Highwoods Academy

Empowering Minds Trust is a growing child-centred Multi Academy Trust where challenge, collaboration, inclusivity and support is at the heart of our ethos. We want the kids we teach to become confident, capable, autonomous people who understand their position in the world. We are a family of schools where every child/young person receives the best possible education through the sharing of best practice and world class professional development opportunities for staff. We have the highest standards, encouraging excellence and individual success. Children should, in our opinion, be at the centre of all we do and receive the greatest education possible. The welfare of our students is our first priority. Today's school pupils are growing up in a rapidly changing world, with a wealth of possibilities but many risks and anxieties too, particularly in relation to pupils' mental health, self-esteem, relationships and their safety, both online and offline. Our academies follow an established nurturing ethos, rooted in the Thrive approach, facilitated by trained staff to identify and support pupils with any emotional, social or behavioural needs. We value and embrace each school's uniqueness and the community it serves, whilst seeking to learn from and share with each other so that we spread excellence effectively. We support system leadership and think that when schools collaborate rather than operate independently, everyone benefits. We aim to provide strong, ambitious and inspirational leadership in every school so that every pupil and every member of staff is encouraged to achieve more than they thought possible. We aim to develop a co-operative and collaborative ethos across all our schools so that best practice is shared in the best interests of all pupils and all staff.