SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS Autumn 2011
::: EXAM :::
SUCCESS
A
::: Sixth Form College
Level Results Day brought exceptionally good news for South Hunsley Sixth Form College. There have been magnificent achievements from our students and our position as an institution of the highest academic achievement in the East Riding and our reputation for excellence has been firmly established with another year where students keep on getting more and more top grades. Our A Level results in Summer 2011 have seen the number of A* grades more than
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double from last year and the percentage grades for A*-A, A*-B and A*-C rose by 9%, 8% and 11% respectively. This means that 32% of our students achieved A* and A grades, 59% A*-B grades and 82% A*-C grades. The A-E pass rate was 100%. No surprise then that students, parents and staff alike were celebrating our success with the rising trend in grades continuing for the fourth year running resulting in a rise in the average point score per entry of 9.4 points to 223.4. These results mean that 85% of our 30+
gets best ever results ::: A Level subjects have more than half of their students gaining A*-B grades. Behind these terrific numbers are the splendid individual achievements of students, and the staff who teach them. Amongst these is Daniel Lucy, one of our highest achievers, who studied Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics in our Sixth Form College. Daniel gained 4 A* grades as well as an A in General Studies and he will now continue his education by reading Chemistry at the University of Oxford. Daniel is considering
going into research but realises that a degree from Oxford will open up a number of opportunities for him to consider. We are delighted that the vast majority of our Year 13 students will be taking up places at the university and course of their choice in spite of the increased competition for university places, and South Hunsley students will be studying a huge range of subjects at universities the length and breadth of the country. We congratulate them and wish them all the very best of luck.
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::: BTEC Courses Continue to Thrive
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his year marked the course completion for our second cohort of students who enrolled on our joint BTEC courses in partnership with Bishop Burton College. We were absolutely delighted to discover our second set of results were even better than last year’s and it is joy to see these students’ achievements. Our BTEC courses provide an alternative route to university, or indeed employment, and allow study through on-going assessment rather than efforts being focussed on an end of course exam. These courses provide a lot of practical, hands on experience and can be ideal for students who are thinking of vocational degrees. On-going assessment allows them to make career decisions earlier as they will have a clear idea of their performance. Of course, they also get the added benefit of excellent facilities across two sites at both Bishop Burton College and South
Esther Chin and Zoe Simpson
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Hunsley. All of our students achieved the qualification in their chosen subject area this year and the majority of them received Merit or Distinction thanks to some really exceptional work. For the first time, we had a group pursuing a course in Fashion and all of the students achieved at least one Distinction with Zoe Simpson achieving a double Distinction. Zoe is now going to the University of Huddersfield to study Fashion Design with Marketing and Production and, who knows, we may have set the next Stella McCartney on the road to success. Zoe wasn’t the only student to receive a double Distinction. Esther Chin also received the highest accolade for her BTEC studies in Art and is now progressing to university to study Architecture. We wish all our BTEC students the very best in their future careers and look forward to celebrating further achievements in this area as more and more students look to take up the BTEC study route.
Creative Arts and Design Our investment in specialist art and media facilities certainly seems to be paying dividends. Students on courses such as A Level Art, Photography and Media have produced exemplary results with over 60% achieving A*-B grades in these subjects. Media is the star performer with over 90% of students achieving A*-C grades, and over 50% A and A* grades. However both Art and Photography weren’t far behind and were only just pipped at the post.
Sport and PE
Sport and PE are always popular at South Hunsley and over the years we have had a great deal of success. The BTEC Sport provides a very practical and applied course of study for students who wish to concentrate on this area and once again the results were splendid. One young man who did exceptionally well was Tom Clark who achieved a double Distinction and will be taking up his place at Manchester Metropolitan University to study Sports Science. Tom was also awarded the prize for best student in the partnership by Bishop Burton College. Well done Tom.
David Philipson
::: Maths and the Sciences Flourish M
David Philipson studied both Mathematics and Further Mathematics as well as Chemistry and Physics and received an A*, 2 As and a B grade this summer. This will now help him progress toward a career in Engineering, studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nottingham.
Steph Thompson
Steph Thompson has taken full advantage of our specialist post 16 art facilities to help her achieve her A* in Photography. Steph is now planning to study Journalism at Salford University. She also successfully completed courses in Religious Studies, English Language and English Literature, gaining a further A grade and 2 Bs which will no doubt complement her chosen career path.
aths and the Sciences have always been popular with Sixth Form students at South Hunsley. This bucks the gloomy forecasts and worrying trends for the national take-up of these subjects. The numbers of students who study A Level Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics are high with around 100 exam entries in these subjects. It is no surprise that these are amongst our highest performing subjects this year. Out of these 4 subjects, Maths has had the strongest performance this year with 75% of students achieving A*-B grades, of which well over 50% were either A or A*. We also have a few students who wish to study Further Mathematics and all of the students on the course this year achieved A or A*. The results of all these subjects have enabled students to go on to study at some of the country’s most competitive institutions on courses such as Medicine and Dentistry as well as Engineering. Students who are leaving us to study courses that allow them to join the medical profession in the future include Becky Dean and Olly
Brown. Becky has ambitions to be a dentist and was accepted on to her first choice university at Cardiff thanks to her 4 A grades in Biology, Chemistry, English Literature and Mathematics. Olly will head off to study Medicine at Hull York Medical School after achieving 3A*s and an A in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Geography. In addition to medicine, we also have students studying for a career in the nursing profession. Of course, studying the sciences will give a good grounding for these courses but we also find that students on Health and Social Care courses often move into this area. Chloe Badham received an AA grade and Laura McNab AB on the Health and Social Care double award and both will now head off to study Midwifery and Nursing respectively.
Future medical professionals Carlo Francescon, Olly Brown, Steph Robinson and Becky Dean
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::: South Hunsley School G
CSE Results Day brought further celebrations for South Hunsley. Once again, there were some exceptional student achievements and an outstanding performance at the highest level. Our pre-16 students have certainly taken to heart our goal for excellence and have an impressive number of A* and A grades to show for it. The number of A* grades
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has increased by 13% this year with 311 GCSE entries being awarded the highest mark compared to 176 last year. We also saw A grades increase and these combined meant that 36% of our students achieved A and A* which translates to almost 1,000 top A and A* grades. 23 students were in the coveted position of seeing nothing but As and A*s on collecting their results. Our 5+ A*-C also increased to 90%
does it again ::: and the 5+ A*-C including English and Maths was sustained. In addition, the A*-C in the subjects of English, Maths, Science, Humanities and a Language was 85% which is the required standard of the English Baccalaureate measure. Celebrations were in full swing for the second time in two weeks for parents, students and staff as our average point score climbed to over 500. This is over 70 points higher than
last year and places us in the top 25% of schools in the country. Subject performance was once again fantastic with most seeing their A*-C results over 80% and a few departments achieving the elusive 100%. We congratulate all our students and hope they continue their success in our Sixth Form College.
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::: Science and Engineering
Engineering Students Sam Jefferson, Stuart Collier and Adam Wickenden
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he sciences have flourished again. All students who have taken triple science, studying Biology, Physics and Chemistry as separate GCSE courses, have come out with grade C or above. A 100% A*-C is a marvellous achievement in itself and we were extremely pleased to hear that the efforts of our students have been rewarded with so many achieving A* or A grades - 88% in Biology, 89% in Chemistry and 88% in Physics. Of course, congratulations must also go to the Science Department for their role in this success.
Science isn’t the only area that can lay claim to 100% A*-C. Our engineers can also claim the same success for the second year running. This course gives students the chance to learn in the work place thanks to our partnership with BAE Systems and we have no doubt of the contribution this makes to the overall success of the subject. It isn’t unusual for students to study both engineering and triple science and then progress on to similar courses in our Sixth Form College and we look forward to reporting on further success in future years.
::: Sibling Rivalry
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n Year 11 we have 3 sets of twins and 1 set of triplets and it looks like GCSEs may have brought out their competitive natures! Rebecca, Chloe and Alex Cargill have 29 A and A* between them SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS
and Kayleigh and Gemma Willox accumulated 18 top grades. It seems they all wanted to focus their energies on similar courses, having opted for subjects that make up the E Bacc.
Michelle Zemura We are immensely proud of Michelle Zemura, who gained 5 A*s and 3 As. She joined us from Zimbabwe, half way through Year 10, after the sudden death of her father. Throughout her time at South Hunsley, Michelle has proved to be an outstandingly mature young woman with strong Christian values who stayed focused on her studies. Michelle was looked up to by her peers as ‘wise’ or the ‘oracle’ and both teachers and students appreciated her thoughtful responses and ways. Congratulations on your achievements Michelle!
Green Pathway Our pathways at Key Stage 4 provide appropriate routes for all of our students. We offer alternative qualifications for those who find the heavy workload and academic rigour of GCSEs too demanding. Many of these students may opt for studies that take them to local FE institutions such as Bishop Burton College and Hull College so they can study for NVQs. This small group of students has once again delighted us all as every one of them achieved at least a Level 1 qualification and 11 can report Level 2 qualifications which will enable them to move on to a BTEC or NVQ at a college of their choice. Two notable achievements this year include Sophie Dalby and Edward Waudby who both received special mention at Bishop Burton College’s award ceremony following completion of their NVQ Level 1 in Animal Care. This sees them both getting the equivalent of 4 GCSEs at A*-G and will allow them to continue to a Level 2 course at college. Sophie has already stated her wish to continue along this path and will progress her interest in Animal Care. Well done to Sophie, Edward and all the students who have completed alternative courses.
Ollie Dales
You may remember Ollie from previous editions of the South Hunsley News for her horse jumping successes. Obviously, this is a passion of Ollie’s and she competes regularly in local, regional and national tournaments which require a lot of time and dedication. Ollie has strong academic ambitions and we were happy to adjust her curriculum to allow her to combine her formal education with her horse jumping career. Ollie sat 9 GCSEs this summer and will ride away with 3 A*s, 5 As and 1 B grade. Ollie is now continuing into our Sixth Form College. Indeed, this August, Ollie has entered the British Young Horse Championships at Addington competing in age classes for 4 and 5 year old horses. Only the best young horses in the country compete in this competition and Ollie won the 4 year old championship final and came second in another class for 5 year olds. Her horse was actually the highest placed 5 year old and she received a bonus for this. In total, Ollie walked away with £2,000 prize money which paid for her entry and will help her to compete in shows in the future. She said “It was an amazing weekend at the championships, especially since I have had both horses since they were 2 years old. It felt like a major achievement, all the hard work is finally beginning to pay off!“ We have no doubt you will be seeing Ollie’s continued successes in future editions of the South Hunsley News.
::: Languages and Humanities
Jodie Burow, Michael Warren, Laura Wiley, Joe Scull, Grace Hall, Owen Nash, Mollie Patterson
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he performance in Languages and Humanities held more significance this year in anticipation of the English Baccalaureate measure introduced by the Government. With over 70% of Year 9 students making GCSE selections to include a Language and Humanity option, we thought the results in these subjects would be of interest to students and parents. Once again, our Year 11 students have not disappointed us. The A*-C results in both History and Geography have noticeably increased on last
year, the most significant being Geography’s 15% rise to 89%. RS, French and German have kept closer to their 2010 results and can report a very respectable A*-C pass rate at 75% for French, 94% for RS and 90% for German. Around a third of students studying each of these subjects have reached the top A* and A grades. Out of all the students who sat exams in 5 subjects which make up the E Bacc, 85% achieved the 5A*-C and 25% of these students walked away with straight As. This is certainly a promising starting point for September. SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS
::: Summer
Transition A
s usual over summer, the corridors of South Hunsley have been ringing with the sounds of transition activities to help ease next year’s Year 7 students into their new environment – following on from a varied programme of events in the preceding months. Summer transition activities are entirely voluntary for students, but provide a useful opportunity for social interaction within their new year group and not necessarily in old primary or new form groups. As well as this, it gives students a chance to try exciting activities which they can then choose to continue into their secondary career at South Hunsley. One group of students spent time in the Food Technology department with Mrs Beharrell learning how to bake a delicious Victoria Sponge cake, using South Hunsley’s excellent catering equipment. One of the most popular activities was the Sports Taster sessions. Members of PE staff from South Hunsley ran a variety of activities including indoor rugby, rock climbing and trampolining, giving the students an opportunity not only to socialise with their peers but also with their future teachers. Another activity, based around teambuilding exercises, had groups of 2 – 3 students working together to build Roman style catapults using oversized K-Nex style building blocks. They started small, first designing trolleys and barrows before finally moving on to the catapult itself. Once all the catapults were complete, students participated in a friendly competition to see which one was the most successful. Then there was Film Club. Students were put into teams, then after a few games to let them get to know one another a little bit, each team had to pick a movie from a selection. Teams then prepared a 5 minute presentation on why their choice should be the one watched. At the end all the students voted for the film they wanted, with the film with the most votes being the one that was watched. Just to add a final twist, when a film was chosen students then had another choice to make – watch the film they voted for, or choose the unknown mystery movie… There have also been a number of activities in the lead up to the summer break. The Time for Arts festival took place in June and allowed students not only to participate in a number of arts based activities but also to work with current South Hunsley students. Activities included drama, animation and dance, amongst many others. Sport activities are popular throughout the year for transition. There is a Taster Day during May half term, where students can try out various sports, including rounders, tennis, dance and frisbee. These are backed up by after school sports tasters during the summer term. The Festival of Sport which takes place at South Hunsley straight after Induction Day helps students get to know their new form groups in a friendly sporting competition.
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::: Comings and Goings T
his September a number of new faces join our staff thanks to the investment we have made in our teaching provision. Amongst these is Jonathan Uttley who is joining us as a Deputy Head and History and Politics teacher. With Jonathan’s expertise we are delighted to be able to offer an A Level in Politics from September 2012. We have also made additional teaching appointments in our core subjects of English, Maths and Science. The Maths department welcome back Matthew Holmes who has just completed a GTP at South Hunsley. Andrew Bayford also joins the Maths team. The Science department looks forward to meeting Jonathan Butler, Jonathan Ellsmore and Robin Gouldbourne, and Emma Shipley will be joining the English department. There are a number of other staff joining either our teaching or pastoral support teams. Katy Leighton is returning to us as a Teacher of PE having studied here
before leaving to go to university, and Guy Martinson will be taking over from Steve Silvester as Area Leader for PE. Gareth Shaw is joining the Media department, Calvin Hand will be teaching Geography, Kerryann Hamshaw Business and ICT and Fay Ashcroft-Hawley will be taking on History. On the pastoral side Helen Giles has recently joined us as Associate Head of Year, and Pierre Chammboneau and Luke Duerden will be joining our Cover Supervisor team. Finally, additional investment has enabled us to appoint Helen Jewitt as Education Welfare Officer and Karl O’Sullivan and Kate Baker as Learning Support Centre Supervisors. These appointments will allow us to have a dedicated centre for Key Stage 3 students and enhance the specialist support available. Of course, whilst this is the time of year we say hello to new faces, it’s also the time when we bid farewell to some more familiar ones. A special mention must go to Ian Gilroy, Steve Silvester and Pat Jefferson,
Jonathan Uttley all of whom have retired this summer. They have all been integral to making South Hunsley the success it is now, and they will be greatly missed.
::: Developments and Improvements A
s always, South Hunsley School and Sixth Form College site has been a hive of activity over the summer break. Undoubtedly the most noticeable change to the site comes in the form of the new Languages block, located where the old temporary classrooms used to be. Eagle eyed students may have noticed the bones of the new building being put in place towards the end of the Summer term, and work has continued apace ever since. We have no doubt that students will be suitably impressed with the spacious air conditioned rooms and state of the art ICT equipment. Of course our improvements have not been limited just to the new building, many of the old ones have received a new coat of paint too. Carpets have been replaced and of course all of the classrooms have had a full deep clean. We have also seen many of the windows throughout the site replaced with more energy efficient versions, which should help to keep the school warm over the winter. The Art department in particular will return to fully refurbished classrooms and workshops. On a safety front, many of the fire doors throughout the school have been replaced, and our fire alarm system has been upgraded.
Our new Languages block We’ve also resurfaced much of the tarmac around the school, on paths and on driving surfaces, to make for a safer, more comfortable site. The ICT support team has been as busy as ever, working on replacing PCs that have reached the end of their working life as well
as installing the new lab in the Languages block. Exciting news for Sixth Form students is that there is now a Wi-Fi connection available for them to use their own laptops whilst on site. More information on how students can gain access to this will be available through Mr Jacobs. SOUTH HUNSLEY NEWS
South Hunsley School and Sixth Form College An Academy of Excellence ŠSouth Hunsley School and Sixth Form College 2011