Newsletter December 2017
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Newsletter Issue no. 80 - December 2017 www.edgbarrowschool.co.uk From the Operational Headteacher As we approach the end of term I wanted to write to ● This year 160 students sat examinations wish all staff, students, parents and carers a very ● 99.6% pass rate Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It’s been a ● 27% achieved A* - A grades - A Level long term and staff and students alike are ready for ● 55% achieved A*- B grades - A Level the Christmas break. There has been lots going on ● Using UCAS points A*- B grades, including BTEC, and I hope this newsletter gives you a flavour of 64% school life ● 84% achieved A*- C grades ● 99.6% achieved A* - E grades ● 86% of all BTECs taken achieved distinction and It seems so long ago now but our examination results distinction* across the board were once again very pleasing. Our KS4 results were excellent and our KS5 results were These results have maintained our high performance very good. The following information shows the from last year and are very pleasing. The teaching, highlights of each Key Stage. intervention strategies and support that are given to individual students is an absolute strength of our Sixth Form. The Leadership Team led by Tony Evans, Head EdgbarrowSchool Please find below some highlights: of Sixth Form, offer great leadership in this area of the ● Progress 8 = +0.36 (approx. 1/3 grade higher school. than the national average) ● Attainment 8=55.27- B grade (40=C, 55=B) Furthermore, 68% of students went on to Higher Edu- ● 64% of our students achieved 9-5 (strong pass) cation and 42% of these students are at Sutton Trust in Maths and English. elite universities. 4 students have also accepted places at ● 75% of our students achieved 9-5 in English either Oxford or Cambridge. We are also delighted to ● 75% of our students achieved 9-5 in Maths see an increase in the number of students taking on ● 84% of our students achieved 9 -4 (standard apprenticeships from highly competitive fields. pass) in Maths and English (95% A*-C last year) Our thanks to all the teachers for their time and care and ● 90% of our students achieved 9-4 in English to the Sixth Form Leadership Team for all their guidance ● 91% of our students achieved 9 -4 in Maths and hard work. ● 84% of our students achieved 5 or more A*-C or 9-4 grades including Maths and English (on first entry). Last year this figure was 77% on The Sponsored Walk went ahead first entry and the year before 69% on first en- as planned on the 22nd September. try We had more than 1000 students ● 29% of exams taken at GCSE level achieved A*- participating in the 10 Km walk A or 9–7 (last year 35% A*- A) through Crowthorne Woods and This is a fantastic set of results for the school and for the day went very well. My thanks Maths and English who obviously feel the additional to all the volunteers. For this event pressure and burden of featuring prominently in our we raised over £14K. A huge school results. thank you to everybody for their support. Many congratulations should be given to all the staff that have either taught the groups, led the depart- ments or supported and guided tutor teams as well On Saturday 23rd September, we organised our first as the Heads of Year who made such a concerted painting and gardening day of the year. We had lots of effort to maintain and improve results. parents join us and lots of new faces. We probably saved the school about £5,000 on that one day; we managed to We were pleased with our KS5 examination results cover the whole of the sports hall and freshen up some and they are as follows: of the corridors in the main block. Our best wishes go to Michelle Hutchinson (History, Head of Year 11) who has started her maternity leave. Good luck to Rachel Knowles who takes over as Head of Year 11 and Jo Madzelewski who is Deputy Head of Year 11. The Christmas Evening this year was held on Thursday 23rd December, 6 – 8pm. This was Carol Wilkinson leaves her post as Senior Science Techni- another fantastic event supported by many of cian to return to a role in industry and we wish her every the lower school children and parents. The success. Sixth Form building was packed full of stalls with lots to buy and there was a lovely Christmas atmosphere. We also welcome Andy Balfour as our Deputy Student Throughout the evening, we were busy with students and par- Support Manager and Matt Whiddett as a Student Support ents and together we raised just under £5000 which is an amaz- Assistant. We are delighted with both appointments and ing achievement. Thanks to everybody for supporting this event. pleased to be able to expand our Student Support Depart- ment to work with our students on their emotional well- being and behaviour. The school has been working with the Education Funding Agen- cy to advance this project. There have been numerous changes Gillian Albone has joined us as our Pupil Premium Inter- to policies that have delayed the works but we hope to have a vention Assistant. Gill is already doing some fantastic clearer picture in the next few weeks. I will update you as soon work with individuals who need some support in their as we have further information. learning. Our Progress department has had a number of vacancies This year, under the direction of Helen Blazer and musical and we are delighted that these posts have been filled by direction of Stefe McAdam, we will be putting on a production Andrea Guillen Bernal, Pawanjit Dhillon, Julie Nixon and of Beauty and the Beast. Sam Wilson. The Progress Department work with stu- Performances will run for three nights on Wednesday 13th, dents that have an additional special educational needs and Thursday 14th and Friday 15th December It looks and sounds do a wonderful job. Our 4 new starters have already fantastic! Thank you to all those involved! joined the team and got us back up to full strength. We welcome Chris Dargan as a Learning Supervisor; Jane Nearly there. As we write this newsletter our Academy infor- Crawford as a Curriculum Assistant; Julia Thomas as our mation is at the Department for Education waiting for the Senior Science Technician, Diane Leahy to our Human ‘Official Seal’. When we return in January we will be an Academy Resources department and Jacob Clay as a teacher of and a founding member of the Corvus Learning Trust along with Psychology. We are delighted to have you join us. Oaklands Infant, Oaklands Junior and Hatch Ride Primary schools. It is a very exciting time and we are looking forward to Once again, thank you for your support over this term. I working even more closely with the Trust members to deliver hope you all have a peaceful time with family and friends education to the local community. Thanks to all those involved and I look forward to seeing all our students back to and all those who participated in the consultation. school on Wednesday 3rd January 2018 (Week B). Thank you to all those who attended our Sixth Form Open Evening, it was fantastic to see such a large crowd. We are very fortunate that so many of our own year 11s are staying with us and we have a record number of external applicants. Whilst the deadline was the 15th December, we will consider late applica- tions form Edgbarrow students. Unfortunately as we come to the end of term we always find ourselves saying goodbye to one or two members of staff. Year 7 News Head of Year : L West A very warm welcome to Edgbarrow School. I have been delighted with the excellent start that the vast majority of pupils have made as they embark on their secondary school career. Although so many of them looked apprehensive on their first day they have very quickly settled into the routine and I am pleased that they are working so hard in lessons, making lots of new friends and are fully involving themselves with school life. Our big theme this term was being resilient and I am very proud of how they have coped with this transition overall. Please encourage them to continue doing so. It has been an exceptionally busy term and the Year 7s have fully participated in all our activities: they completed the sponsored walk, they are busy collecting EDGpoints and most of them will have received their bronze prizes/certificates. The tutors and I are continually encouraging the Year 7 pupils to make the most of any opportunities whilst they are with us and I am happy that so many are doing this. Many have taken positions of responsibility as Form reps, School Council reps or have been part of consultation groups working on school decisions. I have been impressed by how seriously they are taking their roles. There are many clubs running either at lunchtime or after school which the pupils can involve themselves in and I would urge you to encourage your child to become involved. As I write this piece Christmas is fast approaching and officially arrived at Edgbarrow when the Year 7s organised stalls for the PTA Christmas Shop- ping Evening! It was a fun filled evening and I was pleased to see so many pupils and parents at the event.