Our Ethos

 

Our approach

 

At the heart of Cavendish Education is a commitment to enabling all our students to thrive – when they are with us and after they leave us. 

 

All the activities on our curriculum aim to instil four core attributes;  we believe these are key contributors to student wellbeing and success.

 

• Confidence, 

• Competence,

• Creativity, 

• Character. 

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How we embed our core attributes

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Our logo is a flower that represents the blossoming of life and learning. Each petal takes the form of the letter C and represents one of the core qualities that we aim to instil in every student. These attributes provide a foundation for our curriculum. 

 

Confidence - Empowering students with confidence in their own abilities and worth is a crucial driver of the Cavendish curriculum. Our confidence model covers four elements: communication, independence, responsibility, self-awareness.

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Competence - Our activities aim to develop proficiency socially, academically and emotionally. We define competence as having the tools to master different situations and scenarios, for example managing one’s emotions, knowing a topic inside-out, or being able to communicate feelings effectively.

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Creativity - Recognising and nurturing our students’ innate creativity is a vital part of our approach. Building creative skills feature strongly in the curriculum, for example by supporting students to broaden their thinking so they recognise more than one solution to a given challenge. Another desirable outcome is the ability to capture and break down a broad creative concept into manageable blocks to help our students realise their creative visions.

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Character - In addition to supporting students to thrive academically, we enable our students to flourish on a personal level. Understanding values such as morality, respect, leadership, perseverance, and empathy will help them succeed in the adult world. Other important life skills we embed include the ability to make informed decisions, teamworking and knowing the difference between right and wrong.

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Our approach is based on four broad themes:

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Educational outcomes and wellbeing - Our schools and colleges offer access to a wide range of subject choices and qualification levels, carefully chosen to align with each student’s strengths. This approach allows every student to progress and achieve, regardless of their starting point with us. The transformation of our students takes place on a foundation of outstanding empathy and support, plus the rebuilding of self-confidence and the celebration of individual achievements, large and small. The focus is not solely on academic results, we want our students to prepare for life beyond our doors. For this reason, we also offer support in areas such as fitness, health, nutrition, resilience, and mental wellbeing.

 

Therapeutic and specialist support - Our academic, co-curricular and pastoral provision is complemented by a fully integrated programme of therapeutic and specialist support. This includes access to subject specialists, therapists, counsellors, and support workers. Our small classes guarantee high levels of personal attention from specially trained and empathetic teaching and support staff. We focus on each student’s areas of strength and interest, and tailor their learning accordingly. Sophisticated assistive technologies are available to help students achieve their best work. 

 

Preparation for life - We work closely with our students to help them understand and appreciate their unique learning profiles. This empowers each student to embrace, celebrate and value the attributes that make them unique. Through carefully crafted PSHE programmes, we bring important topics to life and call upon expert speakers to share insights. We focus on achieving independence as adults and offer students access to varied and bespoke life skills input. This might include travelling safely, handling money, cooking, personal care, and social skills. We also have opportunities for work placements that are meaningful, relevant, and sustained.

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Learning outside the classroom - Students who may struggle in a traditional classroom setting often thrive in an outdoor environment. Experiencing success helps them realise what they can achieve when they challenge themselves. Learning outside the classroom inspires young minds and takes many forms, for example studying academic subjects on the farm or at forest school. Our adventure and residential trips are designed to build confidence while away from home; they also encourage teamwork, resilience and problem solving. Sport and physical activity as education complements the mental health and wellbeing benefits of spending time in outdoors.

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