Our Vision and Values
Our motto and what it means to us
As a school we are extremely proud of our badge, you will see it everywhere around the school. We are proud because it sums everything that we believe in. The motto on the badge says ‘Ut Fili Lucis Fiatis’ and it means ‘to become children of the light’, and that is the reason we exist as a school. We believe that every young person who walks through our doors has enormous potential, and our staff work hard to help students to reach their best and become children of the light.
For us, this means three things: academic progress, character and kindness and compassion. We work hard to provide opportunities for students to develop and thrive in all of these areas.
How do we achieve this at The Earls High School?
In everything we do we are guided by our core values of Excellence, Care and Partnership. This can be seen in:
✅ Great teaching
We have skilled, passionate and experienced teaching team of subject specialists, and they use this expertise to plan and deliver engaging lessons. They often choose to stay with us for a long time, and are dedicated to securing the best possible outcomes for our students. We continue to invest in our facilities to ensure that students have the best experience in lessons.
✅ A rich and diverse curriculum
We teach a full range of subjects from Year 7 to 9 and students then choose the subjects that they will specialise during Year 10 and 11. We give student the widest range of choices so that they can focus their learning on subjects that they enjoy and are good at.
✅ High Expectations
We have high expectations of our students in every aspect of school life, and we teach them explicitly how to meet these. Working hard is important, and we expect them to try their hardest. It is crucial that learning happens without interruption, and therefore we expect high standards of behaviour. We will give our students lots of support, but we expect them to make good decisions.
✅ Extra-curricular opportunities
We believe that involvement in extra-curricular activities is vital to the development of our students because of the creativity, resilience and confidence it instils. Students can join orchestra, choir, samba band, sports teams, dance companies, drama, science, cookie and chess clubs, learn sign language, complete the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and experience trips to Europe and The Gambia, Bushcraft and skiing, to name but a few.
✅ The Earls Gold Award
We recognise achievement in many ways, and you will see lots of students with flashes on their jumpers. Probably the most prestigious of these is The Earls Gold Award, which shows us that they are developing into well rounded individuals. It celebrates attendance and attitude to learning, as well as a committment to developing cultural awareness, community engagement and mental and physical wellbeing.
✅ Pastoral care
We put a huge emphasis on the care of our students to ensure that they are safe and happy at school. Relationships are at the heart of everything we do here at the Earls. We have a large, experienced pastoral team and great form tutors, all of whom know our students well, and who support them to thrive to thrive. Like any school, there are rare incidents of bullying, but we deal with these quickly and effectively.
✅ Partnership
Partnership is vital in so many ways, but particularly with our students’ families, as research has shown that parental involvement has a huge positive impact on students’ academic progress, attendance, motivation and behaviour. We also work closely with the other schools in Stour Vale Academy Trust to develop and share good practice.
Does our approach work?
Our exam results suggest that it does. The attainment of our students is well above average, no matter what their starting point is, and they make good progress here in comparison with other local schools.
But more than this, if you spend time in school, you will see happy, safe, confident students who attend well. We know that our students will thrive when they leave us because they are so well prepared for their next steps. We also know that students make friendships and build relationships here that will last a lifetime.
Please don’t take our word for it, though. If you are a prospective member of staff or a family looking for a school for your child, you are warmly invited to visit The Earls High School to see for yourself. We look forward to meeting you.