Sir Roger Cholmeley’s School at Highgate – to give us our full name – is three schools in one: the Pre-Preparatory School for pupils aged 3-7, the Junior School for pupils aged 7-11 and the Senior School for pupils aged 11-18. Founded by Sir Roger Cholmeley, Lord Chief Justice of England, in 1565, Highgate is governed as a single charitable foundation.
Highgate is an academically-selective, co-educational day school which values learning and scholarship, promotes service to others and puts a premium on the extra-curricular life of the school.
The statement of ethos and aims, drafted and adopted by Governors in September 2009, is designed to define and record both our charitable objectives (the ethos, or character and spirit of Highgate) and our aims as a school.
OUR ETHOS - THE CHARACTER AND SPIRIT OF HIGHGATE
These actions define and determine our ethos:
• Advancing the education and intellectual and moral development of our pupils, whatever their capabilities, attributes and interests
• Securing the welfare and safety of our pupils as individuals and as members of a community
• Conducting the School in a manner consistent with Christian values and reflecting and celebrating the diversity of modern London
• Sharing the best of what we do by funding and awarding bursaries, by supporting learning in partner schools and charities and enabling them to use our facilities as appropriate
• Fostering open-mindedness and thoughtfulness in our pupils and our School
OUR AIMS
Our aim is to be an academic school and a place for learning and scholarship, where
• we are ambitious about what pupils should know and we provide a cultural framework for their studies and their living
• we work to ensure pupils are knowledgeable and are active, independent learners
• teaching is rigorous, critical, engaging and learned
• pupils leaving school will be intellectually and emotionally prepared for higher education and the world of work
Our aim is to be a reflective community where pupils
• learn the instincts of courtesy and good manners
• develop a moral code and practise living it out in readiness for their adult lives
• care for others and learn to see service to others as a way of life
Our aim is to be an exemplar for the healthy life where pupils
• are supported in developing strength and resourcefulness to meet the challenges of day-to-day life
• develop healthy, transferable interests and pursuits in a co-educational setting
• learn and practise the skills of friendship through participation in a wide range of activities
• grasp the value of the community, and its price
Since 1565, Highgate School and the London around it have seen many changes. One aspect of the School, however, has always remained constant: we are a charity, and every generation of Cholmeleians (as we call our former pupils) and their teachers has been committed to living up to what that means, to strengthening and building on our charitable foundations.
• Enable our teachers to give some of their time to neighbourhood schools and charitable organisations, so that more children can have ACCESS to the excellent teaching and enriching activities that our pupils enjoy every day. One priority is to ensure that able children who are not Highgate pupils can have stimulating teaching in the rigorous academic subjects that are ultimately required by top universities and employers.
• Provide a total of seventy-eight pupils across the school with full-fee BURSARIES, most of whom will join us at age eleven, so that children for whom Highgate is the right school can join us, even if financially it would not otherwise be possible for their parents or carers to consider us. Through our links with local primary schools and our carefully targeted communications, we are reaching out to children and their families to make it possible for them to have the life-changing education that will meet their intellectual needs and unlock for them the doors to lifelong opportunities.
• Give our staff the time and support to grow strong and sustained links with schools, charities and similar organisations in our local COMMUNITY. Our partners can draw on and benefit from our skills and our human, intellectual and physical resources. Our pupils participate in these partnerships, so that as part of their education at Highgate they learn about the importance of, and they experience the rewards of, selfless service. They will leave the school knowing how to “do good” and “have fun” at the same time.