Our Mission

Our Commitment to our Community

Our passion might be learning – but our commitment is to our community. Brannel School serves an area which is widely recognised as having a particularly challenging socio-economic infrastructure. We are committed to uniting all of our stakeholders in delivering a shared goal of Brannel School as the learning centre of our community. We will continue to build on our strong record of tackling inequality and reducing achievement gaps in order to nurture confident, independent learners who are active participants in the community. We firmly believe that the young people of the ‘clay country’ are as talented as you will find anywhere:

  • Where they have ability, we will nurture it and ensure it is realised.
  • Where they have ambition, we will encourage it and provide the opportunities for it to grow.
  • Where young people do have low expectations of themselves, we will raise their self-esteem, increase their self-reliance and extend their aspirations.

Our Values

High Expectations

We believe that, with the right support, every child can achieve. Our aim is for each and every one of our students – whatever their background or ability – to achieve their full potential.

Excellent Teaching

We understand that the quality of a school depends on the quality of its teaching. We prioritise learning and development, and make sure that our teachers have access to high quality career development opportunities at all stages of their career.

Student-Centred Learning

We want our students to develop learner autonomy and independence. Working with Kunskapsskolan Education, we are delivering a curriculum which is SAIL-inspired. SAIL stands for Student Agency In Learning. This is a student centered, highly personalised approach to education pioneered by Kunskapsskolan in Sweden for over 15 years and now used across the world.

Inspiring to Aspire

We have developed The Brannel Challenge to broaden students’ experiences and raise aspirations. Students are encouraged to participate in activities which challenge, stretch and inspire them.

Exemplary Behaviour

We are committed to establishing an orderly environment in our school so that teachers can focus on teaching and our students can focus on learning. We don’t accept excuses – and we don’t make any either.

Knowing every Child

We understand that positive relationships between young people and adults reinforce a culture of excellent behaviour and a commitment to learning. We structure our school so that every student knows, and is known by, a key group of adults which include their Head of House and form tutor.

Commitment to British Values

We are committed to promoting the British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs. These values permeate our whole school ethos: they are taught as part of our character education programme and are promoted throughout the academic curriculum and pastoral system. This engenders a climate within which our students feel safe and secure and facilitates the fulfillment of potential. As part of Newquay Education Trust we follow the Trust’s Policy on British Values.

 

Our Strengths

We foster a growth mindset

We encourage students to value resilience and to develop ‘grit’, self-management and tenacity. We believe that young people need to experience challenge and make mistakes as part of their learning so that, rather than give up when things do not go to plan, they can  apply what they have learnt in new situations in order to achieve success.

We focus on communication skills

We provide our students with the opportunity to extend their communication skills beyond the classroom audience so that when they enter the workplace they can communicate confidently and coherently in a variety of different situations with colleagues at all levels.

We develop team players

We encourage teamworking; our students learn from experience what can be achieved when people work together. Teamworking also teaches them patience and tolerance – both important skills in the workplace.

We encourage problem-solving

We give our students the opportunity to problem‐solve in real‐life situations, so that they have the opportunity to fail without criticism, learn from that experience and try again.

We nurture creativity

We understand that creativity is essential in all areas of work and life, whether that is using creativity to solve a problem, design new processes or develop new ideas. Our students are given the opportunity to test their creative ideas in a range of different ways through ‘learning by doing’.