Lodestar Academy supports the social, emotional, academic and vocational development of young people who are impacted by a range of traumatic life experiences. These experiences can reduce the capacity of children to recognise and make use of opportunities and can prevent children from growing into adults who are able to meet their own and other people’s needs.
Lodestar Academy uses the advantages of a smaller setting and a high staff to student ratio to ensure that every student has a good place to learn, good people to learn from and a strong sense of purpose which reflects their own skills, needs and interests.
Delivering this vision means overcoming obstacles which other children do not face; this means that the academy will sometimes make adaptations to the learning experience and environment which deviate from the mainstream model. We recognise, however, that we must enable students to become adults who can adapt to the demands and expectations of the wider society; for that reason, we will apply the best elements of the mainstream model, as they relate to boundary-setting and behavioural expectations, curriculum design and student outcomes.
The academy promotes a culture in which a rigorous foundation of structure is underpinned by targeted strategies for nurture. We aim to create a positive, respectful learning environment that is safe and calm and which will develop and enhance our students’ capacity to participate in the wider society, as well as enabling their academic and vocational success.
The academy endeavours to respond to immediate needs and future demands concurrently: this means that we will always support the child we encounter in this moment, without losing sight of the need to prepare the adult of the future for life’s challenges.
Lodestar Academy will offer every student an ambitious curriculum, within which they will access a personalised pathway designed to help them become independent and resilient learners. We will instill in every student a strong sense of purpose within their academic and vocational studies, working towards individualised destination goals. Throughout their educational journey at Lodestar Academy, students will be supported by a staff team who are actively engaged in the professional development required to become the best educational practitioners they can be. Our classroom teachers will use their strong subject and pedagogical knowledge to design and deliver lessons which stretch and challenge all learners, leading to our students making consistently good progress and gaining the qualifications necessary to move onto their next stage of education, employment or training.
Lodestar Academy recognises that students come to us with a myriad of challenges that include failure to succeed in mainstream education: crime, drugs, lack of family support and the pressures of materialism, the media and 24-hour social networking.
To counter these challenges, staff at Lodestar Academy will work with students, families and outside agencies to prepare students for a successful life in modern Britain by providing opportunities beyond the academic curriculum, that can offer students an understanding of who they are and who they can become; they will be given the tools to become active, responsible and employable citizens who:
At Lodestar Academy, every moment is a “teaching moment”, an opportunity to model our 5 core character values. These are:
We go beyond ...
We prepare students for a successful life in modern Britain by providing opportunities beyond the academic curriculum, that can offer students an understanding of who they are and who they can become; they will be given the tools to become active, responsible and employable citizens who:
Our 5 character values are embedded within every aspect of our work together. You will find links to them within our:
More importantly, the 5 character values affect every interaction between every member of our community, every day.
If you see somebody demonstrating their commitment to a character value, we encourage you to celebrate it, by speaking out and saying so:
“I see and I celebrate your commitment to courage. Thank you.”
If you see somebody ignoring a character value, we ask you to call it out by saying so:
“I’d like to make a stand for integrity, please.”
We understand that none of us are born with these values; we learn them by practicing with the people we care about. For that reason, we provide students with an ongoing series of opportunities to rehearse these qualities in a safe way, with safe partners. This includes:
