NEWSLETTER www.cowesec.org info@cowesec.org
Friday 19th October
Dear parents and carers, We hope that you all have a great week next week, recharging your batteries and preparing for the half term ahead. Many of our Year 11s, I know, will be continuing their revision for their Year 11 mock exams which are during the next half term. But I hope that everyone will also have some down time and relaxation after what has been a busy and yet productive half term for us all here. We have headed off to the half term break with our very exciting Noel Turner Physics Festival. In addition to our own students, more than 2000 students from across the Island attended the event and there was a huge buzz in the building. Highlights included a whacky science show from the Wonderstruck team who specialise in making science inspiring and fun, a talk and hands on medical activities from ‘Medical Mavericks’, a planetarium and rocket workshops. It was amazing to see our building packed full of robots, aerospace and virtual reality technologies and the students have had a great time and also been able to consider science as a rich field of possible careers. This week we have also had an SRS Drop Down Day for our Year 11s and I would like to thank everyone involved in this and say well done to our students for their excellent focus during the day. We have also held our Year 11 Information Evening. We used this evening to share most effective ways to revise and support Year 11 students at home, now that we are in the revision window. It was gratifying to speak to students and hear that so many of them are revising at home already and have plans for half term revision in place. A year ago this week our strong Ofsted report was published and I assured you in my newsletter piece a year ago today that we would not be resting on our laurels and instead would continue to strengthen the academy further. This week we have had official validation that we did continue to do just this last year as the GCSE Progress 8 scores for secondary schools have been released. You may have seen in the news that Cowes Enterprise College is officially the best secondary school on the island by quite a significant margin. Our results now place us within the top 20% of schools in Hampshire and I would like to thank staff for the huge collective effort which has led to our excellent results. I have really enjoyed meeting parents across this half term and thank you to you all for finding the time to meet with me. A reminder that I hold them twice weekly on a Tuesday afternoon from 1pm – 2.30pm and from 3.30pm – 5.30pm to enable parents to get to know me and discuss the work of the school with me directly. Attendance is by pre-booked appointments only. Please either email dharrison@cowesec.org or phone the school on 01983 203103 asking for Donna Harrison to book in a slot in advance of each Tuesday. Wishing you again a great recharge next week, Rachel Kitley