Holy Family Catholic School & Sixth Form
Annual Report Summer 2015
Aspire to the Holy Family Way
1.
Introduction This is the first time in recent years that we have published an annual report at Holy Family Catholic School. The purpose of the report is to provide information to parents, governors, staff, students and others about the work of the school. The report showcases many of the achievements of the school and also provides evidence of our progress towards the objectives we set for ourselves in the annual school development plan.
We are very focused on providing an excellent education for all our young people. This means an education not simply based on academic success (though the school has again achieved very highly in this regard) but a broad and balanced education that aims to develop the whole person – academically, spiritually, socially, morally and culturally.
From the Chair of Governors This is my first academic year as Chair of Governors at Holy Family Catholic School and I would like to use this introduction to the annual report as an opportunity to thank the previous chair, Virginia Fawcett, for her leadership and commitment to the school. Virginia had served as a governor for almost fifteen years and the past six as chair. This is also our first academic year after our latest Ofsted inspection and provides us with an opportunity to reflect on what the school does well and what we need to do to ensure we continue to improve and provide the platform for our pupils to succeed as well, if not better, than they have before. The school provides a wealth of opportunities for its pupils beyond the school day and I never cease to be amazed by the number of pupils still on site early evening taking part in supervised enrichment activities. The pressures on Schools in achieving academic success is ever increasing and whilst this will always be a key priority for Holy Family
we are also in agreement that enrichment opportunities and after school activities are an important part of school life and contribute to the wider wellbeing of the students. This report references some of the activities available and I hope that you too will be pleased at the range. In September 2015 the Governing Body will set out its strategic priorities for the next three years. We would welcome you views on what you think our priorities should be. If you have a view or general comment then please email the school at office@holyfamily.waltham.sch.uk for the attention of the governing body. Finally, I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work and dedication in contributing to the Holy Family’s success and the parents and parishes for their continued support of the school. Debra Toomey Chair of Governors
2.
The Holy Family Way The Holy Family Way is the phrase we use to summarise all that we believe in at Holy Family. It means that we expect the highest standards of conduct and behaviour from students and the highest standards of professional conduct from staff. The Holy Family Way links to our motto ‘Aspire’ which expects students to be active learners, who take part and develop independence in the way that they go about their studies. The Holy Family Way is there to inspire us all to be more like Christ in the way that we lead our lives in school.
Our Mission Statement Holy Family Catholic School is a Catholic community embracing the clear Christian values of respect, service and justice. We are a family of many cultures sharing one faith. We exist to educate young people towards excellence in all dimensions of their lives recognising the uniqueness of each and the equality of all.
The House System This coming academic year, 2015-16, we are introducing a House System in the school. Each student is a member of a form group which takes its name from a saint (St Anne, St Stephen, St Philomena, St Ignatius, St Richard and St Elizabeth – the initial letters of the saints spell the word ASPIRE). The House System will provide opportunities for students across the whole school from Yr 7 to Yr 13 to work together on particular projects, activities and sporting and cultural events. Each House will be led by a House Leader and appointments to these roles will be made in the summer term.
Governors of the school
3.
Debra Toomey Chair of Governors
Chair of Governors
Emmanuel Oloke
Vice-Chair of Governor
Rev Maurice Gordon
Foundation Governor
Deacon Joseph Baffour-Awah
Foundation Governor
Mrs Kathleen Lewis
Foundation Governor
Mr Peter Watts
Foundation Governor
Mrs Ana-Maria Bradshaw-Murray
Foundation Governor
Cllr Terry Wheeler
LEA Governor
Mrs Patsey Modeste-Rowe
Parent Governor
Ms Maya Walker
Parent Governor
Mr Adrian Anderson
Parent Governor
Mrs Maureen Murray
Staff Governor
Mr Martin Lodziak
Staff Governor
Dr Andy Stone
Headteacher
GCSE and Btec achievement at KS4 Comparison with national and local averages
Attainment The school has again attained very highly at Key Stage 4. Our GCSE results are well above the national average. This represents excellent progress because our students arrive with KS2 scores just below the national average.
5A*-C inc. maths and English
5A*-C
Holy Family
65%
83%
National average
53%
63%
Local average
55%
65%
Achievement Most students, in most subjects have made better than expected progress. Our Value added score for students’ best 8 results is 1026 (our best ever progress score). This places us in the top 14% of all schools in terms of progress of students based on their KS2 points scores when they arrived at Holy Family. These results must be placed in the context of significant changes to exam regulations including the rules that vocational qualifications now only count as one GCSE equivalent, students’ first entry counts in the league tables and courses having become linear, rather than modular, meaning there are no longer opportunities to re-sit exams.
Over the past four years we have seen consistently good results at KS4 and this has been very encouraging. However, we wish to do more to ensure that all students achieve the very best outcomes including those deemed more able and those with special educational needs. In March 2015 we were pleased to receive notification from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust that we were to receive two awards because our exam results at KS4 place us in the top 20% of schools for attainment at GCSE in a non-selective school and we are also in the top 20% for progress made from KS2 to KS4.
Year
% 5 A*-C
% 5 A*-C inc. Ma/En
%5 A*-G
%1 A*-G
% A*-C pass rate
% A*/A pass rate
%5 A*-C inc. Ma and En (FSM)
2014
83%
65%
99.5%
100%
78%
19%
54%
2013
84%
60%
100%
100%
74%
24%
48%
2012
81%
67%
100%
100%
67%
13%
58%
2011
82%
71%
100%
100%
72%
15%
68%
2010
62%
51%
100%
100%
61%
12%
N/A
2009
76%
66%
100%
100%
69%
15%
N/A
2008
61%
49%
99%
100%
56%
11%
N/A 4.
A level and Btec achievement at KS5 The school has seen a very significant increase in sixth form numbers over the past few years. This means we have sizeable cohorts completing Yr 13 and their A level and Btec level 3 courses. Over the last two years we have chosen to increase the number of level 3 vocational courses open to students. There are now six of these including sport, performing arts, business, science, media and health and social care. Results at A level improved this year and results on the level 3 vocational programmes have been outstanding (see below).
Summary of A2 attainment 2008-14 Year
%A*-B
%A*-C
%A*-E
No. A* grades
ALPS score
2014
36%
66%
98%
8
4
2013
30%
67%
99%
4
5
2012
31%
64%
99%
9
5
2011
42%
70%
97%
12
3
2010
41%
68%
99%
5
3
2009
35%
61%
97%
N/A
5
2008
30%
59%
92%
N/A
6
Summary of level 3 vocational attainment Year
Distinction*-Distinction
Distinction*-Merit
Distinction*-Pass
VA score
2014
80%
100%
100%
+0.83
Achievement in the sixth form A level students make at least the expected progress based on their GCSE baseline scores. Our VA score for A level is an ALPS grade 5 and the LV3A measure is +0.05 (just above expectation). The value added scores for the vocational curriculum is exceptional at (+0.83) the highest in the diocese and the highest in Waltham Forest. This is a great success story and we want to ensure that A level outcomes are equally strong. Overall this has been a successful year for the school in terms of our exam results. The vast majority of our Yr 13 students have moved on to university and a smaller proportion have begun their careers in paid employment.
5.
Teaching and learning is at the core of what we do in the school. We are involved in a very wide range of programmes to develop teaching and learning in the school and we also provide support for other schools and work with them to improve aspects of their practice. In particular, this year we have been working with Frederick Bremer, Our Lady and St George’s (OLSG) and Henry Maynard on a borough funded project based around collaborative school improvement. We work very hard to ensure that teaching is consistently of a high standard. During our March 2014 Ofsted inspection a significant number of staff were observed and the inspection team’s judgement about the quality of teaching and learning matched our own view. Our own grading of lessons indicates that around 9 out of 10 lessons are good or better. We share good practice regularly through ungraded lesson observation opportunities and we work to support any teachers who may be struggling to teach consistently well. We monitor the quality of teaching and learning in a number of ways including: • Learning walks that take place on a half termly basis and to which we sometimes invite colleagues from other schools to form part of the review team. • Departmental reviews: we have a two yearly cycle where all departments and year teams are reviewed to look at practice and accountability. • Joint school inset day with Bremer, OLSG and Henry Maynard Middle Leader Training - This was a series of six sessions that we facilitated to colleagues from schools across the borough. We invited colleagues in from outstanding schools from other boroughs to facilitate the sessions. • Literacy outreach training - we have trained staff in local primaries with regards to strategies for meeting the requirements for levels 5 and 6. We have also had our colleagues teaching identified groups of students in our feeder schools. • Colleagues from our maths department have facilitated a six week training programme for
primary colleagues, with a specific focus on addressing the demands of meeting level 5 and 6 outcomes. Areas of focus included moderation, teaching and learning strategies and algebra. Since then colleagues from the maths department have been invited into other primaries to deliver training to staff. • Observation Trios - this is part of our approach sharing good practice. Teachers ‘pop in’ to see lessons within their trio in order to share good practice. The process is linked to the teacher standards. • Primary Science Outreach - We have a dedicated member of staff whose role is to facilitate quality science lessons to primary schools through the Mayor of London’s Excellence Fund. The role also includes offering CPD sessions for local primary teachers to attend. Primary students attend our school to have their lessons in the science labs. • Students as researchers - this is a student school improvement group. The group are trained in how to research and then focus on an area of the school development plan that they would like to conduct some action research on. The group then trains staff as part of our internal training sessions and then presents to all staff at an inset day. The students compile a portfolio of their work and then we enter their portfolios for SSAT leadership accreditation. The group have also written an article for the SSAT journal, which was published in the spring of 2014. • Extended research project qualification - This is offered to the most able students as an additional qualification, which mirrors the EPQ in the sixth form. Students identify an area of research that is of interest to them and then they manage their time over the course of the year in planning, research, presentation and evaluation. • Horizons - this is an approach to broadening the horizons for our most able sixth form students. The group meet on a weekly basis and discuss literature, current affairs and other wider areas of interest. At various intervals they are set tasks - for example a 6.
visit to the National Gallery. The aim is to develop their confidence for wider discussion when attending university interviews. The SSAT has asked the Horizons lead to write an article for the SSAT journal. • Good to Outstanding - We have a strategy where we have identified a group of teachers who are consistently good with their teaching and who are aspirational to be outstanding. The group has a working lunch on a fortnightly basis where they discuss the foci and ideas that have been tried and tested in relation to the focus. They are paired up and have to pop in to see some of the ideas in practice. The teachers then discuss how they can apply what they have seen to their own teaching. As part of the professional dialogue sessions, at various intervals the teachers in the group are presented with educational research to discuss. • We have a similar group that works with teachers who need to improve their practice. The group meet on a fortnightly basis. Instead of being paired up with each other, the group are asked to visit and observe teachers in the G -O group. • We have our internal Wednesday training programme, which is well attended. Colleagues from across the whole school can volunteer to deliver a session. On any given Wednesday there are a minimum of two sessions.
7.
• New Technologies - We have invested in iPads for staff and are using a range of apps to increase participation and engagement with students and as a method of communication and sharing good practice with colleagues, e.g: Google Drive, Notability, Class Dojo, Educreations only to name a few. • Associate Senior Leadership Team - We have a group of 8 middle leaders who have volunteered to look at whole school issues and work together to find a strategy for improvement. The group meet on a weekly basis. A member of the team attends SLT meetings. The team are currently working on developing the use of SIMS emerge as a behaviour management tool and how to increase parental engagement. The team facilitates some of the middle leader sessions. The aim of the team is to bridge the gap between middle leaders and SLT and to work towards eradicating the ‘them and us’ culture that can be apparent in schools. • Assessment Group - We have established an assessment group, which is currently working together to develop an approach to assessment in light of KS3 levels being removed and the move to numbers for GCSE grades. The group is in its infancy but it is anticipated that it will grow and develop as all staff have a vested interest in it. • We are working with Waltham Forest College to discuss strategies to maximise outcomes for English and maths re-sit students.
• The term, interventions, covers a huge range of activities in our school. We run academic interventions programmes to provide students with further tuition and support if they are at risk of falling behind with their academic studies, for example. These take place across different year groups and, particularly, in Yr 11. • Our Form Tutor and Year Leader teams provide pastoral care to students who may be facing difficulties and we have a team of learning mentors who work with students who may be struggling with life’s challenges. The Learning Support team provides extensive support to students with special educational needs and runs before school and after school homework clubs. When students fail to meet our expectations they
may find themselves placed in the Bethany Room, which is our inclusion provision, where they work and reflect on their behaviour. There are also interventions in the sixth form when students are not meeting expectations. • Students who qualify for the pupil premium receive additional support as necessary. This may include academic support through 1:1 and small group tutoring, to subsidies to enable students to participate in trips and activities including learning musical instruments. Our students in receipt of pupil premium number just over one-third of our intake. In terms of exam results they hugely exceed national expectations with 5A*-C including English and maths outcomes that are >20 per cent above the national average.
8.
Holy Family very much believes in the education of the whole person and we offer a very wide programme of extra-curricular activities co-ordinated by Mr Wilbraham. We enjoy very good support for this programme form many staff and also make use of specialist coaches and other instructors to provide other activities. A good example of that this year would be our specialist fencing coach. The school has a budget of £25,000 to support the extra-curricular programme and also makes use of pupil premium funding to ensure that all students are able to participate in the various activities. All students are encouraged to participate in activities and student participation is tracked and monitored. Some activities take place every week including trampolining and drama club. Other activities have set piece events such as the whole school play, or the music evenings at which the choir, Glee Club and orchestra perform. We also have a very extensive programme of competitive sporting fixtures and the school competes in many sports with considerable success at local, county-wide and London level. Students have the opportunity to represent their form group in inter-form competitions and to represent the school.
Cultural activities Cultural activities are very strong. We promote many opportunities for these including a bi-annual whole school production, opportunities for regular music concerts and showcases, the spoken word programme. This academic year saw a tremendous production of Bertholt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and the choir and orchestra have 9.
been very busy with involvement in the annual Carol Service, and the Mayor’s Service of Light. The Spring Term Spoken Word Showcase in February was also exceptional. Earlier this academic year we were awarded the coveted status Artsmark Gold which recognises the level of commitment and expertise in the school to the arts curriculum. At Holy Family we have deliberately not insisted that students follow the English Baccalaureate curriculum, because we do not believe that it places sufficient emphasis on the arts, or on technology subjects. We continue to encourage students to take a broad and balanced range of subjects at KS4.
Extra-curricular activities for 2014-15 include: Sports Clubs Football, fencing, cheerleading, rugby, netball, trampoline, basketball, dance, table tennis. Music Clubs Orchestra, choir, glee club and individual instrumental music tuition. Art Clubs KS3 art club, acrylic painting, beginners’ photography. Drama Clubs KS3 drama club, whole school production. Other Clubs STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), Spoken Word, cooking club, geography, history, young enterprise, first aid, Arsenal Double Club, media production group, debating and culture vultures.
Other activities Duke of Edinburgh – the Bronze Award programme is offered to Yr 10s and the Silver Award programme to Yr 12 students. We have the largest cohort of Duke of Edinburgh students of the state schools in Waltham Forest. The programme relies on a small number of staff voluntarily giving up their time in order to facilitate the activities and we are very grateful to them for this.
School Trips We run a number of residential trips including an annual Outdoor Activities for Yr 7/8, annual Geography Trip to Colomendy, the Morocco Trip for Yr 10, the Ski Trip (biannually), the Berlin trip (Sixth Form) and this year, for the first time, the Yr 7 residential.
The Sixth Form Enrichment Programme In addition to all of the above, we also provide an extensive programme of enrichment activities which sixth formers are expected to take part in. This includes a personal development option and a service to the community option. Sixth Formers are very involved in charity fundraising and working with the younger students in the school.
The Sixth Form Enrichment Programme this year includes: Personal development options Basketball, ceramics, cooking, culture vultures, debating, first aid, football, self-defence, spoken word, squash, performance choreography, art, tennis, table tennis, netball, Duke of Edinburgh, badminton and the barber shop choir. Community service options Toe by toe reading partnership, mentoring younger students, charity fundraising, student ambassadors, assertive mentoring support, form tutor support, silver surfers group, art club helpers for KS3, whole school mural project. 10.
Holy Family is an outward-facing school which recognises that there is much to be gained from working with others. We enjoy a huge range of productive partnerships and a number of these are described below:
Partnerships with primary schools • We work very closely with our three Catholic feeder primary schools on a range of activities including the LSEF science project and staff development opportunities as well as curricular links in subjects such as English, drama and music. Since April 2015 we have formed a soft federation with Our Lady and St George’s Primary School, St Joseph’s Infants and St Joseph’s Juniors. This involves us continuing to work together and establishing a joint committee of our governing bodies to encourage and monitor further collaborative work.
The Greater London Authority and London Schools Excellence Fund • The GLA and the Mayor of London run a number of programmes aimed at improving the quality of education for children in London schools. I am pleased to say that Holy Family is a very active participant in these schemes including the LSEF Science Project which involves us delivering science lessons to around 300 pupils from OLSG, St Patrick’s, St Joseph’s and Henry Maynard schools. In addition to this programme we are also a pilot school for the London Curriculum Project, which is a project intended to ensure that schools tailor their curriculum to take advantage of the numerous, and often unique, opportunities for learning that exist within our capital city.
Partnerships with secondary schools • We work collaboratively with other schools in the borough and, this year, in particular with Frederick Bremer on the borough funded school improvement project. We are also a 11.
member of two Teaching School Alliances in neighbouring boroughs. We are part of Brentwood Diocese and work together with other Catholic schools in the diocese on matters of common interest. We are part of the Waltham Forest Secondary Challenge which aims to raise standards across all schools in the borough.
Work with other providers • We work with a range of other providers in terms of careers education, the university sector and work experience. In addition we have partnerships that provide additional mentoring capacity in the school, we work with charities on fundraising including MacMillan Cancer Support, Cafod and HCPT. We invite speakers to come to the school regularly including those provided by Speakers for Schools and we enjoy positive relationships with many employers including those in the City.
Charitable Fundraising and partnerships • This Lent our chosen charity is Water Aid and our Lenten Activities will be raising money for this organisation which seeks to provide clean water to communities in the developing world which lack this access. We also raised money for Cafod during Lent through the Family Fast Day opportunity. In total charitable fundraising over the past academic year raised £1,265.17.
The Friends of Holy Family (PTA) • Our parent-teacher association, the Friends of Holy Family has been re-invigorated this year with an increase in the numbers of parents who are actively involved in fundraising events. The PTA run table top sales and an annual Summer Fair as well as planning social events at the start of the academic year.
Premises – new sixth form building We have been very pleased this year to see the new sixth form block being built. This is the first significant investment in the built environment for a decade and is very necessary because the numbers of students in the sixth form has grown by around 100 in recent years to over 270. The new building is costing about £800,000 and we must contribute 10% of this total because we are a Catholic voluntary aided school. Thank you for your support of the buy a brick campaign thus far and please continue to support our fundraising efforts. The building should be completed by the end of this academic year ready for use in September 2015. We remain concerned that we have not received the level of investment that the school deserves and that we remain a split-site school. We are very keen to be able to secure funding to build a sports hall and this will be our next focus, having succeeded in gaining the investment to create a sixth form building. Holy Family achieves extremely well in sporting competition despite not having the best facilities, but with a state of the art sports hall and gym we could achieve even more. It is very unfair that the facilities at Holy Family are not as good as those of most other secondary schools in the borough and we will be campaigning to rectify this situation.
Financial management The school finances are managed by our School Business Director, Mr Kramer, who is a member of the Senior Leadership Team. At time of going to press we do not know the outcome of the general election, but we do know that school funding is going to be less generous than it has been. This means that we must use our resources wisely and ensure that we get the maximum benefit from each pound we spend. We review our spending constantly, seek to maximise income through lettings and
fundraise where we can in order to support our activities and benefit our students. Additional section for annual report document Finance. Holy Family Catholic School, in common with all schools must make the most effective use of its annual budget to deliver high quality education for all our students. We seek to maintain a broad and balanced curriculum, to recruit and retain the best teaching and support staff and to maintain and enhance the physical environment and infrastructure in the school. As a voluntary-aided school we are required to contribute 10% of the cost of capital projects and this means, for instance, that we must contribute approximately £80,000 to the sixth form building project. We are seeking to do this through the buy a brick campaign.
Annual budget 2014-15 Sources of income
Amount
Funding delegated from the local authority
£5,392,653
SEN funding
£83,460
Sixth Form funding
£1,379,949
Pupil premium
£308,495
Other sources of income (lettings, grants)
£207,621
Total income
£7,372,178
Expenditure Total expenditure in 2014-15
£7,537,900
Our total expenditure in 2014-15 was slightly in excess of our income and we have made cost-savings over the past 12 months to avoid this situation occurring again in the future.
12.
Holy Family Catholic School & Sixth Form Aspire to the Holy Family Way
Wiseman House Site 30-34 Shernhall Street, London E17 9RT Tel/Fax: 020 8520 3587 / 3594 Email: office@holyfamily.waltham.sch.uk Walthamstow House Site 1 Shernhall Street, London E17 3EA Tel/Fax: 020 8520 0482 / 4658 Web: www.holyfamily.waltham.sch.uk Headteacher: Dr. A. Stone BA Hons, NPQH
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