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Spring Term Review

Monday 11 April 2011

The period since Christmas has been a particularly busy one for pupils and staff and as a community we have achieved a lot. We have made a seamless transition to academy status and our pupils have participated enthusiastically in a range of activities which have raised their awareness and understanding of issues affecting others and themselves. These include their sensitive and perceptive responses to our reflective 'thought for the week', engagement in charity fund raising which since September has raised over £4000 for good causes, and participation in our creative standstill days.

Our pupils and the quick reactions of our staff are to be commended on the way in which the school was evacuated on Monday 4 April when a small fire was discovered in a storeroom adjacent to our sports hall. The pupils remained very calm and waited patiently in the cold while the fire crew made their routine checks to ensure the building was safe. I am particularly grateful to Anne Hacker, Head of PE, and Cath Brace, Assistant Head of Key Stage 4, who raised the alarm and, who with Martin Doidge, Director of Support, extinguished the fire which had been caused by an electrical fault. We routinely practise fire drills with our pupils and, as a consequence, the whole school was evacuated in under 5 minutes. Jerry Richer, Assistant Head, reported, 'The Fire Officer was impressed with the organisation displayed by staff and pupils alike.'

This week, on Wednesday 6 April, pupils in Year 8 worked collaboratively in response to a range of creative tasks. These were designed to build their learning power and, as a part of a wider UNESCO project, promote a greater awareness of slavery past and present. Pupils worked alongside media professionals, representatives from organisations and other creative agents. In addition, they were encouraged to reflect on how they were learning and the skills required to undertake specific tasks. The day was organised by Helena Dovey, our History Advanced Skills Teacher, and the activities will be followed up through our Citizenship programme. She reflected: 'All our visitors were impressed by our learners and the efforts we had gone through to make the day possible. Anti-Slavery International were so impressed with the quality of the work the pupils had produced that they would like to include it in a section of their own website! You could really see how they were building learning power. I really enjoyed the day and it was good for me to see pupils in a different light and see them make links between different subjects.'

Similarly, pupils in Year 11 had the opportunity to reflect on their learning on Tuesday 15 March. Our 'Lifestyle for Learning Day' was jointly put together by Head of Key Stage 4, David Clarke and James Johnson, our Citizenship Co-ordinator and focused our pupils' minds on revision strategies and the care they need to take of themselves and their brains! The day was followed up with similar sessions for the pupils and their parents and the feedback the team received was very positive.

We are very encouraged by the progress our learners are currently making and appreciate that with the increase in 'controlled assessments' and modular exams, some of this guidance needs to be made available to them earlier on. On our return to school in January we shared the results of their mock examinations with our pupils in Year 11 and we have continued to support and challenge them in their studies to ensure they are able to secure good grades this summer.

Because it is so late this year, the Easter break falls at a critical time and I would strongly recommend pupils in Key Stage 4 plan their revision carefully. One simple way of helping them organise their time is to encourage them to follow their 'normal timetable' at home over the fortnight's break to ensure they spend an appropriate amount of time preparing themselves for their first examinations in May. Year 11 pupils will have their last official day in school on 20 May and their Leavers' Ball has been scheduled for Friday 1 July. GCSE results will be shared with our pupils on Thursday 25 August 2011.

Although the pressure is on for many, we encourage our pupils to achieve a sustainable balance. It was lovely to see so many taking part in our Expressive Arts Showcase on Thursday 31 March. The programme was varied and we are fortunate to have so many talented pupils. Similarly, I am pleased to report on the success of our Football teams in Years 9 and 11. Both have made it to the finals and will play Maidenhill and Kingshill respectively at Cirencester Football Ground on Tuesday 26 April. Kick off is at 4.30pm for Year 11 and 6.00pm for Year 9.

Internationally, Deer Park was again represented at the Model United Nations Conference at Alfrink College in The Netherlands. A team of 19 pupils were accompanied by Tim Connole, Deputy Head, and Caroline Skerten, Head of Key Stage 3, and represented countries as diverse as Sri Lanka, USA, Syria, Spain and Ukraine alongside their Dutch counterparts. A small group of younger students from Alfrink College join us on 16 May and will be participating in a 'mini MUNA'. We also welcomed a group from Cirencester's friendship partner, St Genis Laval in France on Wednesday 16 February. We are hosting two groups of students from Itzehoe, Cirencester's German twin town, in June.

In January we received the feedback from the Kirkland Rowell Surveys which were conducted in November and the Strategic Leadership Team have evaluated these and we have shared the outcomes with parents, staff and pupils. The analysis is far more detailed than what we have been able to achieve in our own surveys previously and is nationally benchmarked. All three groups report very favourable perceptions of the school and the areas highlight for improvement have been incorporated into our strategic plan. One aspect that came through very strongly within the surveys was the school's community spirit. This has been most recently reflected in our Key Stage 3 Charities' week in February which raised £2,437.89 for organisations chosen by the pupils: 'Help for Heroes', Read International, 'Chicks' Holidays and Cancer Research. This followed Key Stage 4's equally successful week in October.

We are looking forward to returning to school after the Easter Break. In keeping with the previous two years, our Year groups will move up and we will start our new timetable on Tuesday 7 June. We will be hosting open mornings for pupils in Year 5 in June and our Induction Days for our 'new' pupils in Year 7 in July. Enrichment Week takes place between 4 and 8 July and I know our pupils are looking forward to the activities they will be participating in.