Our Vision
To be a champion of academic, practical and vocational learning; enabling students to develop their knowledge, skills and creativity, preparing them for the 21st century.
The faculty provides an exciting, stimulating curriculum, enabling personal success. It provides opportunities for students to take controlled risks, embrace new ideas, experience new ways of learning, developing their moral courage. A central focus of the faculty is to provide real world context, exploiting cross curriculum opportunities, enabling our students to be outward looking and providing them with challenging leadership opportunities that will prepare them for life.
The faculty has external links with a wide variety of employers and organisations in part because of its role in promoting employability across the school and through subject specific links. These include Arkwright Scholarship, Buro Happold, Dyson as part of James Dyson Foundation, QinetiQ, Royal Navy, RUH and the Rotary Club, to name but a handful.
ALE is a diverse faculty encompassing a wide variety of subjects as demonstrated in our Faculty Staff List below.
Faculty Staff
- Miss Natalie Cording – Head of Faculty and Lead for Business and Economics
- Mrs Heidi Bell-West – Assistant Headteacher (Character Development), Teacher of Business, Health & Fitness, Public Leadership
- Mrs Nicola Turner – Subject Lead Health & Social Care and lead on Employability/Careers
- Miss Laura Jefferies – Health & Social Care and Public Leadership
- Mrs Emma Baber – Food & Hospitality
- Mrs Philippa Johnston – Head of Design & Technology
- Mrs Helen May – Key Stage 3 Lead, Design & Technology
- Mrs Jude Lisney – Subject Lead – Fashion & Textiles
- Mrs Jane Eaton – Fashion & Textiles
- Miss Jenna Button – Fashion & Textiles, Lead teacher for iAchieve Food & Cookery
- Mrs Sam Davies – Design & Technology Technician
- Mrs Julie Saunders – Design & Technology Technician
- Mrs Victoria Hodges – Design & Technology Technician
Enriching Learning
ALE goes beyond the confines of the curriculum to provide students with a 21st Century educational experience that prepares them for life beyond Hayesfield. The nature of our subjects are linked to the outside world and we pride ourselves in ensuring our students have access to a range of activities that enrich their learning. ALE runs the annual Employability Fair that provides students with opportunities to experience a vast array of different employers, apprenticeships and academic institutions to give them insight in to the career opportunities available to them. ALE is also the home of the newly established Royal Navy Combined Cadet Force, providing our students with leadership and teamwork opportunities. In addition to this there are subject specific enrichment opportunities available. These include participating in Business lectures at different universities, spending the day at Dyson engaging in engineering challenges, taking a tour of the Mulberry factory, participating in leadership challenges with the Royal Navy, doing work experience for Child Development and Health & Social Care courses or attending Economics lectures – there is a wide variety of enriching activities provided by ALE. This is not to mention the Period 6 clubs offered by the team as part of the LEAP programme. These range from Sewing Bee to a very popular Cycling Club!
Supporting ALE subjects
In ALE students are supported by their teachers inside and outside lessons. Students with SEN will receive additional support according to their needs with structures scaffolding and additional 1-2-1 sessions offered. ALE staff, in line with the wider school policy, use a variety of teaching methods to support different styles of learning.
Gifted & Talented Students receive a variety of opportunities to extend their learning including the opportunity to study Economics at GCSE and applying to the prestigious Arkwright Engineering Scholarship.
