About Our School

Vision Statement

Waddesdon Church of England School welcomes young people into a safe and secure community where students are encouraged to succeed according to their unique abilities.

Standards and expectations are high and learning is developed through a wide range of engaging educational opportunities. Our ethos is rooted and grounded in traditional Christian values which foster dignity and respect for all and compassion and sensitivity towards others. Self-confidence is nurtured through praise, encouragement, acknowledgement of success and celebration of achievement.

Our learning culture enables our students to fulfil their potential as responsible and productive citizens, to be keen life-long learners and to be proud to claim that they are a part of the Waddesdon tradition, the "Waddesdon Way".

Our School

Waddesdon Church of England School is an outstanding, coeducational, voluntary aided secondary school. In recent years the school has held specialisms in the Visual Arts and Mathematics and Computing and has been designated a High Performing Specialist School and the Lead School in the Aylesbury Vale Leading Edge Partnership. In September 2011, the Department for Education granted the school Academy status.

As a Church of England school, Waddesdon has very strong values and a clearly-defined culture and ethos. Every day begins with School Assembly, where our values are reinforced and aspiration and achievement are strongly promoted. The school benefits from excellent support from the Diocese of Oxford and local churches and organisations of different denominations.

During its history, the school has been successively a special agreement school, grant maintained and voluntary aided. These manifestations have had an impact. Probably the most formative period was when the school was grant maintained. During that time the school’s organisation became geared to proper accountability, including high academic achievement, good facilities and financial probity.

As a rural school, strong links with the community, through feeder primary schools, the churches and village groups are valued. The Waddesdon Estate, separate from Waddesdon Manor (National Trust) and the Rothschild family are all very supportive of the school.

The school is situated on a beautiful, open site on the edge of the Waddesdon Estate. It was opened in September 1962 with approximately 200 pupils! At that time its role in the community was clear – to serve a large rural catchment area. The school now caters for approximately 1,000 boys and girls aged between 11 and 18. Over the past five years the Sixth Form has grown and there are now around 270 students in KS5, with many pupils seeking to join the school from a wide range of neighbouring schools.

School facilities have continually been extended and refurbished, ensuring that Waddesdon is well equipped to meet the educational demands of the 21st Century. The most recent major building project came into use in September 2004 and includes a new teaching block with five general classrooms, an arts suite, a new sports hall with a fitness studio and associated changing rooms. Waddesdon has expanded provision for ICT and is committed to Technology and the Performance Arts. There are no temporary classrooms. Our school library is currently undergoing a major re-design and refurbishment to equip it as a state of the art centre of learning and resources.

The school recognizes that happy and secure students are most likely to gain maximum benefit from their time at Waddesdon. The school has a highly developed system of pastoral care with the pastoral management of the students being organised in mixed ability tutor groups, within a year system. Form tutors, who move through the school with their form, play a crucial role in the pastoral organisation of the school and their work is coordinated by the Heads of Year. Parents receive regular progress reports and there is at least one teacher/parent consultation meeting each year. In addition, the school publishes a range of information booklets designed to support students and parents.

There is healthy support for a wide range of after-school activities. Music, Drama, Art and PE contribute significantly to the extramural life of the school and Waddesdon seeks to enrich and supplement its formal curriculum with a range of extra curricular activities. The school offers and encourages competitive sport, both internally (with inter form matches) and externally (against local schools). Students are encouraged to pursue their sporting interests to the highest level, both within and outside school.