Skip to content ↓

Aims and ethos

To provide more than the best possible examination results, but a thorough preparation for life. To inspire and equip our students with the qualities, skills, knowledge and opportunities to achieve well across a diverse range of disciplines; to discover and develop their talents and interests to the highest possible standard; and to serve the communities in which they live and work. Such students lead happier lives.

We believe:

  • In modern ideas alongside traditional values;
  • In a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes an academic and active life where students are immersed in, and achieve well, across a diverse range of activities. Developing the knowledge, skills, attributes and behaviours necessary for success; 
  • In academic non-selection, where students across a range of abilities learn, students enjoy learning and teachers enjoy teaching;
  • That every student is a boarder and in a House system that supports a disciplined environment of high standards and high expectations as the best way to guarantee outstanding pastoral and academic care;
  • In competition and co-curricular pursuits as a key component in building self-esteem, confidence, school ethos and academic excellence;
  • That high performance without good character is not true success and that those who earn their success through hard work and give back lead happier lives.

Vision Statement - 'better me, better world'

We want education to be a force for a more caring and just world: a world in which inequality in opportunities is diminishing; where individuals are treated similarly and have equal chances based not on privilege, but on how hard they work for themselves and others. Our vision is for the National Memorial to General Gordon to be more than a school. Gordon's should be a symbol of what can be achieved by a community where all work hard to be the best they can be, a community united in making an outstanding contribution to the lives of others, through its educational leadership and through the lives Gordonians go on to lead.

strategic Themes

Strategic Objective 1 - Deliver world-class pastoral care, curriculum, and co-curricular provision.


Strategic Objective 2 - Ensure that support services and site development are fit for purpose and commensurate with outstanding provision.


Strategic Objective 3 - Increase The Gordon Foundation’s financial stability and support for financially necessitous students.


Strategic Objective 4 - Be alert to, and take advantage of, opportunities to extend the influence of Gordon’s, at home and overseas.