The Cedars School Vision

At The Cedars, our vision is to create a school where every child feels emotionally safe, valued and ready to learn.

We believe that children need to feel emotionally safe, develop trusting relationships and experience a strong sense of belonging before they are able to fully access learning. We therefore place equal importance on pupils' academic, social and emotional development.

Our approach is relational, compassionate and ambitious. We recognise that every child is unique, with their own strengths, interests, experiences and starting points. We work to understand and remove barriers to learning so that every child can make progress, develop confidence and experience success.

Our school values provide a shared framework for how we learn, work and treat one another:

Primary

• Be Safe
• Be Ready
• Be Respectful

KS3

• Be Responsible
• Be Proud  

Through these values, we aim to develop pupils' self-worth, resilience, communication, cooperation, problem-solving and independence, preparing them to thrive both in school and beyond.

We believe that every child should have access to a broad, balanced and ambitious curriculum. Lessons and activities are carefully planned and adapted to meet individual needs, enabling pupils to achieve their personal goals and make progress from their individual starting points.

We work in partnership with parents and carers, staff, governors and external professionals to provide the best possible educational experience for every pupil and to prepare our children and young people to become confident, responsible and active members of their communities.

Curriculum Intent

The Cedars curriculum is broad, balanced, ambitious and inclusive. It prioritises the key knowledge, skills, vocabulary and understanding that we believe our pupils need to develop as they progress through the school and prepare for their next steps.

Our curriculum recognises that pupils join The Cedars with different experiences, strengths, needs and starting points. Learning is therefore carefully sequenced and adapted so that pupils can access ambitious content at an appropriate level of challenge.

We aim to:

• secure strong foundations for future learning;
• develop knowledge and understanding that pupils can remember and apply;
• explicitly develop language and vocabulary;
• provide opportunities to revisit, consolidate and deepen learning;
• develop confidence, independence and a love of learning;
• celebrate diversity and develop pupils' understanding of the wider world;
• provide rich experiences that build cultural capital;
• support pupils' social and emotional development;
• prepare pupils for their next stage of education, employment and adult life.
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We do not reduce our ambitions for pupils because they have additional needs. Instead, we identify and remove barriers to learning and provide the adaptations, support and opportunities pupils need to participate, succeed and make progress.