Headteacher Welcome My name is Mr Livesley and I am Headteacher at Lathom, a post I am privileged and delighted to hold and I wish you a very warm welcome to our school. Alongside our Governing Body, I am PROUD to introduce you to our website and hope that this provides a very clear insight into ‘Life at Lathom’ and into what makes it such a special place to work and learn. Lathom is a school at the very heart of the community of Skelmersdale and our relationship with this community is vitally important to us and underpins everything that we do and strive to achieve. Everyone is valued in our school and we focus daily on creating a sense of belonging, aspiration and achievement for every student, every member of staff and every family. We believe that care and commitment is shown through the challenge we offer to everyone to work hard to be the very best they can be and be truly PROUD of their identity, their school and their community. Relationships matter so much. Whilst Lathom is smaller than some secondary schools, I know that it will be much bigger than the local primary schools our students have attended. The larger environment is an exciting place to be, but Lathom is small enough for our staff to get to know our students and their families extremely well during their time here and we value this highly and believe it is a crucial reason for our success. The Governing Body and myself as Headteacher are very PROUD of our personal and nurturing approach and our national recognition as the first secondary school in the country to be awarded the Silver Award for Trauma Informed Practice. We know that this helps our students to settle quickly into life at Lathom and we understand the need for a strong balance between care and challenge. It also helps our students’ families to feel confident that their child will be well looked after and cared for, will fit in, be safe and happy and, as a result, be highly successful as a learner and in life after Lathom. Our PROUD values are at the heart of everything we do and everything we ask of our students and parents, and the wider community. We are committed to ‘work hard, be kind’ and our PROUD values help us achieve this. As Lathom’s Headteacher, I am PROUD to lead this school and want students to be PROUD to come here, PROUD of what they achieve, and of who they become – both academically and socially. Our values of Perseverance, Responsibility, Ownership, Understanding and Determination are traditional values and we know that they help our students be the best that they can be in all aspects of life. In order to provide the very best Quality of Education, we deliver a broad and balanced curriculum which provides a range of traditional subjects – setting students up in the best possible way for further study and working life – but tailored with pathways and support to suit their individual needs and talents. Teaching and learning at Lathom is a superb strength of our school. Students are supported by dedicated subject specialists who deliver the curriculum with passion and enthusiasm and who are determined to know and understand our students extremely well. Working with our excellent teachers, we have a superb team of Pastoral staff, Learning Coaches and Learning Support Assistants focused on removing barriers to learning and ensuring that our students are able to aim high and thrive. We support our curriculum offer with our Personal Development programme including our extracurricular commitment – our ‘Life at Lathom’. This is a list of 40 experiences guaranteed for every Lathom student during their time here, to make sure that they are ‘ready to take on the world’. Compiled by our students, parents, staff and governors, our ‘Life at Lathom’ list provides a wide and diverse range of life experiences including learning First Aid and CPR, experiencing live theatre and classical music, meeting people from a wide range of cultures and backgrounds, experience of the world of work, outdoor learning and facing our fears. We encourage our students to have goals, to stand tall and PROUD and strive to be their best. To be leaders of their own learning and of their own behaviour. We take every available opportunity to encourage independence, strength of character and personal responsibility, and provide formal opportunities for students to develop and take the lead as members of our Student Council, as Sports Captains and as members within the Prefect and Student Leadership System. We are very proud of the achievements of all our students and of the resilience and confidence they show in their studies and in their personal development. This is testament to the hard work, dedication and commitment of the students themselves, the successful partnerships we build with home, and our staff who so often go the extra mile. Lathom is not just a secondary school, it is a family, where all of our students are nurtured and cared for while being challenged and supported to be resilient, confident and successful learners and human beings who are ready to make an excellent, positive contribution to society as they truly are the future. I am excited as we begin this journey together, and I look forward to home and school working together to unlock the fabulous potential of every student at Lathom. Mr P Livesley Headteacher
