Edutech Apprentice

Context and Characteristics - Traditional Values, Innovative Practice

Based outside of Colchester, we are a semi-rural 11-16 school which serves Tiptree and its surrounding villages. We are an Ofsted rated good in all areas (May, 2025) stand alone academy which allies traditional values with highly innovative practices e.g. a two week October half term break, CPD within the school day on a Friday with teaching completed by lunchtime and a Yondr pouch system that means we are a genuinely mobile phone free school. Above all though we pride ourselves on being a school that is kind and has heart.

Our Mission and Values

Thurstable School has a clear mission of building knowledge and growing character. Underpinning these are our strong values of aspire, respect and endeavour. They are part of our DNA and inform all of our interactions and decisions at the school from our reward system to our shared language.

Building Knowledge

We very much believe in gimmick free teaching and learning and we place the teacher as the expert in the classroom. Sustainable academic achievement comes from students developing the habits of success from Year 7 and building on these each year. We do this through our Morning Meeting programme which every year starts with the Cog Sci module on how to boost long term memory.

Academic scholarship, reading and writing are at the heart of our curriculum and all students in Years 7 and 10 enjoy our Thurstable Loves To Read (TLR) programme which ensures that students read on average for 20 minutes a day.

Growing Character

Equally important to our ethos is growing character and one of our mantras is “true character is doing the right thing when no one is looking”. We believe that character is taught, caught and sought. Central to this is our Tutor Group Character Curriculum and Elective Programme. Students are able to attend from a range of over fifty after school clubs and societies. We are ready to submit our application to be a kitemarked school of character from the Association of Character Education.

High Expectations and Consistent Routines

We know that ensuring high standards of behaviour is key to a successful school and Ofsted (2025) recognised that “the school has high expectations of pupils’ behaviour”.  There are clear, simple and effective processes in place to ensure disruption free classrooms in which our students “focus on their learning and strive to do their best” (Ofsted, 2025). Senior Leaders take the lead on behaviour and are visible on every transition, lesson and entry to and from school. We run a centralised on-call and detention system so that teachers can focus on preparing great lessons. Key to our culture is consistency of routine from the way lessons start to how we connect before we correct.

“Staff receive high quality coaching and training”. (Ofsted, 2025)

We removed performance related pay five years ago and believe in professional growth at the heart of school improvement. One of the original Steplab Coaching Hub schools, we have been pioneers in Instructional Coaching and all colleagues receive regular coaching from one of our Lead Practitioners or senior leaders. Staff receive high quality coaching and training. Highly supportive of individual professional development, many of our colleagues have completed NPQML/SL courses etc

Guaranteeing your Well-being, Reducing your Workload

• We pride ourselves on promoting the well being of all of our staff which Ofsted noted “They benefit from and appreciate the considerable support for their well-being and workload.”
• There are no after school meetings as there is 1h 25 minutes each week of CPD, much of which is allocated to departments to provide subject specific training, sharing of best practice and curriculum development
• We prioritise the collective production of lesson resources to save individual planning e.g. through booklets, centralised resources etc. We have prioritised the time for this to happen.
• No expectation of traditional book marking - we have a feedback policy which focuses on providing live feedback in lessons and whole class feedback.
• Half termly assessments in most subjects are multiple choice knowledge assessments that are automatically marked with no teacher input or workload.
• Two week October half term break with no reduction in the Summer holiday
• Only a maxim of two main summative assessments per year group.
• Centralised detention system
• Strong behavioural system based on systems not personality
• Laptop provided
• Discounts membership to Tiptree Leisure World.
• Free membership of the Education Assistance Programme from Education Support which includes:
• A range of counselling options including telephone, online or face-to-face sessions, and a mindfulness module
• A dedicated coaching service for line managers, aimed at developing soft skills and building confidence for handling challenging situations
• Financial, legal and practical support from qualified professionals on a range of personal issues
• Access to online health and wellbeing resources and a specialist information service