Our Approach to Education

At Northolt High School we believe that our purpose in educating young people is to provide the right balance of inspiration, challenge and support in order to ensure that students realise their potential in the time that they are with us. Our expectation is that we truly live our school values of pride, courage and respect in everything we do.

We teach and reinforce some basic expectations very clearly through our ‘standards’ descriptions, for example, by sharing with students how we expect them to present their written work, respond to feedback from staff and peers about their work, check that classrooms and common spaces are tidy before leaving. These routines provide the platform to enable our students to take their learning seriously and to take pride in our school.

Our curriculum is broad and we are proud of this. We promote STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) alongside a range of arts and humanities subjects as our view is that students are entitled to a wide range of academic experiences at this stage of their lives. All teachers offer free extra-curricular activities to further enrich students’ experiences and our Sports Facilities, managed out of hours by Northolt Leisure Centre, offer access to a wide range of activities every evening and at weekends. We also use trips and visits to enhance students’ learning.

Home Learning is important as it supports students in developing the resilience and independence they need. We provide a fully staffed after school club in our well stocked library every day after school to support students who need it, and our use of Google Classroom means that students are able to access materials online at home as well.

We believe in the power of praise in motivating our students and also in involving them in the running of the school through our student leadership programme. We routinely praise students through phone calls to parents, postcards, rewards assemblies and events with the aim of helping each member of our community to develop the confidence to trust in and pursue their ambitions. We are proud of our school and committed to our local community.