Headteacher

About Highlands School and Sixth Form

Highlands School is an OFSTED ‘Outstanding’ comprehensive secondary school and sixth form for students aged 11-18. It is located in Enfield, north London, with approximately 1,500 pupils on roll. The school opened in the year 2000 in state of the art buildings, set in beautiful landscaped grounds.

Highlands is a very successful and popular school with a thriving sixth form. Our students come from a range of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds and we are proud to be one of the most popular and high achieving schools in London.

Our stated goal is “To provide a world class educational experience for our students. In whatever we do, to be held as an example of best practice to other schools.” This is an aspirational goal, but one we judge ourselves against at all times. If you are successful in your application you will play a key role in improving Highlands towards achieving this.

We are an Ofsted ‘Outstanding’ school and when inspected in June 2020, the report highlighted the excellent behaviour, safeguarding and personal development the school offers. The school champions diversity and supports students’ mental health.  We were delighted with our 2022 summer results, reaffirming our position as one of the highest performing schools in London.

The work we do at Highlands is underpinned by our values: determination, aspiration, respect and equality (DARE).

At Highlands we think about more than exam results. The extra-curricular provision at the school is excellent and we want new colleagues to be actively involved in participating in, and improving, this provision. In recent years Highlands students travelled to Barcelona, Namibia and New York. Students studying physics visited Poland as part of the Erasmus programme, next year they will visit Finland and France. Our students take part in the Duke of Edinburgh programme, ski trips and other visits locally and nationally. The performing arts are a strength at the school and the shows and performances are very popular. Sports are another area of success at the school; girls’ football at Highlands is amongst the strongest in the region. At Highlands students leave with excellent results but also with experiences and an appreciation for the world beyond school that will stay with them forever.

Innovative curriculum development and a commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning is a key role of all staff at Highlands. We actively encourage new colleagues to take advantage of these excellent opportunities. For NQTs, the school offers a comprehensive induction programme.

Our approach to curriculum and teaching is influenced by the writings of theorists such as Christine Counsell and the principles of Rosenshine - yours should be too. We want to recruit a hard working and driven colleague with very high standards, someone who wants to make a real difference at Highlands. The successful candidate will be ambitious and we will support them towards fulfilling their own career potential.

At Highlands we place emphasis on good behaviour and character. Excellent learning is underpinned by excellent behaviour. We expect our students to show respect when interacting with other members of our school community and to uphold the reputation of the school in the local area. By helping our students develop a calm, hard-working and determined approach to learning, they will be well placed to achieve highly when they leave our school.

One of the reasons that Highlands is such an oversubscribed school is that we are a genuine community school; inclusive and caring. Colleagues joining the school should be committed to providing an inclusive education to all. Pastoral support for our students is comprehensive from year 7 to 13. The school also has a full time counsellor and specialist behaviour team. At the heart of our inclusive provision is the resource base on site for deaf students. We have over a dozen deaf students at Highlands from all over Enfield.

Ofsted

“Teaching is of a consistently high quality. Teachers have high expectations of their students. They use their enthusiasm and excellent subject knowledge to inspire students so that they can make rapid progress.”

“Students attend well and are keen to learn and do their best. They are proud of their school. Students’ behaviour is excellent and students feel safe at school.”

View Highlands Schools latest Ofsted report