ABOUT US

Ethos

We believe that every single student, regardless of their background, culture, religion, ethnicity or gender has the right to a high-quality education in a safe environment free from prejudice and barriers. We strive to provide all students with the opportunity to fulfil their potential by removing any possible barriers to their success.

We recognise that our college community is drawn from a broad spectrum of our society. We work hard to acknowledge the value in this diversity, to celebrate the strength and depth that it brings and to learn from the broader range of knowledge and experiences that this diversity has to offer. Students and their families have opportunities to share their backgrounds, religious beliefs, cultures and ethnicity. This is done in a safe, understanding environment with the goal of better understanding others while recognising the value of self.

By allowing our students to develop and grow within an integrated ethos they become more comfortable and confident in themselves. They quickly recognise that everyone has something to offer and that the input of all should be valued. They become comfortable with the diversity around them and indeed embrace and learn from it.

By the time a student has finished their education at Fort Hill Integrated College, we are confident that they are ready to go out into society with a huge amount to offer. We would hope that they go into their lives not only with a quality education and the ability to choose their own career path, but also that they are inspired to take this college ethos with them. They will have the capability to not only be productive members of society, but to have the ability and desire to help change the society they are part of.

Vision

“To EDUCATE, INTEGRATE and INSPIRE pupils to ACHIEVE their full potential in a supportive, safe and inclusive community”

Values

Our learning community has identified our core values which form the basis of who and how we are.
Fort Hill Integrated College should be a learning community where everyone experiences and demonstrates:

RESPECT
RESPONSIBLE
READY
SAFE

As with any large organisation, the College has many policies which ultimately determine how we operate. The outworking’s of these policies, results in a large number of rules which members of the school community are required to adhere to.

However, we acknowledge that it can be difficult to remember every rule from every policy. As a result, in day-to-day interactions, we primarily focus on core values. These core values encapsulate the essence of all the varied policies.

In our day-to-day life we expect all members of the school community to conduct themselves in line with these four core values.

Respect, Responsible, Ready & Safe

As a member of the Fort Hill Community I will:

Demonstrate Respect for myself, other members of the community and the environment around me.
Accept that I am Responsible for all aspects of my conduct, constantly striving to learn, developing and fulfilling my potential.
Always be Ready to learn and develop my skills in all aspects of college life.
Conduct myself in a way that ensures all members of the College community, including myself, can remain Safe.

Restorative Practice (RP)

At Fort Hill Integrated College we are a Restorative school. A restorative school emphasises the importance of relationships for supporting emotional wellbeing, resolving conflict and preventing harm. The key aims of RP, that are closely aligned to our own core values, are:

- Respect

- Responsibility

- Repair

- Re-integrate

RP approaches are based around the following questions that provide ‘teachable moments’ and opportunities to understand the impact of behaviour of self and others:

- What happened?

- What were you thinking/feeling?

- What do you think/feel now?

- Who has been impacted by this?

- What needs to happen to put this right?

- What will you do differently next time?

The main forms of RP that we practice within our College include:

Restorative Conversations: these are 1:1 conversations, typically between a member of staff and a student.
Restorative Meetings: these are 2:1 conversations typically facilitated by a Head of Department or Head of Year between a student and teacher. Meetings are also facilitated by staff for two or more students who may have had a conflict.
Restorative Circles (community-building): these are used to build a common culture and values within a group of students.
Restorative Circles (problem-solving): these can be used with groups of students who need to resolve a conflict, or with a class of students who may require intervention.