Bishop Sutton and Stanton Drew schools aim to provide an outstanding level of education for all children, striving for academic excellence, a rich creative curriculum and a wide variety of inspiring and enjoyable experiences. We want our children to feel respected and cared for as individuals as well as part of a strong and supportive community.  We work in a collaborative and supportive way to enable our children to succeed, to celebrate their achievements and to be proud of who they are and what they can contribute to the world, now and in the future. We aim for our children to be independent, resourceful and resilient learners, who are aspirational and confident and care for others and the world around them. This is why the Federation’s vision statement is:

‘Where every child can dream, believe and achieve’

Teaching and Learning at both our schools is based on the principle of:

‘Learning Without Limits’

Children are encouraged to have high aspirations and take on new challenges, not limited by pre-determined ideas of what they may be able to achieve.  In most lessons, they will have a choice of independent tasks instead of given work to suit a set ‘ability group’. Children are encouraged to take ownership of their own learning and to play an active part in how their lessons, classes and schools are run.

'Learning to Lead '

Learning to Lead is well established in both schools and children work in teams to lead an area of their choice. In the younger classes, this may be taking responsibility for daily class jobs, and as they get older, they take more and more of a lead in organising and running areas of the school. For example, running after school clubs, arranging speakers and workshop leaders to come in to school, organising fundraising events, running Eco campaigns, improving the school grounds, and many more – their work changes from year to year.

As a Federation we have the best of both worlds – two distinct communities but with the benefit of collaboration and shared resources and expertise. Stanton Drew is a very small school, with an ‘extended family’ feel to it, while also enjoying the benefit of the facilities at Bishop Sutton such as playing field, conservation area (used for Forest Schools) and the school hall. By joining together and visiting each other’s schools, children and staff at both schools benefit from working in single year groups, performing to different audiences, hosting events and mixing with a range of friends and colleagues. We often share our resources, such as our school minibus and iPads, which benefits both schools and means we can take part in events and competitions that would be more difficult on our own.