Message from the Headteacher
In reading about Notre Dame I hope you will gain the impression that we are building a community, one that has a strong spirit of innovation, energy and belief in each person trying their very hardest to do their best to develop their gifts. We aspire to live our lives as shown by Jesus. We know how challenging this is. We sometimes fail and need to support each other on the way through love and forgiveness. We can only be true to our beliefs if we respect people of all faiths, and none, as we share the search for the truth which is ultimately what we are all trying to do. We want our students to feel loved as this is the only way they will be able to show love to others. We believe we create a happy and secure atmosphere for learning and this leads the majority of our students to the success they deserve, something special to celebrate.
Our work must involve us with the wider community, local and global. We believe through our faith that we have a shared responsibility to others, especially our own family, the poor and marginalised locally, and throughout the world. Therefore we must teach generosity and kindness to our students. Of course as every parent knows the most effective way of doing this is though our own example.
We try to create a peaceful and calm atmosphere for learning. This is especially important as we are a school in the city centre. We have a rather crowded but beautiful site, with school buildings that have a history.
We want our staff and students to work well in teams and one of our best examples of this can be seen in the wonderful service provided by our dinner staff, who happen to work in the best dining hall in the county!
While we expect all our staff and students to work hard we strongly believe in a balance and so encourage many extra curricular activities especially sport, music and drama. We have great commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme and to developing community service.
We have 3 specialisms, Languages, Science and we are a Training School. This makes us an ideal environment for staff development and we are developing a wide range of training opportunities for Trainee staff and those at each level of experience within a school environment. We feel we are really fortunate as we have been designated as a High Performing Specialist College.
We welcome visitors and love to show them around.
John Pinnington
