Our values are at the centre of everything we do. Although the words from our school motto -‘Virtue, Learning, Manners’ - were written in 1622, they are remarkably timeless. They guide our core purpose in helping young people discover and develop their talents with both self-assurance and humility.
Our pupils are kind, ambitious, and seek to make a positive contribution in the present and the future: our role is to help them achieve their successes - in whatever shape they may come – without any sense of entitlement.
To do this, we need to prepare our pupils for a fast-paced and ever-changing world. They will need to solve problems we don’t yet know about (in addition to those we do) and many will take on jobs that don’t yet exist. Our pupils are active participants in this journey and distinguish themselves as enterprising young people who always strive to be the best version of themselves. They excel in many areas – academically, in the visual and performing arts and in sports.
We have a reputation for developing confident, resilient and lifelong learners who relish the challenges they face.
In an age of instant gratification and immediate rewards, our pupils understand the value of perseverance, learning from mistakes, and the fact that patience is a virtue. They are willing to take managed risks and celebrate their own successes and those of their peers with equal enthusiasm, whilst accepting Winston Churchill’s premise that ‘success is not final and failure is not fatal’. We cultivate this approach by modelling the behaviours we want to help our pupils develop, and by teaching with genuine passion and intelligence in a stimulating environment. The consequences of this culture of continuous learning are our excellent record of exam results and onward success of our pupils, but we are a School that offers much more than such measurable and finite outcomes: many schools promise to develop the whole person but few can claim to do so as well as Brentwood.
We are also a day and boarding school with a difference – our boys and girls are taught separately until the Sixth Form and this allows us to encourage freedom of expression and create space for individual identity within the classroom whilst maintaining and developing social integration beyond it. All our pupils enjoy access to our modern facilities, set in the heart of Brentwood yet surrounded by 75 acres of playing fields and gardens.
I hope this introduction gives a flavour of what a Brentwood education can offer, and that you will come and see us and find out more. I am confident that if you do, you will discover a school where innovation, dynamism and a can-do attitude are intertwined with manners, respect and, above all, kindness.
Mr Michael Bond
Headmaster
