Why is GFS distinctive?

In designing the Greenwich Free School, we visited some of the UK's top urban schools, and other Free Schools around the world to ensure the GFS develops into a world class school, building on the experiences and proven track records of similar, successful schools.

The Greenwich School provides an outstanding education for its pupils because:

1. Ethos

We follow a ‘high expectations; no excuses; no shortcuts’ approach to attitude, work and discipline – for pupils and staff – insisting on the very highest standards of ‘Growth, Fellowship and Scholarship’ in every respect. Of course, the success of any ethos depends on its consistent implementation. At GFS, it permeates everything from governance discussions to pupil interactions; we don’t hire staff unless we think they will really live this ethos and encourage pupils to do the same.

2. Extended day

Acknowledging that there are no shortcuts to success, our pupils are at school from 08:00 until 17:30, so they spend 1/3 more time learning than most children. In the seven years they’re with us, they’ll complete more than nine ‘normal’ years of schooling.

3. Curriculum

We’ve developed a ‘depth before breadth’ curriculum, investing more time for pupils to master the fundamentals of English, Maths and Science (in addition to a wide range of traditional, rigorous subjects – including two modern languages; History and Geography taught as separate subjects; Art, Music and PE). We have also introduced two innovative new subjects taught from Year 7: PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics), which incorporates elements of RS and Citizenship; and ‘Computer Science and Enterprise’ in place of ICT, teaching pupils to master commercially valuable technical skills. In addition to content, our curriculum places a strong focus on personalisation, withdrawing pupils from breadth subjects to attend mastery classes in core subjects where required.

4. Enrichment

In addition to core and breadth subjects, our curriculum incorporates a third strand: enrichment. We want our pupils to love school. We want them to learn how to focus, persevere, tackle challenges and pick up the many other skills one learns from mastering a challenging hobby. We want them to develop passions and talents beyond the core academic curriculum. So at GFS, every pupil undertakes an hour of mandatory extra-curricular activity three days a week – and the whole school has a full day of enrichment activity once a fortnight, where pupils either undertake school trips or have visitors to the school site. This programme aims to engage our pupils with school and provide them with the kind of opportunities to develop ‘cultural capital’ that leading independent schools offer their pupils. It also allows us to embed enrichment activities into the calendar so that they can be used to reinforce the core curriculum (for example, holding a full-day debating enrichment day just before pupils write their first full history essay, supporting their analytical skills).

5. Teaching

We invest in recruiting, training and managing outstanding teachers. We give each teacher a 60% timetable (compared with a more typical 80-90% in most state schools) so they teach fewer classes. This gives them more time to plan better lessons and provide more thorough feedback. It also gives them the time to observe one another teach and to undertake serious research and curriculum development. Teachers also receive 90 minutes of more formal, timetabled, professional development training each week – to ensure the staff are constantly refining and improving their practice. It is uncontroversial that the quality of teaching is the biggest driver of outcomes; at GFS we invest in that thesis.

6. Leadership and management

We manage our staff rigorously, rewarding success more generously than most schools – but holding staff to account for low performance where necessary. This means that staff are observed and receive feedback on their teaching more frequently – and that their pay is linked to their performance, with scope for ‘Excellence Awards’ to be granted for distinctive contributions. All pay rises depend on performance. Our performance management and pay policies also enable us to swiftly remove under-performers where necessary.

7. Innovation

Staff are actively encouraged, funded and given time to innovate and experiment with their teaching practice. Our aim is that GFS provides a fertile ground for educational innovation – and that staff won’t be penalized or discouraged from trying new approaches, even if they are unsuccessful. Staff are encouraged to publish the results of their innovation so that the school system more broadly can benefit from the developmental work.

8. Assessment

Recognising how ‘measurement’ drives behaviours, GFS has developed an innovative new way of assessing pupil progress, which we use in all communications with pupils and parents. It aims to ensure pupils are always focused on progress and how to improve. That they develop a ‘growth’ mindset, where they believe their capabilities can be developed through dedication and hard work; that intelligence is not a fixed trait where one is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ at something. This system is augmented by a complementary one that enables senior staff and governors to quality-assure outcomes through comparison to pupils at other high-performing schools.

9. Size

Pupils are grouped in classes of 25 (15 at A-Level), spending more time (and forming a closer relationship) with a form tutor who acts as a mentor and oversees all aspects of their progress. Pupils spend an hour a day with this form tutor – 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes of supervised homework or reading in the afternoon, giving ample opportunity for pastoral support and intervention. We also employ Student Development Officers to support form tutors in this crucial mentoring and pastoral role.

10. Collaboration

Embracing the virtues of inter-school collaboration, GFS works closely with partner schools and educational organisations. In our early stages of development, we are ‘net recipients’ of this support, but have a clear aim to re-pay this support over time by supporting other schools through formal and informal partnerships as we develop our capacity. Even in our first year, we shared much of our ‘intellectual property’ with other new Free Schools and mature educational establishments and are already seeing our ideas replicated elsewhere.