Message from the Headteacher, Friday 27th January 2017

I would like to pass on my thanks to the large number of parents who came to year 9 Parents’ Evening on Thursday. As always, the focus on was on students’ progress in lessons; with our ‘Life after Levels’ model now firmly embedded throughout Key Stage 3. In the early part of this decade, Key Stage 3 assessment in English, maths and science was carried out through external tests and schools were judged on them.

At that time, the Key Stage 3 strategy was a major initiative, however, a few years later, the tests were disbanded. With levels now having completely disappeared and schools required to develop their own systems, we took this as an opportunity to ensure that the assessment was driven by the learning rather than the other way round – which had been the case with the other imposed models.

Schools have also played around with different key stage models; starting their GCSEs in year 9 for example. However, we have always believed that a strong foundation from years 7 to 9 is the best preparation for Level 2 qualifications in years 10 and 11.

As a reminder, Options Evening for Year 9 is on Thursday 23rd February.

Today, Ian Seath was in school meeting with various groups of students and staff. As I’ve mentioned before, his insightful knowledge of both education and our school has proved invaluable. He works brilliantly with the students to get their opinions on various issues and this has been an important tool for the leadership team in recognising what is going well and where we need further improvement – a great way to the end the week.

With the cats nicely settled in at home and ruling the dogs, I will be hoping for a relaxing weekend. I hope you all have a relaxing weekend too.

Jim Nixon