Welcome to Ark Acton

As a mother as well as a Principal I want three things for your child at school

• I want them to feel safe, loved and cherished  

• I want them to learn well and develop academically  

• I want them to have the trips, activities and experiences that allow them to develop personally and grow into young adults of whom we can be proud.  

We have a clear mission as a school – we want all our pupils to leave us knowledgeable, confident and articulate young people, able to make a meaningful contribution to society, pursue careers they are passionate about, lead happy and fulfilling lives, and leave the world better than they found it. 

The principles that drive our work are that

• We Know every child. Our rigorous pastoral systems and strong personal development offer enable us to know every child and help them thrive.  

• We develop Exemplary behaviour. We are driven by love and tenacity and a belief in purpose over power in our relationships with pupils. Calm, purpose and order are established through the consistency of expectations, clear escalation and intervention and explicit teaching of routines and discipline.  

• We value Depth for Breath – a Mastery Curriculum. Our curriculum design enables pupils to make rapid progress and develop a framework of knowledge and understanding in each subject area that provides a solid foundation for further study 

• We pursue Excellent Teaching- Lessons are never task-driven. Teachers are subject experts, know their classes deeply, and therefore have an excellent understanding of the intellectual journey they are taking their pupils on 

• We are Always Learning and we Develop educational leaders. All members of staff see themselves as leaders within an aligned community of professionals and are systematically trained in best practice. We create high performing teams to drive our school improvement 

We’re pleased to have you here - if you have any questions please do email us at info@arkacton.org, or come and visit us in action!  

With thanks  

Sarah Donachy  

Cherish the Community:

• We are kind in all our interactions with others inside and outside school. ​

• We know our differences make us stronger - we are curious and interested in other perspectives and beliefs. When we disagree, we do so civilly. ​

• We’re a team - we look after each other and the space we share. We know we will achieve more together than we can alone.

Develop Mastery:

• We are curious and explore new ideas with interest. We work hard to master the knowledge of each subject and build the habits of learning.​

• We value effort - we know it is how we approach a challenge that defines us.​

• We act on feedback because we know we can be better tomorrow than we were today. 

Model Courage​:

• We have big goals and push ourselves to succeed. We are brave enough to fail because we know that is how we learn. ​

• We have integrity – we do the right thing even when no one is watching; we are honest and take responsibility for our actions. ​

• We accept the challenge of making our school better for everyone and we own our role in this work.