Our Cognita Family

Continuous improvement, or being the best at getting better, is at the heart of the Cognita Way. Our Global Education Team comprises of leaders based in each of Cognita’s four global regions and together they utilise evidence – from within our group as well as external sources – to drive outstanding educational practice across all our schools.

Our global diversity fuels our innovation. We take our best and share it so everyone can improve. A key benefit of being part of the global Cognita family is the opportunity to connect and collaborate with peers across the world.

Wellbeing forms an integral part of a Cognita Education. We believe that every child has the right to flourish emotionally, socially, and physically and that the education we provide must help them achieve this in a sustainable and meaningful way.

The mental and physical health challenges facing children and young people today are well documented, and the evidence showing the correlation between wellbeing and learning is clear.

Research also emphasises the importance of a proactive approach to wellbeing in schools, embedding a culture that promotes ownership and prioritisation of wellbeing for all members of its community.

Cognita’s annual Global Be Well Day each September sees Stamford American join together with all other Cognita schools to collapse the curriculum for an entire day to focus solely on wellbeing. Based on the contributors to wellbeing outlined in our Be Well Charter, schools enjoy a range of activities to remind their communities about what they need to do to look after their own wellbeing.

Each Cognita school offers a distinctive curriculum and approach, tailored to the individual context. 

Group-wide policies and expectations are set by the parent company (Cognita Holdings Ltd.). These policies and expectations relate to standards for student safeguarding, health & safety, financial management, data protection, as well as governance and responsibility for operational oversight of the regions (which is devolved to the regional chief executive officer). 

Governance oversight of student safeguarding and health & safety is executed through the deployment of independent reviewers. The Group expects each school to ensure clear systems for listening to and responding to members of the school community, this includes use of annual Voice of the Student, Parent and Employee surveys. 

Cognita has four Group senior executives:

• group chief executive officer
• group chief finance officer
• group chief education officer
• group general counsel

Cognita, headquartered in London, governs and manages each school via one of four regions. Each region has its own chief executive officer and regional team. Responsibility for operational oversight and governance of schools is devolved from the parent company to the regional chief executive officer. Each region has published documents that provide clarity for the delegated governance relationship between their regional team and their schools. The regional chief executive officer is accountable to the group chief executive. 

Each head of school (superintendent) is accountable to the regional chief executive officer.