Vision & Values

I am delighted and very honoured to write as the new Headteacher at The Friary School. Having worked here previously as a senior leader between 2017 and 2021, the school is very special to me and it is a great privilege to return. I look forward to working again with The Friary’s talented and committed staff and, of course, our wonderful children and supportive community.

The school has a strong, well-established ethos: We are committed to ensuring our students are safe, happy and successful. Working with and supporting children is a great privilege and responsibility, and so we ask for all members of the wider school community for their support in this earnest endeavour.

Our school mission statement reflects this commitment: “High achievement through challenge and support for every learner.”

We are a school that is passionate about giving students a wide range of curriculum opportunities, a breadth which enables every student to shine and enjoy success. No child can shine nor succeed everywhere, but they can all shine and succeed somewhere. We make it a priority to challenge support them to find that somewhere.

We are a school that drives for academic success – we know qualifications are the currency for so many opportunities in life. However, we also recognise that high achievement does not only come via the exam hall. It can be apparent in the school play or on the athletics track, the debating chamber or the charity fund-raiser, the orchestra pit or the chess club, the out-of-school club or the overseas residential. All these achievements carry great merit and they all need celebrating; achievement in one sphere often inspires success in another, and so on.

We are a school that expect hard work, but also work empathetically. We are school that knows a challenge can be overcome if the supportive building blocks are put in place to meet the goal. Some children have to be stretched to meet their full potential, just as others have to be enabled to overcome their hurdles and to reach their finishing line. Those who have lost their way, for whatever reason, need to be given opportunities and steered back onto the right path.

We are a school that sets high standards in terms of behaviour management. Every child benefits from consistent parameters, a calm environment and a clear bottom-line. However, we also appreciate a student is a child and so we seek to provide a sense of fun, magic and imagination. We will support our students in growing up, but there is still room to be a child. It could be a formal exam or it could be dodgem cars; it could be the formality of a debating competition or as a leaping rock star on the stage; it could be demonstrating maturity in an employability experience, or showing immaturity as they bounce across a mammoth inflatable.

No matter the strengths, weaknesses, ability or the context, we are a school that goes all out for every child. Looking out for every student at our school is more than just a job, it is a cast-iron commitment, and alongside every family, of whatever the shape or size, in this we are shoulder-to-shoulder.

This is our vision for our school; these are the values we hold – and we pursue this approach every day. If this approach mirrors what you value, whether as a student, parent, or teacher, then we hopefully have a home for you to join and contribute to our flourishing school If you are with us, but feel we are falling short, then get in touch and let’s work a way forward – our ambitions will never be too far apart and there will always be a mutual way.

Mark Drury
Headteacher
January 2026