Weekly Newsletters

First impressions count and I have been impressed with the punctuality of students, the behaviour in and around school as well as the effort given to adapting to new topics in their lessons.

As a school, we are focusing on making a good start in order to lay strong foundations for the rest of the year.  This includes making sure the presentation of work in books is excellent which requires all students to have the correct equipment in lessons. Most of all we want to ensure students are building good learning habits.  I am pleased to say I have had many positive encounters, which confirm that all of the above is happening on a regular basis.

As autumn fast approaches and the weather becomes more unpredictable, I would like to encourage students to bring a dark coloured coat.  The number of students that arrive at school without any coat or protection from the unpredictable weather astounds me.  Please note we do not allow hoodies, track suit or football training tops.

Being wet, cold and uncomfortable is not the best start to the day.  I urge you to share with your son/daughter the advance weather forecast to avoid being caught out by inclement conditions.

I have been contacted by residents of Foxcovert to explain that there are a number of parents blocking the entrance to their property before and at the end of the school day.  I ask that you are both considerate but also understanding of the need to allow residents in and out of their property.  Please could you collect your child(ren) from the Tesco’s car park. The relevant authorities have been contacted and will act if there are further breaches.

I am delighted to share with you the summer results, which show further improvements from last year’s achievements.

At A level, the headline figures are as follows:

A* - C:                                               78% (13% increase from last year)

A* - B:                                               41% (8% increase from last year)

Overall Pass Rate (A* - E):             100% (3% increase from last year)

Amongst this year’s highest achieving students were:

• Patryk Chabraszewski  with 2 A* grades, 2 A grades and 1 B grade.
• Joe Parr with 3 A grades and 1 C grade
• Christian Toma with 1 A* grade, 1 A grade, 1 B grade and 1 C grade
• Owain Wilkie with 4 B grades
• Chiara Beeby with 1 A* grade, 1 A grade and 2 C grades

At GCSE Level:

• 65% of students gained an A*-C in GCSE English or Maths, a fantastic achievement
• Students achieving a grade 9-4 in GCSE Maths increased to 64%

Amongst this year’s highest achieving Year 11 students were:

• Josh Dawson with 5 A* grades, 4 A grades and 1 B grade.
• Vanesa Yakimova with 5 A* grades, 4 A grades and 1 B grade
• Caitlin Kelly with 2 A* grades, 6 A grades, and 1 B grade
• Emma Stacey with 3 A* grades, 5 A grades, and 1 B grade
• Ben Brace 3 with A* grades, 5 A grades, 1 B grade and 1 C grade

What the headlines do not reveal, is the individual achievement of the many students who may not be top performers. They have worked tirelessly, accepted the advice from their teachers/mentors and acted upon it to achieve or better their target grades.

I very much look forward to meeting with you in the near future and working in partnership with you over the forthcoming academic year to secure the best possible future for your child(ren).

Bryan Erwin
Principal

Nicole Santos has just returned from a year in China as part of her Italian and Chinese degree at Leeds University.

Kristine Rjumina is off this week to Venice  to study at an Italian business school for 5 months as part of her degree at Newcastle University along with Suellen De lima Silva who is also off this week to Padua, Italy to study International Law at an Italian university for a year as part of her Law degree at Nottingham University.

In bocca al lupo ragazze! (Good luck)!

Ms Nuzzo
Italian/French Teacher

All students involved for this half term have been spoken to by either myself, Mrs Willoughby and Mr Mantell who will be leading these sessions.  A letter will also go out to parents/carers of the students involved this week.  The programme will be constantly reviewed and evaluated to ensure the students get the best out of it.  We will also be analysing at the end of half term the improvements made before deciding on the next set of groups.  This could potentially involve the same students although we will try to work with as many students as possible.  It is imperative students attend these sessions and make the most of them as otherwise they may lose this privilege to others.

There will be further announcements about other revision and support available to all students in the coming weeks.  We look forward to working with you and sharing in your child's success come the Summer.

Mr Hussain
Assistant Principal & Head of Mathematics