Headteacher’s Newsletter
BISHOP VESEY’S GRAMMAR SCHOOL
Half-Term Summer 2010 Message from the Head Another action-packed half-term with the addition of a visit from Ofsted! Staff and students coped extremely well with the additional work generated by the inspection and clearly showed Vesey’s in a very favourable light. We are grateful for the many kind words of support and congratulations we have received from a wide cross-section of the Vesey Community. BVGS is held in such high regard and with such affection by so many who were willing us on to what proved to be a fantastic result. Our ongoing development programme for the school continues as we strive to become one of the top performing schools in the country - our challenge for the next few years. Do enjoy reading about all that has happened over the past six weeks - never a dull moment here at BVGS, thanks to the generous service of so many who give of their time to make it happen.
Staff News
Gala Events Galore!
Congratulations to Senior Leaders Steve Baugh, Bev Gilbert, Ruth Hearn & Matt Phillips whose whole-school effectiveness input has led to promotion to Assistant Headteacher level from 1 April. We say thanks and farewell this half-term to Craig Gubbins, caretaker/painter, and Alison Harvey, Teacher of Languages, who have helped over recent months.
On 29 April the Annual Rugby Dinner at The Ramada Hotel was a great success with 170+ attendees enjoying a wonderful celebration of Vesey Rugby and an excellent ‘Q&A’ session with England Captain Lewis Moody. On 15th May Veseyans descended on The Old School House, Weeford for a memorable ‘May Ball’, so ably organised once again by parent David Jupp and his team of helpers from the PAC. On 18th May the Upper Sixth held their Leavers’ Ball at The Botanical Gardens to which they invited the in-coming Urdu Celebration Evening team of School Officers, who will now embark on work to BVGS Urdu Teacher and former Vesey parent, leave their own legacy of improvements here at BVGS. We Fouzia Syed and Language College Manager are indebted to the U6 who have created a step-change this Matt Phillips organised a celebration evening year, particularly in the area of student participation in the on 19 May during which certificates were pre- functioning of the school. We wish them well for their sented to students who had completed the one forthcoming exams and university careers. year introductory course or who had completed the GCSE Urdu course this year. Pictured below is Fouzia with parents who joined us at the event in support of this thriving language option.
Pictured above, the U6 at the Leavers’ Ball formal dinner and below the L6 in-coming Officer Team for 2010-11.
David Iddon Headteacher Work-related Learning and Enterprise Education at BVGS
Ofsted Inspection April 2010 Our visitors from Ofsted were provided with wide-ranging and up-to-date evidence to support our view that we had made dramatic progress since the last inspection in 2006. Five inspectors over two days trawled through our evidence files, observed lessons, interviewed staff, students, governors and analysed statistics from parent and student questionnaires. And the outcome? BVGS was judged to be:
‘A good school with many outstanding features and with an outstanding Sixth Form.’ Members of Year 10 on 20 May in business wear for their special ‘Global Enterprise Day’.
Deemed ‘Outstanding’ by the Inspection Team: All aspects of the Sixth Form. And across the whole school: Outcomes for individuals and groups of pupils. Pupil achievement and the extent to which they enjoy their learning, Pupils’ Attainment, Development of workplace and other skills that will contribute to economic well-being, Pupil Attendance, Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural development and ‘Community Cohesion’. A truly great result with which we can justifiably feel well pleased. Congratulations are due to all members of the Vesey Community for the considerable efforts over recent years. We are delighted with the result and look forward to addressing these relatively few but very important areas for improvement: An even higher percentage of A*/A grades at GCSE More opportunities for student leadership, particularly in Yrs 7-11 With sincere thanks to all who helped to achieve this memorable outcome. Full report on our web-site.