Information

School Day
Students start at 09:00 each weekday and finish at 15:00 Monday to Thursday. On Friday, students finish at 13:00. Morning break is from 10:30 to 10:45 and lunch is from 13:00 to 13:30.

Our mornings (09:00-13:00) tend to be more classroom-based academic study, while afternoons (13:30-15:00) are largely more creative, active classes – including some offsite activities. However, this structure is frequently punctuated  by outside specialist input and additional topics to enhance the curriculum and benefit our students in a broader context.

From Monday to Thursday, cooked lunch is provided by our own students – facilitated and supervised by teaching staff -and is served in our Bistro, where students and staff dine together. Staff provide toast and spreads for students free of charge at morning break, and we have a “tuck trolley” offering students snacks at a heavily subsidised rate. A supervised recreation room with a range of activities is also available at breaks.

Assessment
As part of induction, new students initially attend for baseline assessment in key areas. This is both diagnostic – indicating where additional support may be required – and also gives us a starting point against which to measure achievement. As well as individual teacher assessment, baseline testing is repeated termly to ensure an up-to-date picture of student progress.

Reviews
As well as statutory monitoring by Ofsted, we work with a Local Authority School Improvement Associate who visits us each term.

In addition, CBC is a participating member of a local schools’ peer review partnership under the guidance of the Educational Development Trust. Designated members of (usually senior) staff visit each others’ schools in a team which examines certain aspects of the school and feeds back its findings. We have now received three annual reviews under this scheme.

In addition to subject reviews, these partners help us to maintain our high standards and open us to outside perspectives.