Information on HLS for Candidates Applying for Teaching Posts

Higham Lane School is a high-performing 11-18 comprehensive academy with approximately 1390 students on roll, based on an attractive site in the north east of Nuneaton on the Warwickshire-Leicestershire border.

Our school is very popular and well regarded; it is heavily over-subscribed at entry. Our students have the benefits of working in a school that has a happy, caring and purposeful environment. The School’s mission is: “Helping learners succeed” and our students are encouraged to do their very best in every aspect of their lives and to reach the highest standards.

Higham Lane School is strongly committed to ensuring that all of the young people in our care make excellent academic progress and we take great pride in securing both high achievement and high attainment for our students.  

We feel our school ethos is truly unique. Mutual respect and very clear expectations regarding effort, progress and behaviour are key to our success. Students get on exceptionally well with each other at Higham Lane and with the staff, who take a huge pride in working here. Achievement in all forms: artistic, academic, social, cultural, sporting and intellectual are equally valued. We are especially proud of our sporting traditions which have seen netballers and footballers regularly reach national and regional finals. Our wide curriculum gives scope for students to express preferences and enhance their abilities. They revel in the wide range of opportunities we offer them: taking part in our annual musical; a huge range of trips that enhance curriculum understanding; Duke of Edinburgh Award expeditions and so on. All of these activities widen our learners’ life experiences. The overwhelming majority of our students continue their studies at post 16 level and we were delighted to have opened our own Sixth Form in September 2016.

 

Higham Lane School’s Perfect Ten!

There are so many positive qualities about our school that might make this key post the right choice for you:

Our superb students, who enjoy being at our school and form excellent working relationships with our staff and with each other. Our Kirkland Rowell Student Survey indicates that students judge school discipline and control of bullying to be exceptional! Student Voice is highly-valued in our school and the Junior Leadership Team meet senior staff every week, to discuss ideas and concerns and therefore has a genuine influence in the running of our school. They are supported by Student Voice members and Year Ambassadors.

 

Our excellent academic record: We are a school that enjoys both impressive attainment and achievement.  Higham Lane is amongst the highest-achieving non-selective comprehensive schools in Warwickshire and nationally.

 

Our passionate commitment to state-of-the-art teaching and learning. Our teaching staff is enthused by learning and committed to research!  We have established Research Lesson Study and Teachmeets to share best-practice in teaching and learning. Every Monday morning begins with a Teaching and Learning Briefing led by one of our staff. 

 

Our strong commitment to high-quality professional learning, using leading national practitioners such as Geoff Barton (regular contributor to the TES and author of numerous books on literacy and grammar), Mike Hughes (author of “Tweak to Transform”), Mike Fleetham (creator of the ‘Thinking Classroom’ website) and Gary Wilson (author of “Breaking through the Barriers to Boys' Achievement”) to offer advice on best practice. Our teaching staff lead training on practical teaching and learning ideas for their colleagues. The feedback from these events is always excellent! Our staff have been asked to lead presentations for Pixl and Osiris.

 

Our strong partnerships with other local schools: We formed the Higham Lane School Partnership with several other local secondary and primary schools to focus on Initial Teacher Training; continuing professional development; leadership development and school-to-school support.

 

Our friendly teaching and support staff, who welcome new colleagues and ensure that they are well-supported through our well-structured induction programme and a range of social events.

 

Our supportive parents/carers, who take a genuine interest in their children’s learning and development and feel great loyalty to our school, valuing its excellent reputation.

 

Our excellent facilities: Classrooms have digital projectors and we have dedicated ICT suites in all subject areas. 

 

Our huge range of extra-curricular activities in sport, music, theatre, the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and a wide range of educational visits, which students fully embrace, with high staff participation. We have an outstanding sporting tradition. Large numbers of students play musical instruments and perform at concerts during the school year. Our annual school musical and improvised performances written by the students themselves in our Drama Academy are real highlights. We are one of the leading providers of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze and Silver Award in the West Midlands. We have achieved International School Award Status and organise regular visits to a range of places such as Iceland, The Gambia and Morocco.

 

Our vision and determination to continuously improve every aspect of our work, just as we expect our students to, “Be the best they can be!”