice through its membership;
• Raising awareness of bullying through Anti-Bullying Week and other campaigns;
• Delivering work at national and local level to stop bullying and bring lasting change to children's lives;

The Anti-Bullying Alliance was established by the NSPCC and the National Children's Bureau in 2002 and is hosted by the National Children's Bureau.

Finham Park School became a Teaching School in September 2018. Since September 2021, our Lion Alliance of 20 schools became part of Coventry and Central Warwickshire Teaching School Hub. We aim to develop a passion for learning, removing any artificial barriers to learning to ensure that everyone reaches their full potential. We believe in creating a learning culture which encourages all to enquire, develop and share.

Our flat leadership structures enable us to move beyond collaboration into co-construction, ensuring education and pedagogy is developed by colleagues to reflect the needs and aspirations of all learners with all schools benefiting from being part of the alliance. We want our learners to be prepared and equipped with the skills required to be a successful member of a global and technological society.

The Lion Alliance is committed to providing high quality support and training for teachers in every stage of their career, from Initial Teacher Training through to developing school leaders. As a recently appointed Teaching School Alliance, based in Coventry and the West Midlands, we work closely with schools and partners in The Lion Alliance to:

• Recruit and train new teachers through a supportive ITT program
• Provide support for other schools to bring about school improvement
• Work with schools both within and beyond our Teaching School Alliance to raise standards of teaching
• Identify and develop leadership potential

We deliver high quality training and CPD, using the expertise of colleagues with The Lion Alliance, which consists of primary and secondary schools, and through our partnership with schools and universities.

We believe that innovation within teaching, action research, and sharing good practice are essential in ensuring World Class education for all. Our CPD programmes are aimed at providing colleagues with the opportunity to develop pedagogy, innovate, and deliver best practice.

Our partnership with primary and secondary schools ensures cross-phase opportunities for colleagues to learn best practice.

Finham Park School has achieved accreditation for transforming practice under SSAT's Framework for Exceptional Education over the past three years (2019 - 2022). The Framework for Exceptional Education is a self-review and planning tool incorporating SSAT's 30 years of experience in school improvement. Co-developed with a group of high-performing schools and reviewed by leading academics, the framework supports schools in quality-assuring their work and sharing effective practice.

To achieve accreditation as transforming in practice, Finham Park School was reviewed by another high-performing school and an independent moderator from SSAT. SSAT's Chief Executive, Sue Williamson comments "for a school to be accredited for transforming practice is a real credit to their team and the quality of the work that they are doing."

The application processes commented:

“A culture of open discussions about Teaching and Learning is evident, along with the absolute focus on Teaching and Learning across the school.”

“I saw a real variety of approaches from a very effective approach to number work in a low set year 9 Maths lesson, to a highly sophisticated discussion in Year 12 Law Lesson and some very confident pupils in a Year 10 Mandarin lesson. In a recent visit to the school I saw some inspiring robotics work with pupils of all years and a literacy event for all Year 7s led by a local poet.”

“The most impressive aspect of Finham’s curriculum is that it has been developed to respond to the community and to some very principled decisions about a secondary curriculum for the 21st Century. They have built up an enviable reputation for the quality of teaching and the achievements of pupils.”

“I met many impressive and enthusiastic teachers and pupils who were clearly relishing the opportunities that Finham gives them. Staff are encouraged and given every opportunity to shape and review the curriculum and they do it in the context of Finham’s wider values of being a true comprehensive school with a local commitment and a global outlook.”

“The school’s approach to professional development is truly inspirational, and colleagues are passionate about their own development and the work that the school does to support them."

“The school has a long track record of successful and effective Professional Learning programmes and activities that have been refined and developed by the whole staff over many years. The staff have now reached a very high level of maturity and trust which means that high quality professional dialogue with each other, that is both supportive and challenging, is the norm. They have always been open to new ideas and happy to share good practice. They are professionally modest about their professional learning work, but other schools would be envious of the levels they have reached….. The school’s drive to produce exceptional professional learning for all its staff and those in The Lion Alliance schools is driven by a restless energy and curiosity about good practice.

Finham Park was first awarded International School accreditation in 2010 and has subsequently been re-accredited every 3 years, including most recently, in July 2022. Global issues are an important part of the lives of our students living in a world where economies are increasingly interdependent and global communication is a daily reality.  Our students have fantastic access to opportunity for travel to supplement and extend their curriculum studies. Visits include Uganda, Burundi, China, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, and America.

We celebrate the rich and diverse heritage represented in our school, and local and national communities. Students have the opportunity to enjoy regular contact with students and adults living in different countries. This encourages interest and motivation through the provision of first hand experiences of life in another country.  We welcome visitors, both students and teachers, from abroad in order to compare different teaching and learning styles.

Ultimately, a global dimension should be reflected in the attitudes and values of our students as well as in the ethos of the school.

Finham Park School was first accredited with World Class status in 2015, one of 6 schools nationally to be rated as such. We were one of the first schools in the country to go through the process, being re-accredited with the status again in 2018 and in 2021, one of only 16 schools in the country to be successful. We were accredited as one of only three International World Class Accrediting Schools in 2019 in recognition for the work students engaged in in a school in Uganda, Africa.

Being World Class is all about the students. The values they demonstrate in their lives are truly exemplary and enable them to operate on the national and international stage.  the students presented the school in the selection process, having completed the bids themselves. The project was an opportunity for the students to cooperate, reflect, compare and share ideas with another World Class School. The opportunity enabled us to learn from each other and incorporate new methods of delivery to ensure our school is ever growing and evolving.

Our students and staff work relentlessly to illustrate world class attributes every single day. Whether it is implementing exceptional teaching methods, modelling outstanding support systems or creating an exciting learning environment, we are able to show our greatest potential every day both as a school and as individuals.

ICONS (International Cross of Nails Schools) is a globally growing network of primary and secondary schools all whom have recognised the opportunity for introducing principles of peace, forgiveness, conflict transformation and reconciliation into their school communities. ICONS embrace the 3 themes which at Finham Park we believe reflect the basis of our core values and of our restorative approach to positive behaviour management: Healing the Wounds of History, Living with Difference and Celebrating Diversity. At the heart of our school vision, ethos and daily life is our belief children and young people can positively impact their school and local community, challenge prejudice, foster peaceful relationships and celebrate diversity and we believe that both staff and students should learn how to manage conflict in positive and creative ways. Our Student Leaders and staff have actively been involved in a number of mentoring programmes to support our community in managing difficulties and in learning to accept difference,

ICONS is such an exciting body to be involved in as it relates to each and every one of us in our schools, our homes and our community at large. We are all educators, role models and hopefully, at times at least; trail blazers of positive change amongst the students we work with and is our responsibility to do our utmost to ensure that the young people in our care, the leaders, politicians, nurses, entrepreneurs and parents of the future understand the mistakes of the past.

Most students from a young age learn about the wounds of the past in many forms; the Holocaust, Remembrance, about what it means to be unkind or to treat people unfairly. We often teach whole units of work on key historical events that highlight exactly the extent of the atrocities that can occur when basic human integrity is ignored or when society loses sight of its importance. But we all must accept this is not enough. We are committed to working collaboratively on a culture shift that embeds core values in our young people that challenge social inequality both locally and globally.

Our core values of integrity, humility, perseverance, courageous and kindness are deliberately challenging. We want our students to understand that often doing the right thing is not the easiest, but that if they make a mistake, they can pick themselves up and be better, be kinder and be the best they can be. We are proud at Finham of our restorative justice work and our staff and students are committed to understanding the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation. It is a powerful moment when even the most challenging of students finds themselves able to accept their mistakes and move forward positively and we hold many events both of remembrance and celebration each year to celebrate the three arms of ICONS across our school community.

Living in a multi-cultural city and coming from a forward thinking school, students here understand to a larger degree what unfairness and inequality looks like. They understand right from wrong and they on the whole accept difference. What however they perhaps do not see is the inherent prejudices that life itself offers. The harsh reality of the world where some young people do not get the chance to go to school and where poverty is raw and real both in the UK and abroad. These are things our students see and hear about yet probably find hard to fully understand. It is our job to nurture young leaders who want to challenge this, and we want our young people to see the marginal gains they can help to make to adjust the injustices globally and who continually are grounded enough to remind themselves of this and commit to this mission. We are proud and committed to working collaboratively with the ICONS and community to build a future focused on peace and reconciliation.

Finham Park School has specialisms in Mathematics and other STEM subjects. A considerable number of the teaching staff at Finham Park work with local Partner Primary and Secondary schools. They lead a range of activities from offering curriculum enrichment opportunities to students to training other teachers in delivering electronics and robotics. The aim of all of these activities is to have a strong impact upon teaching and learning in these subject areas.

The Science and Technology departments work closely with the Mathematics department in delivering a range of nationally accredited projects for all students. These range from projects that train teachers to robotics programs through VEX Robotics and Engineering Scholarships through Warwick University.

Opportunities in the Sixth-form

Finham Park works with the Further Mathematics Network, based at Warwick University, to increase the number of students who have the opportunity to access Further Mathematics. Students from local schools study A-level Further Mathematics and AS Further Mathematics at Finham Park School as well as other STEM subjects. We offer enrichment days through video-conferencing and trips to hear lectures given by leading figures in industry.

Continuing Professional Development

As a CPD Centre through our Teaching School we  offer an extensive programme of training concentrating on improving classroom delivery to enhance the learning experience of all learners of Mathematics, Science and Technology. Staff train teachers across the country, speaking regularly at events like the SSAT conference as well as going to China to train teachers in the imaginative delivery of STEM teaching.