The mission of Saffron Walden County High School is to be 'a local school of exceptional quality', what this means in practice is that we constantly strive to provide the highest quality education to young people in the Saffron Walden area. It is the kind of quality that is demonstrated by outstanding achievement at all levels, high expectations of behaviour, excellent teaching and learning and a broad and rich curriculum.
Awareness of just how important the essential skills are is key. In a way they are just as important as the academic skills students are developing. Understanding that employers are seeking out these skills in particular and then being able to communicate this to students so that they can then personally develop them is important. Every student is capable of developing these skills to a high standard.
We have had initial discussion on going further with embedding the skills terminology into our awards processes. One challenge we have found is ensuring that there is the right balance, not every lesson needs to have a career focus.
