Menu
NULS2025
‘Never Not New’
Strategic Development Plan
scroll
NULS is a school
of immense heritage
With a reputation founded on a seamless history of exceptional academic and all-round achievement. Our roots are traceable to the early 1600s and the spirit and forward looking approach evident then, underpins everything we do now. As we look ahead, our ambitions for our school, are only matched by our aspirations for all of our pupils.
We are a pioneering school, leading in education.
We are NULS
NULS2025: ‘Never not New’

Whole School Strategic Development 2019-2025

We are already one of the highest performing schools in the country. It is our aim to raise our levels of achievement for all of our pupils even higher.

We will do this through our relentless pursuit of 8 key strategic aims.

Our Key Aims
  • 01. Excellence in Teaching
    and in Learning
  • 02. A focus on
    the whole child
  • 03. An exceptional
    all-round education
  • 04. A school at the heart
    of its community
  • 05. Beyond school life
  • 06. Building the
    school reputation
  • 07. Facilitating a leading
    learning environment
  • 08. Enabling the future
01.
Excellence in Teaching
and in Learning
To achieve this we will be a forward thinking, progressive educator with a dual strand academic strategy that aims for Academic Performance through inspiring Teaching and Learning.
We will:
  • Target excellence in educational outcomes for each and every pupil
  • Support all of our students so they may build their Learning Power and their personal confidence
  • Foster a high performance culture in staff and in pupils
  • Ensure we recruit and retain the highest quality teachers and support their development and well-being
  • Ensure we have the highest competency in whole school management
  • Develop our curriculum with creativity and innovation to meet each and every pupil's needs
  • Enable our Prep School to emphasise the very highest of standards through specialist teaching in areas such as Science, Mathematics, English, Languages and the Creative Arts
02.
A focus on
the whole child
To achieve this we will aim to value pupils’ well-being as paramount and to ensure their welfare is viewed in the broadest possible terms, mental and physical.
We will:
  • Focus on delivering Excellence in our pastoral care through highly skilled pastoral leaders
  • Retain the unique spirit and ethos evident at NULS
  • Adopt a progressive and proactive approach when viewing pupils’ well-being embedding initiatives to foster pupils’ Resilience so they are equipped for the demands of the modern world
  • Integrate Positive psychology approaches in school to help ensure pupils are well and reaching their potential
  • Aim to deliver pastoral excellence alongside and with our parents
  • View our Prep and Seniors as One School aiming to provide a seamless pastoral path that cares for each and every student as they grow
03.
An exceptional
all-round education
To achieve this we will commit to constantly invest in achieving an all-round, holistic education that meets the very highest of Independent School standards
We will:
  • Focus on delivering the leading all-round offer in the Staffordshire and beyond
  • Aim to deliver a leading extracurricular provision in Sport, Music and the Performing and Creative Arts at both our Prep School and our Senior School
  • Deliver a broad and balanced co-curricular provision that emphasises participation and extension
  • Institute a highly progressive supercurriculum to provide intellectual and personal enrichment and extension
  • Constantly enhance and innovate in our co-curricular facilities at Prep and Seniors to provide pupils with an exceptional platform to pursue their interests and talents
04.
A school at the heart
of its community
To achieve this we will cherish and commit to the altruistic spirit that was apparent at the very birth of our school in 1602, as we recognise this outlook generates significant benefit for all.
We will:
  • Be an outward facing school
  • Develop close partnerships with our educational equivalents across the County and beyond in teaching, learning and co-curricular terms for the benefit of our pupils and theirs
  • Further enhance our commitment to charity and giving back to our region and those in need
  • Utilise our campus, facilities and expertise for the benefit of our local community and its institutions
05.
Beyond school life
We aim to prepare all of our students to excel in life in an ever-changing, modern world.
We will:
  • Build an outstanding ‘NULS Futures’ provision
  • Be a progressive, modern educator preparing young people for the varied pathways in life beyond school
  • Embed personal development programmes for Higher Education and the World of Work
  • Adopt a bespoke attitude and innovative approach to nurturing university and vocational preparation
  • Develop breadth in our Curriculum and variety in our student pathways to meet students’ future goals
  • Foster a rich super curriculum and societies framework in school to allow students to exercise their interests and passions
  • Pursue innovation and personal mentoring in our programmes that enable pupils to experience work, professions and future careers
06.
Building the
school reputation
Develop an irresistible school offer and a provision for our pupils that enables it to enjoy an enviable and regionally leading reputation.
We will:
  • Commit to the development of an exceptional and specialised ‘Prep School’ that enjoys the immense benefits of the whole campus’ facilities
  • Accordingly re-name our Juniors, ‘NULS Preparatory School’
  • Enable students who wish to attend NULS Prep and Seniors to do so whenever possible
  • Embed and enrich NULS Scholarships Programmes in Academia, Sport, Music, Drama and Art
  • To innovatively engage with leading local institutions, organisations and partners in programmes that enrich the opportunities accessible to our pupils
07.
Facilitating a leading
learning environment
To achieve this we will aim to be financially prudent and creative, to facilitate ongoing and continued investment in the NULS campus and estate, as we seek to ensure our pupils enjoy the leading facilities and opportunities within the region.
We will:
  • Seek to ensure NULS has a suitably robust financial position to facilitate its strategic goals
  • Focus on delivering the highest standards within an efficient school with a sustainable cost base
  • Generate alternative income streams to further invest in the School and its pupils
  • Ensure prudent and sustainable scholarship and bursary spend
  • Constantly develop the school estate with a focus on absolute quality and a forward thinking, innovate approach
  • Ensure all facilities are for global benefit, at Prep and Seniors, and tie facilities and campus development to our strategic goals.
08.
Enabling the future
To achieve this we will aim to future-proof NULS through partnership with our key current stakeholders and alumni through the enhancement of our commercial activities and those that justify our charitable status.
We will:
  • Enhance our development operation with the corporate sector, charitable trusts and beyond for our school’s benefit
  • Develop our bursary activities in line with our charitable status and values
  • Connect our alumni ever more closely with our school and seek to harness their energy and insight for the benefit of our pupils
  • Prudently develop our commercial operations for the benefit of our educational provision
Communicating NULS2025

We believe it is essential that our parents, pupils and other partners understand how we will phase our strategic plans and initiatives. As a consequence, at the start of every year we will publish NULS Annual Targets to provide clarity, a clear sense of our purpose and to constantly renew our commitment to NULS2025.

NULS Annual Targets for 2019-20 will be published in the Summer, 2019.

Never Not New,
Strive for the Highest.
Nunquam Non Nova, Summa Sequendo