You are here: News & Events / Recent News / summer term
Summer Term
This week, things will undoubtedly feel a little different for our pupils as we welcome them back from the May break.
|
No longer Year 7s, the children who joined us in September 2008, will officially begin their ‘second year’ at Deer Park and, like those who will also move from Year 8 into Year 9, they will move away from their tutor groups to join new sets or classes across the curriculum. Similarly, while our outgoing Year 11s sit their final examinations, last term’s Year 9 pupils move up and embark on their new courses in Key Stage 4 as Year 10s and, consequently, push the cohort above into Year 11 for whom there will be a Parents’ Evening on Thursday 11 June. On Wednesday 1 July, pupils starting Deer Park in September 2009, will have the opportunity to follow their real timetables and meet their class teachers on their induction day. Pupils received their new timetables on Monday 1 June and started in their new groups immediately. By doing rolling the curriculum forward at this time, we hope to achieve smoother transitions across each Key Stage and to optimise the time our learners have in school. |
We have been planning this move for two years in response to our own self-evaluation and the area our last Ofsted Inspection (May 2007) identified for improvement – ‘to plan work and set tasks which are tailored more accurately to the needs of individual students’. It builds on our successful ‘Preparation for Learning’ fortnights at the end of the summer term and, in particular, the learning and teaching opportunities in the core subjects where pupils in Year 9 in previous years, have been given a head start by being able to embark on their GCSE courses immediately after their SATs examinations in May.
However, we appreciate that there are always lessons to be learnt from doing something for the first time. We will keep this under review and, hopefully, there will be the minimum of disruption.
Chiquita Henson
Headteacher
