Vision & Mission (Trust Intent)

Make It Different Trust has been established, initially to operate the new Hartlepool SEMH Free School (HFS) to establish a blueprint of the highest quality SEMH provision. We are an outward-looking Trust, intent on ensuring our work improves the lives of the children, families, and community we serve. We will strive to ensure our stakeholders' voices are heard and responded to and that we are able to adapt to meet their changing needs.

Our School Values

We operate within the guiding values of:

  • Kindness
  • A Growth Mindset
  • Resilience
  • Personal Responsibility

Our Provision Intent

The school will provide an inspirational and exciting curriculum with a strong focus on positive personal strengths and conduct, high aspirations and on the importance of the outdoors and nature and curriculum will include horticulture, animal care, outdoor education and cultural education.

Parental Confidence and Trust

Building trust with families is important and helps children to feel secure in their learning. We will work hard with all parents and carers to ensure that together we build a team around each young person.

Emotional Resilience and Well-being

We will help our students to understand and process their emotions effectively and teach them how to do this themselves. We will also help our students to learn how to deal with the challenges they will come across in learning and life. We know that high-quality relationships with school staff support both engagement and motivation as well as improving resilience and wellbeing, and our methods and approaches are based on these being developed.

All Children can Achieve their Personal Best and Make Progress

We know that all children have the potential to make progress, and this looks different for every child. Our aspirational curriculum which is highly adaptable will ensure that all students are able to achieve their personal best, whether that be A Levels, GCSEs, Vocational Qualifications or personal development qualifications or a mixture of all of these. This will be supported by our high-quality personal development programme.

Reading, Writing and Oracy

The ability to communicate well is one which will support our students to develop as effective learners and confident adults. We will give significant focus to this for every child.

Preparing for Adulthood

We will work hard to make sure our students are well-prepared for their next steps, and that they are well informed about their options. We will provide meaningful work experience and volunteering opportunities, in-school apprenticeships and internships, employer visits and contacts, and numerous opportunities to explore the whole range of post-16 options for our students starting from their first days with us.

Children have a Sense of Belonging in the Community

We will make sure there are lots of opportunities for our students to get involved in community activity, both in school and out of school. We will encourage involvement in our Duke of Edinburgh programme, and encourage our students to think about others, both people they know and people they do not. We will involve the community in our school and see it as being a hub for the families and community it serves.

Children Are Safe

We will ensure that our staff understand family, community, regional and national challenges to children’s safety and wellbeing. We will ensure that our students are well prepared to keep themselves and others safe by taking part in our extended safeguarding curriculum which will include a cyber academy membership for every child.

Enjoyment is Part of Every Day

Our students will be encouraged to find their love of learning. We will strive to identify for each student their interests and passions and develop these further where this is appropriate.

Staff Confidence and Competence – Building Greater Capacity to Meet Needs 

We will support our staff to be well trained, confident, professional competent and able to think about how to develop their skills further. We will offer good quality staff training and development throughout the year, making sure that staff use new knowledge to develop and improve what they do on a day-to-day basis. We will offer regular support and supervision including peer and group supervision. We will work with professionals to build our knowledge and skills where others can contribute to our work, and we will do the same for others.

We will support our staff to be well trained, confident, professional competent and able to think about how to develop their skills further. We will offer good quality staff training and development throughout the year, making sure that staff use new knowledge to develop and improve what they do on a day-to-day basis. We will offer regular support and supervision including peer and group supervision. We will work with professionals to build our knowledge and skills where others can contribute to our work, and we will do the same for others.