13th September 2016
Welcome to the Autumn Term 2016 We especially welcome all of those new families joining us—in reception, year 7 or the sixth form. This is for schools a new year and just as with the calendar year, it is a time to look back and enjoy the moment but also look forward. Last year we renewed and promoted our belief in ‘high expectations, high aspirations’ for all of our students. This was actively reinforced through assemblies, newsletters and other events. Promoting a ‘can do’ culture and also emphasising that when things go wrong (which they will) it is very much part of the learning process, and we think has helped everyone. Indeed, our exam results were truly impressive.
Despite national variation this year, we achieved our best ever results, with almost 80% of students achieving 5+ A*-C (including English and Maths), with just under a third of students achieving 5+ A*-A grades. A new performance measure has been introduced this year, known as ‘Progress 8’ which measures student’s progress from when they take their SATS to when they take GCSEs. Our Progress 8 score is likely to be around 0.8 which means that students on average made around 1 grade extra progress than the national expectations. To put it simply; students get better results by coming here than if they attended other schools. Three of our students in Year 9 took GCSE in a modern foreign language—French, German and Spanish respectively. Top grades were awarded to Jean, Lucie and Lucia —well done! A level grades were equally impressive with the average point score increasing once again. A* grades were achieved in 16 different subjects, a recognition of the strength of teaching across all areas of the curriculum.
At the other end of the school we are exceptionally pleased by the achievement and progress made by last year’s reception children. Our parents have been absolutely delighted at how the children settled in and became confident, independent learners. They love school and have made leaps and bounds in their learning with their cursive handwriting, reading and numeracy to learning Spanish and enjoying music. Last week we welcomed another 60 children into our school community and an almost unheard of 6 sets of twins! These great achievements mean that we can start this new year confident and able to really push forward in our drive for real success for all.
Alison Saunders—Headteacher