About the Senior School
In Year 7, 8, 9 or 10 we want you to enjoy your learning while understanding how it is relevant to our lives and the world around us. We want your days to be filled with challenge and laughter and for you to get the most out of your learning whilst exploring a personalised learning journey.
During the week you will using the ‘Inquiry Cycle’ to explore International Baccalaureate subjects, discovering and creating products in subjects like English Language and Literature, Integrated Humanities (history, geography, sociology, philosophy, economics), Integrated Sciences, Spanish, Maths, Design Technology, Visual and Performing Arts and Physical and Health Education. Your teacher will be your ‘guide on the side’ as they inspire and support you through your learning. One of the unique aspects of our school is your Personal Project. You are able to explore a project of your choice on a Friday, whereby you can choose to follow your own interests using our recording studio, textiles studio, student kitchen, media lab. If you are a keen forester, we also spend time in our forest learning not only survival or forest skills but creating a central hub for our school community to gather, eat and play together.
You could also become a member of our very successful equestrian team, football or netball team. Although you will explore many sports on the fields or at the K2, extra time is given to those team members to represent the school in competitions and tournaments.
We want you to mature with all the important skills to set you up for a happy and fulfilled future, and developing and sharing ideas in our team is a great way to do this. A lot of the things you will do will be collaborative, but you will also have lots of opportunities to work alone on projects you want to as well. You can share your thoughts about different parts of school life by voting for and against different things, which means you become part of the decision-making process in running the school. You will also be invited to create the class agreements with your teachers and classmates. These will be the decisions we make about how to behave in school so that everyone feels safe and respected. At Atelier 21 you have a voice, and you will be listened to.
Senior School (for 11-16 years)
In our senior school we want you to have lots of fun while you learn to challenge yourself and develop an autonomous role in your learning experience at school. We want your days to be filled with challenge and laughter and for you to truly enjoy learning about the things that really interest you (and some stuff that might not as much!)
So much more than academic learning
Whilst we value academics at Atelier 21, we offer so much more…
Middle Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate
Personal projects
Our pupils also have the opportunity through Personal Projects and self-directed learning time, to use our in-house radio and music production, animation station, textiles studio, take part in creative writing workshops; and get involved in an array of sports from indoor climbing, swimming, team sports and lots more.
On Fridays there are no timetabled lessons to enable our students to undertake a combination of outdoor learning and ambitious personal projects of their own design, be it entering national competitions in art or creative writing, designing or making new products, charity work or setting up new businesses.
Life-long skills
We want our pupils to mature with all the important skills to set them up for a happy and fulfilled future, and developing and sharing our ideas in a team is a great way to learn to do this. A lot of the things our students do will be collaborative, but they will also have lots of opportunity to work alone on projects they want to as well. Students can share their thoughts about lots of different parts of school life by voting for and against different things, which means they become an integral part of the decision-making process in running the school. They are invited to create the class agreements with teachers and classmates. These will be the rules for how they behave in school so that everyone feels safe and respected. At Atelier 21 you have a voice, you will be listened to and we will help you on your journey to adulthood.
Entrepreneurial spirit
Entrepreneurship is a key part of Atelier 21 Future School. This revolutionary approach to education means that entrepreneurial pursuits are not tokenistic one-off events, they are integrated into every aspect of the curriculum. We think that in today’s world young people need to develop financial literacy and an entrepreneurial spirit to thrive. Entrepreneurs know how to navigate challenges through an ever-changing environment, they are resourceful, adaptable and not afraid to take measured risks in life.
It has never been more important to ensure our children understand how to develop multiple revenue streams (even if they don’t want to run a business), and how they can build wealth for themselves and do good things with it as adults.
Left brain, right brain or both?
We want our children to develop all the important skills they need to set them up for a happy and fulfilled future at Atelier 21, and developing and sharing our ideas in STEAM is also a great way to learn to do this.
On noticing some of the older children joining Atelier 21 had become disengaged with STEM subjects along their educational journey, we took swift action to inspire them again – through real-life connections and experiences, fun and interesting practicals (beyond those in the National Curriculum) and providing engaging enrichment opportunities – both within the school and outside. For example, a trip to Sussex Rehabilitation Centre at Brighton University really brought their recent study on “Is the human body more than just a machine?” to life.
To accomplish this, we employed additional inspirational science, technology and maths teachers who were passionate about making STEM learning more relevant and joyful. As a result, ‘Immersion weeks’ are now run where the timetable is collapsed down to enable pupils to delve into a STEAM subject in more detail. We also run ‘Mastery Workshops’ to give pupils the opportunity to learn knowledge in each subject both discreetly and through project-based learning.
At Atelier 21 the Arts are particularly prevalent in STEM. Our STEAM Lab is a place for examining the world, through the lens of biology, chemistry and physics as well as integrating art and design, invention, aesthetics and technology.
Developing a love of learning
One of our key aims for our 16 years olds is that they build their momentum for learning throughout school and leave wanting to know more – not exhausted from learning.
Having studied at the UK’s first future school, the forecast for pupils at Atelier 21 is very exciting. Atelier 21 alumni will be skilled across multiple areas with a ‘globally thinking’ mindset, intercultural understanding and global engagement, all being essential qualities for young people today. The ‘softer’ skills are achieved by collaborating in a team, showing empathy and learning how to ‘get things done’ by working hard, persevering and utilising the wide range of ‘life skills’ they have acquired at school.
Future employers are looking for undergraduates or school leavers with a great set of grades who also possess the ‘wow factor’ in terms of communication skills, interests, stamina and the ability to work in a team. Following Atelier 21 we expect pupils to either follow the International Baccalaureate route via the diploma, switch to A-levels or other qualifications post-16, or make the most of their entrepreneurial abilities by setting up their own businesses or pursuing another talent – the sky’s the limit! The most important factor is that the qualifications pupils will gain at Atelier 21 are as valuable, recognised and of equal status to GCSEs.
We are frequently asked by parents if we can continue the Atelier 21 journey at 16 years and we are not ruling this out as we continue to grow and establish ourselves. Watch this space….
