Aims & Values

Our values are drawn from our Quaker heritage and are still relevant today.

Friends’ is a school in which each individual is valued as of equal standing before God, and in which a sense of social awareness is encouraged through service to others. Our aim is to provide an environment in which pupils, staff and parents are committed to the idea of excellence within a caring, supportive community.

We seek:
• to enable all pupils to develop their academic potential and interests to the fullest extent;
• to provide a broad and balanced curriculum relevant to the needs of our pupils;
• to foster the self-esteem of pupils and staff;
• to encourage the moral and spiritual development of our pupils;
• to establish a partnership between the school, the parents and the local community;
• to prepare pupils for adult life.

Our motto, drawn from the New Testament book of Colossians, is Quae sursum sunt quaerite, or ‘seek those things that are above’.

ASPIRE

Our values underpin everything we do in school and are encapsulated in the word ASPIRE, which stands for Adventure, Sustainability, Peace, Integrity, Respect and Equality. These are values we seek to model in our everyday lives and which we want each of our pupils to nurture.

We aspire to live adventurously, to take risks in our learning and grasp the opportunities available to us to explore the world around us.
We aspire to live sustainably, to make good use of our resources and reduce our impact on the environment.
We aspire to live at peace with ourselves and others, to nurture our wellbeing and to resolve conflict where we see it.
We aspire to live with integrity, to be honest in our dealings with others and to be true to our values.
We aspire to show respect to ourselves and others, to nurture our talents and to build our school community.
We aspire to promote equality, to value everyone for who they are and to celebrate the contribution they make.