We are a community school. We have wonderful children, caring and supportive parents and a great team of staff. We have modern, well-equipped facilities and are located within beautiful countryside. We’ve faced some challenges over the last few years, but this is a school that’s improving rapidly in every way. We were visited in April 2019 by an Ofsted inspection team and we're very pleased that they recognised our improvements and rated us as Good in every category. Members of our school community can be proud to be part of Summerhill.
Our philosophy is simple and obvious: every Summerhill student wears the words “Success through Caring” on their uniform.
Success is naturally sometimes measured through exam results (and we do pretty well when measured in that way!) but success for Summerhill is also about receiving children and supporting them to develop as individuals to leave us as fully-rounded young adults with skills and experiences that will help them to succeed in every area of their future lives: as they continue their learning journeys; as they enter employment; and as they take on new roles in families and local / national / global communities.
Caring can be soft and gentle, when members of our community need support. Caring can also be about being “bothered”. We believe that real “Success through Caring” comes as a result of focusing on 4 key attributes with all members of our community:
Courage – doing what is right; being truthful; trying new experiences
Ambition – having high aspirations and expectations of oneself and others; testing the boundaries between possible and impossible
Respect – being considerate to oneself, others and the environment; working together in teams
Effort – investing time and energy to achieve success; demonstrating resilience when success seems a bit more elusive
At Summerhill, our House system is absolutely central to school life. It provides nurturing, challenge, teamwork, and fun for all members of our school, building upon a foundation of supportive relationships, family and British values within a global society. Mature and mutually respectful relationships characterise our community and we strive for excellence in every way as we develop young people in partnership with parents and the wider community.
Coming as they do from constellations, the names of our Houses reflect their stellar levels of ambition: Draco (The Dragon: Green); Orion (The Hunter: Red); Pegasus (The Winged Horse: Blue) and Ursa (The Bear: Yellow). We have a smart, fun and colourful school uniform which helps our students to look smart, feel proud and celebrate their house allegiances. House competitions are strongly contested, with a lovely blend of respect, cooperation and friendly rivalry.
We would invite you to experience our unique ethos, community and environment for yourself. Tours of the school can be arranged at any time throughout the year for parents who are hoping to be able to secure a place for their child, and for staff wanting to join our special team. Please contact info@summerhill.dudley.sch.uk and we will be happy to organise a date and time that is convenient for you.
I am very proud to be part of Summerhill School and look forward to even greater successes as our efforts really come to fruition.
