The strong belief in the capacity of all to succeed in an inclusive environment was promoted at every opportunity. Challenging circumstances were never accepted as excuses for low expectations. We became an amazingly supportive team, helped along by the sense of humour and fun that we were able to generate despite some very difficult and challenging incidents over the years! As a response to our working environment the staff team developed professional characteristics which focused on personal conviction and respect for others, tenacity in advocacy for young people and resilience in standing by them, along with high levels of emotional intelligence and a passion for helping our pupils to achieve their ‘best self’. They consistently modelled our core values and realised the importance of promoting the positive at all times.

In many cultures frogs are a symbol of friendship and good fortune. For us, frogs also provided a positive symbol, which our children and adults accepted without prejudice. FROG is an easily remembered acronym, and as we all strived to have the ‘Frog Factor’ we created our successful philosophy and provided a clear direction for the strategic planning and management of the business of our school.