Celebrating Success

At High Close, we believe that celebrating the successes of our young people is a vital part of their development.

It improves their self-esteem, fosters their self-motivation and their determination to succeed, they take pride in their efforts and it creates a sense of belonging to the High Close community.

We celebrate their successes in every way possible!

The young people work on a points system during the school day and those who have achieved good points get verbal commendations in our daily assemblies. If they have acheived particularly well, they will be awarded certificates during our Friday Commendation assembly. These can be for a variety of reasons; making their points targets, reaching goals set in different subjects, behaving well, being helpful within their units, good citizenship as well as other more specific achievements. Most of them thoroughly enjoy their moment of glory when the round of applause is for them!

We keep a tally of all the young people's points over each term which culminates in 'Top Ten' trip and a 'Fab Five' trip. The Fab Five are the five young people who have been consistently good in class and around school and the Top Ten are the young people who came top in that particular term for points earned for work and behaviour. These trips are taken within the school day and are considered to be a real treat for anyone who has earned the chance to go.

Other trips are also organised throughout the year and are often linked to rewarding good behaviour. They can be with their Tutor groups, Unit groups or a mixed group for pupils with a shared interest, for example, a trip to the theatre, recording studios or sporting activity. These trips are always well staffed and work well within our wider curriculum.

Alongside these trips, we like to offer wider curriculum experiences to pupils who have particular interests such as music, sports, drama, dance and other such pursuits. Where young people have been involved in events or performances outside High Close School, we always share them with the whole school. When our young people are involved in events such as the High Close Talent Show or our Drama Productions, the whole school is invited to watch and it says so much about our ethos that the young audience watching give such positive feedback to the performers, enjoying their successes and willing them to do well. These are wonderful events and the young people are always so proud when they take part.

At the end of the academic year we hold our Annual Prize Giving Day. This is a real day of celebration where pupils are given awards if they have achieved particularly well in a certain subject area throughout the year. We have many other awards to acknowledge other areas of development, such as the Good Citizen of the Year, the Most Improved Pupil, award for Consistent Achievement, the Attitude to Learning and Personal Development awards. We hold this on the last day of our Summer term. Parents and Carers are invited and we gather in in a marquee in the school grounds. The ceremony is followed by a barbecue and is always a happy and well-attended event. We are also fortunate enough to have celebrities that support our school to come and hand out the prizes!

Celebrating success is at the heart of our work with our young people and through all the opportunities mentioned above, every pupil has the chance to shine in one way or another!