October 2016

FARLINGAYE HIGH SCHOOL

HEADTEACHER’S REPORT TO GOVERNORS May – October 2016

Student Population Details (Snapshot data 23/9/16)

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 All Years

Pupils 296 296 297 295 293 230 225 1932

M 49.32% 146 51.35% 152 56.08% 166 51.53% 152 46.76% 137 43.91% 101 42.67% 96 49.22% 951

F 50.68% 150 48.65% 144 43.92% 131 48.47% 143 53.24% 156 56.09% 129 57.33% 129 50.78% 981

Key Pastoral Factors (Snapshot data 23/9/16)

Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Year 12 Year 13 All Years Free School 10.47% 31 11.49% 34 7.41% 22 9.83% 29 6.14% 18 4.78% 11 2.22% 5 7.76% 150 Meals Pupil 22.97% 68 27.36% 81 21.55% 64 18.98% 56 13.99% 41 10% 23 6.67% 15 18.01% 348 Premium Service 1.69% 5 4.73% 14 5.05% 15 1.69% 5 4.44% 13 1.74% 4 1.78% 4 3.11% 60 Children

Staff Details

No. of Full Time Teaching Staff (Including 101 Headteacher) No. of Part Time Teaching Staff (FTE) 14.9 No. of Part Time Trainees (FTE) 2.6 No. of Support Staff (FTE) 74.9

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HEADTEACHER’S REPORT TO THE GOVERNORS

A MONITORING, PROGRESS AND OUTCOMES

A1 Exam Results

A Level Results

2016 was an excellent year with a pass rate 98. 6%. The average grade per A Level subject score is 222. The average point score per student is an excellent 998. Every student achieved at least 2 A Level passes which will enable them to go onto either Higher or Further Education or their chosen career. 59% of grades were at A*/A/B and 17 of our students achieved at least two A* grades. Special congratulations to Natalie Nickells and Jonty Page who achieved at least 4A* and Will Crookall, Sam Yale, Megan Taylor and Sam Elliot who all achieved at least 3 A*s.

Students’ Destinations University 62% Employment 4% Apprenticeship 3% Further Education 2% Gap Year with University in 201711% Gap Year/applying for University next Year 18%

GCSE

GCSE Results We had a very strong set of GCSE results, which, using the new criteria, could be our best ever. Our progress 8 score was a very healthy +0.43, while 79% of students reached the A*-C Threshold in both Maths and English. An incredible 43 students (15%) achieved 10A*/A, and a third of the year group achieved 5A*/A; 32% of grades were A* and A. 76% of students achieved 5A*-C including English and Maths. 33% of students achieved the Ebacc. Special congratulations should go to the three students who attained 10A* grades – Kate Atkinson, Alice Curzon and Rosie Seabrook; and also to Jasmine Butcher, Dylan Fotherby and Erin Hamilton who managed 9A* grades and to Alice Brown, Andras Dervenkar, James Liddell and Euan McKenzie, who all achieved 8A* grades.

Year 11 2016-17 Year 10 reports in 2015/16 highlighted concerns about attainment and progress in that cohort. Progress 8 estimates for the cohort are ‘flat’, while the projected English and Maths Threshold figure is 46%. This group has been identified as being in need of lots of intervention to ensure they achieve to their full potential. Additional resources will therefore need to be focused on this group in 2016/17 in Year 11.

Although results are excellent overall, there are four elements of the results which will need to be a focus for our continual school improvement work. These are as follows:

 Pupil Premium/Non-Pupil Premium gap - +0.08 vs +0.51 (gap is -0.43)  Boys vs Girls gap - +0.35 vs +0.50 (gap is -0.15)  SEN vs Non-SEN gap - +0.11 vs +0.49 (gap is -0.38)  Ebacc – the proportion of students achieving the Ebacc (33%) seems low for a school with our results, and could be questioned in an inspection. (It may be the case that levels of

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entry for Ebacc subjects (including Languages) will be a limiting factor in Ofsted Inspection judgments in the future.)

A2 Support for Exams

Underlying the excellent results is a great deal of hard work by our students, but I would also wish to recognise the hours and hours of support that staff give to those students. The evidence of success in the exams shows that these had a positive impact. In 2015/16 that support included:-

 95% of students in Year 11 attended day study trips (organised by Miss Gilmour and Ms Hargadon);  18 students in Year 11 were mentored by 15 staff (organised by Mrs Laird);  11 students were mentored by 15 business people in the community through the COMPACT Scheme (also organised by Mrs Laird);  We ran over 50 revision sessions each week for Year 11 in the weeks leading up to the exams;  There was a Revision Morning for Year 11 in February and a revision pack;  There was constant to one support from staff at break and lunchtimes plus staff ran revision days in the holidays for GCSE, AS and A2 exams;  In 2015/16 we also paid for one to three tuition work in English and Maths targeting borderline C/D students being supported for 30-45 minutes a week in both years 10 and 11;  Exam preparation time continued through the exam period. For all students we ran sessions on the morning of exams, or the afternoon before, wherever possible, to do final revision, as well as teaching all subjects right up to the exams. Final revision breakfasts (8 to 9 am) were made more formal this year. Ms Hargadon ran an evening session for parents of Year 11 students on revision skills.  We ran an ‘Aim to Achieve’ programme for borderline year 11 (co-ordinated by Mrs Laird) and ‘Freddoes’ scheme for more able but underachieving Year 11s.  The students in the lower school continue to benefit from the support of their peers through the very successful buddy mentoring programme, the more specialist On-Track mentors and the Aunts and Uncles. These programmes help students to feel more confident, to raise their resilience and to take increasing responsibility for their school life.

Thank you to our Exams Officer, Ms Boath (who retired at the end of August) and her assistant Ms Hambleton, for their excellent work during the exam season and in the summer holidays to ensure the exams and results days went smoothly. Thank you also to Ms Tyndale-Hardy, Mr Tait, Mr Haughan and Mr Howlett for the time they gave in the holidays to support Year 11 and Year 13 students in making their Sixth Form and university choices.

A3 Performance of Sub-groups (i.e. Looked After Children, Travellers, SEN students, Free School Meals students, gender groups) (Chris Moran is doing this)

These will be in the appendix for each subject and I will go through these at our meeting. They will also be in the SEF and appendix when it is updated.

A4 Year Trails

We continue with the Year Trail process as our main way of evaluating the quality of teaching and learning. Last term we trailed Year 8 and you should have recently received a copy of the report which was positive. The Sixth Form trail starts after half-term. 3

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A5 SEF

SEF to be updated by October half term.

A6 School Self Evaluation

Post-16 self reviews are due to take place. All staff will continue to be formally observed this year by their Head of Faculty and LT link person, plus many informal observations. We continue to not grade lessons for teaching, just for behaviour. All Heads of Faculty and subject are currently meeting with me and the LT link person in their Curriculum Review. All Heads of Faculty complete the termly self review for governors. All reports for Years 10, 11, 12 and 13 will continue to be carefully analysed for outcomes and to offer further support. Mr Moran supports Heads of Year and Heads of Faculty in tracking the progress of their students and monitoring the progress of the more vulnerable groups.

The results of the lesson observations from last year are as follows:

No. Outstanding Good Sound Unsatisfactory Plus no. of NQTs 2015/16 247 192 (77%) 54 1(0.4%) 0 5 NQTs (22%) 2014/15 259 188 (73%) 60 11(4%) 0 6.5 NQTs Behaviour (23%) only 2013/14 250 105 (42%) 133 10 (4%) 2 (0.8%) 5 NQTs (53%)

A7 Targeting Underachieving GCSE Students

Miss Gilmour will continue to work with year teams to identify underachieving GCSE students. Strategies will be reviewed and resources targeted to maximise benefit for those students needing most support. Disadvantaged students will be particularly highlighted.

A8 Curriculum Reviews

Curriculum review reports have been submitted by departments. Based on those reviews meetings are scheduled with Heads of Faculty September to October.

B MENTORING AND ACHIEVEMENT SCHEMES AND STRATEGIES

We have continued to do some good work on this during 2015/2016 and at the start of the current year. We now have a variety of schemes to both support students’ individual personal needs and to help them achieve more highly. Mrs Laird has spent considerable time co-ordinating some of these schemes. The various strategies include:-

 Buddy Mentoring. In 2015-16 we had over 75 trained mentors. Buddy mentors offer an invaluable service to our younger students, who have a variety of needs that they need support with. We are hugely grateful to Mrs Barnard for all her work in co-ordinating the scheme once the mentors are trained. Mrs Laird will soon be training the students for this year. 4

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 In June we appointed 22 students in the current Year 10 to take on the role of “Aunts and Uncles” and 8 students were appointed as “Reading Mentors” to work with students in Year 7. The older students did a great job supporting the Induction Day. They will now support their tutor group throughout the year.  Mrs Barnard and Mrs Laird are continuing to work with some buddy mentor students in Year 13 who are now being trained to help our most disaffected Year 8 students on our “On Track” scheme.  Compact Mentoring – For Year 11 students with over 25 business/external mentors;  Mentoring – For Year 11 students with over 20 staff;  A2A Group – last year focused on C/D borderline students. Maths, English and Science were the focus of the study sessions, with students benefiting from the more individual input this allowed. An analysis of the results of this group shows that 91% of the group met their predicted grades in Maths, English and Science. 46% improved their grade and 89% meet or exceeded their target in English; 21% improved their grade and 89% met or exceeded it in Maths; and 36% improved their grade and 93% met or exceeded their target in Science. 82% achieved a grade C or higher in English and the 79% in Maths. 54% achieved a C grade or higher in Science. In addition, Ms Hargadon ran a “Freddo” Challenge group for our most able students who were underachieving. 18 students took part in this “light touch”. It tends to be mostly boys. With the Freddoes Group a high number significantly improved their grades with a particular increase in A and A* grades. Both schemes are just starting for the present year.

C MUSIC, DRAMA AND ART

C1 Music

A host of our musicians, dancers and actors both past and present all took part in a fantastic farewell concert for Sue Hargadon. The packed audience enjoyed a fitting tribute to Sue. We then had an excellent outdoor summer concert in July at the bandstand in Elmhurst Park. All the groups taking part in the Music Tour to Austria were performing and the standard was superb. Many thanks to all the staff involved, especially to Mrs Phillips, Ms Martino, Mr Picton and Mr Phillips for all they did to support music throughout the whole of last year. We are also very grateful to various parents and peripatetic staff who help at our music events.

C2 Creative Arts Exhibitions

There were two lovely evenings of exhibitions for our GCSE and ‘A’ level Art, Art Textiles and Photography work. As always, those who attended the exhibitions were amazed by the quality of the work.

C3 School Productions

We had our Lower School production of “High School Musical” in July. About 60 students thoroughly enjoyed rehearsing and performing (or working backstage) to two full houses. Many thanks to Mr Picton, Miss Lansdowne Mrs Cowley and Miss Ring for all they did, as well as all the other staff who helped to make it such a lovely event.

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D ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS

D1 Enterprise Day

We again held a very successful Year 9 Enterprise Day in July. We are indebted to the support of BT for this project, led by Andrew Trawford and Kevin Pearce. This year the students went to BT again, which worked brilliantly. Mr Edge, in school, pulled it all together beautifully. The students looked great in their smart work clothes and it was good fun to see all their entrepreneurial skills on show!

D2 Activities Week

Activities Week took place in the last full week of term. There was a tremendous range of activities for the students to choose from. These included:-

 Duke of Edinburgh Gold Qualifying Expedition  Music tour to Austria  Around the world in four days  Wonderful World of Disney  Art Safari  Zoo Trail  Italian Tour  Sailing and Windsurfing  Palaces, Politics and Theme Parks  Tweet#letsgowild On Tour – in the footsteps of BBCs Springwatch  Fieldsports fun  Dambusters – Trip to Duxford Imperial War Museum  Foto Frenzy – Photography course  American Adventure – Trip to theme park  Scrapheap Challenge  Day Tripper – to Thorpe Park and Banham Zoo  Foreign Language Films  Golf Experience  Sport for All  Flicks and Fun!  Board Game Bliss  Warhammer  The Farlingaye Fashion Design Challenge  Unfinished Objects and Projects – a chance to finish craft projects  Pottering About – All things Harry Potter, including a visit to the Potter Studios  Pamper and Shop  Go Ballistic  Area 25 Skatepark  Horseriding at Valley Farm  Go Go Karting  Musicals Galore – trip to a London Show and shopping at Covent Garden  Swallows and Amazons

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 The Best of the Bakes  A Taste of Spain  Leather Workshop  Football and Fun  Retro Roaming and Vintage Value  Getting to (and surviving) university for Year 12

It was a highly successful week and all students who participated seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. Huge thanks go to Miss Gilmour for her excellent organisation of the week and to Mrs Sciberras, Mrs Bradbrook, Mrs Whinney, Mrs Barnett and Mrs Garnham for all their hard work in the school office to ensure that everything went successfully. I am very grateful to all the staff who spend hours planning, setting up and running activities.

D3 Proms

Both Year 11 and Year 13 had leaving proms. As always, the students looked fabulous in their long dresses and DJs, often arriving in stretch limos and other exciting forms of transport. Year 11 held theirs at Manor Farm, Henley, and the Year 13 Prom was at Town Football Club. The staff worked hard to support these activities and I would particularly like to recognise the work put in by Mr Wakeley, Mrs Stuart and Mrs Mawson for Year 11, Ms Tyndale-Hardy, Mr Howlett and Mrs Berrisford for Year 13.

D4 Readathon

Mr Macdonald organised another excellent Readathon with the support of Mrs Mason and Mrs Houston. Mrs Chignell, an ex-parent, also contributed a great deal to the day helping to organise the refreshments. Around 100 students collected sponsorship for the event which took place in the school library where the students read from 8.00am until 6.00pm. To widen their interest in books a number of teachers, including Ms Hargadon, came and read to them from a favourite book. All the students who took part had a brilliant day and they raised over £2000. The majority of this money went to the nominated charity Bowel Cancer UK, with the rest going to support the school library and the school’s Reading Club.

D5 Extra Curricular Activities Clubs

We continue to offer an outstanding range of extra-curricular clubs, please click on this link to access a list of the clubs available to students this term: http://www.farlingaye.suffolk.sch.uk/Students/ExtraCurricularActivitiesClubs/School_Clubs_2016- 2017_FINAL.pdf

All these are run voluntarily by staff and I know that governors will be as grateful as I am that we have so many staff willing to give up their own time to offer such excellent opportunities to our students.

D FHSF

On Saturday 7th May the FHSF held their annual ball. This had a Great Gatsby theme and proved very popular. There was a bar and raffle and great music from The Outlines. We raised £2000 to help improve the Long Jump area. 7

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Our AGM for the FHSF took place on 29th September 2016, combined with presentations for parents. There were 30 minute workshops on:

 protecting your child online (Mr MacDonald);  supporting your child in applying to university(Ms Tyndale Hardy)  trial exciting year 7/8 Science lessons (Mrs Moran/Mr Lucking)  helping boys to do better at school (Mr Smith);  supporting students at GCSE English (Miss Jermy);  understanding the curriculum changes (Mr Piddington).

We had a good turnout with very positive feedback about the sessions.

I’d like to recognise and thank Mr Moran for the excellent work he has done throughout the year to chair and lead the FHSF.

D8 Open Evening

Open Evening is scheduled for 6th October 2016. Three ticketed talks are planned this year at 6:15, 7:00 and 7:45. Hopefully this will accommodate as many people as wish to attend more comfortably. Thank you to Mr Tunaley for all his work to organise the event. Governors will be updated at the meeting on 10th October.

E TRIPS, TRIPS ABROAD, EXCHANGES AND DUKE OF EDINBURGH SCHEME

E1 German Exchange: 26 Farlingaye students are participating in the annual German exchange. The Germans from our partner school (Friedrich Koenig Gymnasium in Wuerzburg) visit us between the 28th September and 5th October and we will be visiting them in March. Thanks to Mr Craig for organising this.

E2 French Exchange and Sixth Form Study Visit 2017: The French Exchange students will arrive in Woodbridge on Monday 13th March and will stay with their English partners until Monday 20th March. 22 students from Year 9 and 10 are participating in the exchange with 4 Farlingaye students from Year 12 for the Sixth Form study visit.

This year we are again joining with for both visits. Our students visit France from Sunday 19th March to Saturday 26th March and we are planning to fly again this year to Lyon and travel by coach to our partner school Saint Alyre in Clermont Ferrand. Thanks to Miss Grandjean for organising this.

E3 Spanish Exchange: In 2016/17 11 Farlingaye students will participate in a Spanish Exchange. We look forward to welcoming 12 to Farlingaye between 19th and 23rd October. FHS students will leave for Seville on 22nd February and return on 25th February 2017. Thank you to Ms Cesarano for organising this exchange.

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E4 There were three trips away in Activities week. These included the following:-

 Music Tour to Austria  Trip to Disneyland Paris  Trip to Italy

These students all had a brilliant time and I am hugely grateful to those members of staff who worked so hard to organise them and gave up their own time to lead them.

E5 Planned trips abroad or residential trips in this country during this year include:

 DofE expeditions led by Mr C Shaw  Ski Trip led by Mr Parks in February half term  French Exchange led by Ms Grandjean  German Exchange led by Mr Craig  Spanish Exchange led by Ms Cesarano (to be approved)  Trip to Vienna (6th form) led by Ms Cesarano(to be approved)  Battlefields Trip in May/June led by Miss Ring  Possible trip to South of France for Watersports in Activities Week (to be approved)

Governors will be asked at the meeting to approve all of these (several have already been approved).

E6 Duke of Edinburgh’s Award 2015-16 (Mr Shaw)

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award 2016-17

All levels of the DofE have been launched to students over the past few weeks. Bronze to Year 10, Silver to Year 11 and Gold to Year 12. The responses so far have been as high as ever and it looks like the 2016-17 DofE season will be as busy as before.

I am very pleased to have two assistants on board with DofE this year. Helen Quilliam is doing a great job with admin and making life a bit easier for me. She has been very efficient at getting all of the forms and letters together for each year group and is also taking in and processing applications from students. She has been quite surprised at how much admin work is actually involved, even at this early stage in the year and commented that she doesn’t know how I managed it on my own! To be honest, I’m not sure either how I managed. Helen’s appointment and that of Paul Bradley as equipment technician, helping to look after and manage all of the DofE kit is very welcome and I would like to thank the Governors for their support with these appointments and for their recognition of how much everyone involved with DofE puts into it.

We have had some very good news in the way of an equipment windfall, with the manager of the Rohan shop in Woodbridge, Nick Hughes getting in touch via our DofE Facebook page to offer a donation of clothing. They are involved with the Gift Your Gear scheme, which was set up in 2012 by Sarah Howcroft, one of the original founders of Rohan. The scheme encourages people to donate unwanted outdoor equipment which is then passed onto groups involved in outdoor activities, like our DofE unit. I collected a very large box, full of very high specification, nearly new condition garments from Rohan just recently and was overwhelmed by the quality and quantity of gear donated. Nick has indicated there may be even more in the future as this is an on-going 9

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scheme and is clearly very popular. This means that we are able to loan high quality outdoor clothing to students who may not have the full range of necessary kit, or their expedition enjoyment could be improved with a clothing upgrade.

Bronze The current Year 10s are again very enthusiastic about DofE and 150 application packs have been collected. The deadline for returns is the end of September and we will have an idea of numbers by then.

Due to the anticipated large numbers we have again decided to split the group in two and plan for two sets of expeditions. This is to ensure that we can manage the expeditions safely and responsibly, trying to limit the impact that such a large group would have on the local area.

The expedition dates therefore are as follows:

Expedition 1 Practice (Southwold to Snape): 29-30 April 2017 Qualifying (Snape to Ramsholt): 10-11 June 2017

Expedition 2 Practice (Southwold to Snape): 13-14 May 2017 Qualifying (Snape to Ramsholt): 24-25 June 2017

In addition to the expeditions, we have a training weekend in school in on 21st and 22nd January 2017, to learn essential skills in cooking on camp stoves, first aid and emergency procedures, route planning and menu planning. There are a number of after school workshops arranged to help students with their volunteering, physical and skills sections.

Silver We have just launched the Silver programme and await applications from the Year 11 students. Judging by the level of interest so far, it looks like we will have a healthy number of participants again this year. We have a planning session scheduled for Saturday 8th October to select groups and plan routes and menus for the upcoming practice expedition to the New Forest during half-term.

The expedition dates for Silver are as follows:

Practice (New Forest, Hampshire): 21 - 24 October 2016 (Half-term) Qualifying (Peak District, Derbyshire): 31 March - 3 April 2017 (Easter holiday)

We will also be holding a number of workshops to help students to complete their other sections.

Gold We have just launched this to students in Year 12 and applications are still coming in. The deadline is again the end September and we will have a better idea of numbers by then. Judging by the amount of application packs collected, it may well be a record year this year for Gold numbers.

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We will be holding our initial meeting in a few weeks for the Gold participants to discuss their volunteering, physical, skills and residential sections as well as to start planning for their expeditions.

Expedition dates for Gold are as follows:

Practice expedition (Yorkshire Dales & Howgill Fells): 8-13 April 2017 (Easter holiday) Qualifying expedition (Lake District): 15-20 July 2017 (Activities week)

There is also a training weekend on 4 – 5 February 2017, based at Butley Village Hall to equip the students with the additional skills and knowledge they will need to undertake the much higher challenge of the Gold expedition.

E7 Library Activities (Mrs Mason)

 Our Carnegie group have been shadowing the Carnegie Medal, a major award for an outstanding children’s fiction book. This involved reading eight books since Easter, those who read were invited to take part in the joint meeting with, St Alban’s High School, Farlingaye and Chantry Academy and which was held at Copleston on Monday 20thJune. Students debated the nominated titles and then voted for their individual favourites. Students voted for Lies We Tell Ourselves Robin Talley. Students later then repeated the process for the picture books, which were nominated for the Greenaway Award for illustration. Students voted for there’s a Bear on My Chair Illustration by Ross Collins towards the end of the morning we watched the live stream from London as the winners were announced.  Readathon was held on Friday 20th May, 104 students settled down in the Library to complete a reading marathon from 8am till 6pm. The students had a great time, and were sponsored to complete the event - the money raised will be divided up into 3 parts, the Bowel Cancer UK, School library and 2 school clubs. Students had a wonderful time reading with the friends and at the same time raising money for worthwhile causes. Thank you to all the students who take part and thank you to Mr Macdonald and Mrs Houston who organise the day. Mrs Mason  Schools Library Service Book Mastermind Competition was held in Stratford St Andrew on Friday 9th May. Our winner, Oscar Pycroft attended the final with his supporter Aaron Bennett. Oscar answered twenty questions on the Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo and went on to answer twenty general knowledge questions. After the competition special guests author Hayley Long and author Chris Priestley, spoke for an hour and they were very funny and interesting. All students had a chance to meet with the guests to have books signed. Oscar came 4th in the competition.  Year 7 BookBuzz has been launched again this year in the library. All year 7 will receive a free book.  Activities week was a success. The library hosted Around the World in four days; students experienced America, England, Italy and India.  I have launched Mrs Mason’s library challenge. The competition is open to all year 7 as part of their inductions. Students have to read books, complete writing challenge. Closing date is Monday 31st October.  Clubs are a big part of the library and we are still running the following:

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Monday Harry Potter and Dungeons and Dragons Tuesday Carnegie Book Group Wednesday Debating and Dungeons and Dragons Thursday Film Club Friday Creative Writing Club

 Tom Hayden’s (Year 10) story that he wrote during our creative writing group has been published. The work will be published in a Spine Chillers anthology.

E8 Other Trips and Activities in the past few months

5 May County Athletics 7 May FHSF May Ball – “Farlingaye goes Gatsby” 10 May Y10 Athletics at Northgate 11 May ESAA Schools Cup 14 May Regional Mock Trial Competition – Chelmsford 19 May Year 9 Athletics at Northgate 19 May Year 7 parents’ consultation evening 20 May Open Morning 20 May Readathon 23 May Year 8 Athletics at Northgate 25 May Year 7 Athletics at Northgate 25 May GCSE Art Exhibition 6 June Super 8s at Northgate 8 June Year 7 finals at Northgate 9 June UCAS Convention Sixth Form 13 to 15 June Lower School internal exams 15 June Year 10 parents’ consultation evening 16 June A level Art Exhibition viewing 17 June Y12 Trip to Shingle Street 17 June Year 7 Day trip to Boulogne 17 to 20 June Battlefields Trip to France and Belgium 21 June Y12 Biology Trip to Minsmere RSPB 21 June Technology G&T Enrichment morning 22 June Sports day 23 June Year 11 Prom 23 June Year 10 Thorpe Park Marketing Trip 23 June DT Exhibition Evening 23 June Suffolk Schools Sailing Regatta 24 June Year 9 Enterprise day 24 June Open Morning 24 June Year 10 Psychology Trip 28 to 30 June Lower School Production “High School Musical” 28 June Year 3 Marvellous Maths Day 29 June Year 6 Maths Quiz 12

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30 June A level New Designers Technology Trip 1 July Year 10 History trip to London 1 July Maximise your potential morning 1 July Year 13 Prom 4 to 8 July Numeracy week 4 July Farewell Concert for Sue Hargadon 4 July New Intake Day 5 July Year 5 ICT Day 5 July Year 9 PSHE Day 5 July Sports Award Evening 6 July Year 10 GCSE Art Gallery Visit 6 July Year 7 Maths Quiz 6 July New Intake Evening 7 July Chemistry Bridging Course Day 8 July Open Morning 8 July Year 12 Psychology Trip 9 to 10 July Duke of Edinburgh Gold qualifier expedition 10 July Elmhurst Park Concert 11 July SEND New Intake Parents Coffee Morning 14 to 20 July Music Tour to Austria 15 to 20 July Activities Week 15 to 20 July Gold D of E Qualifying Expedition 17 to 20 July Trip to Disneyland 21 July Celebration Assemblies 18 August A/AS Results Day 25 August GCSE Results Day 5 to 9 September Year 11 Work Experience 14 September D of E Gold Presentation Evening 20 September Parents’ Information Evening for German Exchange 21 September D of E Bronze Presentation Evening 1 26 September GCSE Geography field trip to Walton on the Naze 27 September Parents’ Information Evening for French Trip 28 September to 5th German Exchange Students visiting Farlingaye October 28 September D of E Bronze Presentation Evening 2 29 September Y12 Induction Activity -Bowling at Kingpin 30 September Open Morning 30 September to 3 A level Biology Minsmere trip October 30 September Year 9 Maximise your Potential Day 6 October Open Evening 6 October Staff Flu Vaccination programme

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E9 Forthcoming Trips and Activities

12 October Rotary Chef Competition 12 to 19 October French Exchange – FHS visit to France 13 October School Cross Country 14 October Year 7 History trip to Mountfitchet 17 to 21 October and 31 October to 4 Focus Fortnight with the theme of Origins November 17 October Y12 Sexual Health Day 18 October, 1 November and 7 November Artist in residence 18 October EPQ Visit – Essex University 19 October SEND Parent/carers afternoon tea 19 to 23rd October Spanish Exchange visit to Farlingaye 21 October D of E Silver Practice Expedition – New Forest 21 October Open Morning 21 October Trip to Bletchley Park – part of Focus Fortnight 31 October to 11 November Sixth Form Trail 2 November Careers Convention 4 November One Life Day 8 November Senior Maths Challenge 10 November Year 11 Certificate Evening 17 November A level Art Trip to London 18 November Oompah Night (FHSF) 18 November Open Morning 19 November German Conference 23 and 24 November Drama Showcase Performances 25 November PD Day 28 November Year 12/13 London Economics Conference 1 December Sixth Form Experience Morning 6 December Year 12 Maths Inspiration Lectures 8 December School Christmas Concert 9 December Open Morning 11 December Big Band at the Corn Exchange 10 or 11 December Chamber Choir at Sutton Hoo 13 December St Mary’s Concert 15 December Christmas Hampers and Christmas Jumper Day 19 and 20 December Christmas Pantomime 20 December Celebration Assemblies

F CELEBRATING SUCCESS

F1 A Celebration Tea Party was held for 125 students from Years 7 and 8, who had achieved a considerable number of commendations. Lots of parents joined us. We then followed it up with a similar event for 86 students in Year 10 for their Merit Award achievements. Year 9 had an event of their own for 75 students to celebrate the Diploma and their commendations.

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F2 There was a celebration assembly at the end of last term, to see and hear about some of the highlights of the last six months.

F3 A celebration was held for 125 students with 100% attendance. They received certificates, a gift and we raffled some cash prizes.

F4 A large number of letters and postcards of praise were sent home and there is a lovely ‘Things we are proud of’ display in the foyer. Mrs Ling is just finishing work on the ‘Recognising Success’ book which will be available on the website or on request for all families. It is a huge amount of work – many thanks to her.

G STAFFING MATTERS

G1 Threshold and Performance Management

Tim Fosker, Mr Smith Miss Gilmour and I will meet shortly to review all those on the main pay range and all those applying for UPR1, 2 and 3. I will update governors on this in the confidential section of our meeting. All staff have completed their performance management review with our revised targets as our cycle runs from October to October. Staff select three targets within clear guidelines with at least two focussing on exam groups, disadvantaged students or gender. Support staff will have their interim meetings, if requested, at the end of this term and their final reviews in April.

G2 Staff Development (Mr Smith)

The “Teaching and Learning fortnight” was our flagship event for the term where a series of teaching and learning events were held across the fortnight. Staff volunteered their lessons for others to visit which resulted in a great opportunity to spread the good practice in the school and offer a chance for colleagues to see to experience learning in another context. Alongside the offer of open classrooms, we also ran a series of mini-CPD sessions each 40 minutes in length focusing on key issues such as behaviour management, effective teaching methods and supporting the less able.

Alongside this the in-house CPD programme has provided staff with a variety of CPD opportunities with a particular focus on student achievement and attainment over the term. Sessions have allowed for teachers to focus upon their own practice and this identification of key areas for development can help to improve our own work in lessons. We are very grateful to all the teachers who give up so much time to plan, develop and lead training sessions for others.

H TEACHING AND LEARNING

H1 Teaching Schools (Mr Smith)

The work of the teaching school focuses on 3 key areas of provision – Firstly support for teacher recruitment and training, with Farlingaye and Kesgrave acting as a hub for applications via the GTP/SCITT scheme as well as supporting the Schools Direct programme. Secondly through supporting other schools in moving forwards. Last term we continued our work with a range of primary schools as well as one secondary school and with further bids planned to the National School-to-School support fund anticipated for September, this work continues to develop. Thirdly

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the Teaching School supports the provision of high quality CPD and staff development across the region, this term we held a Senior leaders conference at Ufford Park with a range of speakers and schools attending.

On a related note we have also been successful in securing funding for the Subject Specialism Maths training once more. We one of the first schools nationally to pilot this scheme last year and it ran highly successfully, with 22 non specialist teachers attending regular training to improve their subject knowledge in maths. The generous grant from the government received for this supported the training as well as the maths provision in the school. We look forward to another successful year of training this time. Full credit must go to Andrew Gemmell and his team in maths for the successful planning and implementation of this training.

H2 Year 9 Diploma

The Subject projects ran successfully and students enjoyed a selection of skills based projects. We were able to share their success in this in the Year 9 morning in July. Many thanks to Miss Mawson for all her work on this.

H3 Homework

The Year 7 and 8 homework carousel will be used as in previous years.

H4 Life after Levels – Key Stage 3 for our new year 7(Mr Moran)

The current year 7 is the first cohort to come to us from the revised national curriculum and the removal of levels. Each student now comes to Farlingaye with a combination of teacher assessments (TA), which simply indicate if a student is above or below the expected standard, and standardised test scores. The standardised scores range from 80 to 120 where 100 is the expected level of achievement for that age group. The TAs are in maths, science, reading and writing and the tests scores are in reading, GPVS and maths (GPVS stands for grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and spelling). The national curriculum at key stage 3 has also changed and we are no longer expected to report levels. In fact the levels would not be valid for this cohort as they do not match the new curriculum. At Farlingaye we are approaching the new curriculum as an opportunity to take a fresh look at our approach to ks3. However we are also very aware that these changes are happening alongside some big changes at GCSE and A level. Each subject area has reviewed their year 7 schemes of work with the emphasis on deepening understanding. The new curriculum allows for opportunities to explore areas more deeply and give both teachers and students opportunities to develop their creativity across all subjects. In order to give staff guidance and also have some consistency across subjects we have put together assessment criteria based around a ‘Depth of Understanding’ grade. The grades range from A to E with each grade having general criteria as in the table below. Alongside this subject teachers have written subject specific, and in many cases topic specific, criteria for each grade. These criteria will be shared with the students and referred to as part of the regular feedback that students receive. The general criteria will also appear as part of each report which will include a ‘Depth of Understanding’ grade for each subject area. Alongside this grade we will also give a ‘Benchmark’ grade based on key stage 2 assessments which will give students and parents an indication of where we would expect their child to be at this stage.

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Teachers in all subject areas will be reviewing the new schemes as well as preparing for year 8 throughout the year. The new emphasis on depth of understanding and creativity runs alongside building a greater resilience in our students with a positive mindset and will encompass the developments in character education.

Grade Criteria – Use the statement appropriate to the unit of work taught. A – Students Is able to make connections and relate ideas within the unit regularly being and with other areas of study. assessed at this Is able to discuss and represent abstract ideas clearly and level should go independently. onto to achieve a Has fully mastered all the skills required for the unit and is grade 7 or above able to apply them in context. at GCSE Is able to select or devise one approach to a problem from many alternatives and justify their choice. B – Students Is able to appreciate connections within the unit and with other regularly being areas of study. assessed at this Is able to discuss and represent abstract ideas. level should go Has fully mastered most of the skills required for the unit and onto to achieve a is able to apply them in context. grade 6 or above Is beginning to develop strategies and ideas independently. at GCSE C – Students Is able to recall information and is beginning to use this to regularly being solve problems or develop own ideas. assessed at this Is able to understand and use pictorial representations of level should go ideas and can follow abstract representations when shown to onto to achieve a them. grade 4 or 5 GCSE Is able to use the skills and techniques from the unit and has fully mastered some of them. D - Students Is able to recall most information given, such as facts, regularly being definitions or can reproduce a simple task or procedure. assessed at this Is able to understand and use pictorial representations of level should go ideas. onto to achieve a Is able to use some of the skills and techniques from the unit. grade 3 at GCSE E Has not yet been able to meet the above criteria.

I LEADING EDGE (Mrs Rudge)

The summer term proved as busy for the Leading Edge team as the Spring Term. Miss Chapman and Miss Baldwin organised our Maximise Your Potential event for all year 9 students. Tony Moorcroft of Coast Consulting opened the morning with an inspirational address. Students then took part in a range of seminars and activities designed to prepare them for GCSE study and the demands of public exams. Feedback from students was very encouraging.

Mr Hawtin, with Miss Chapman and Miss Baldwin, organised the KS3 Most Able lunches, giving students in Years 7, 8 and 9 the opportunity to meet together and consider resources especially designed to challenge them. Mr Hawtin also ran the STEM club after school which proved very popular and which is continuing this term. 17

October 2016

Mrs Curtis, together with Miss Jermy and Mrs Stuart, led the Outstanding Teacher Programme, with some sessions taking place at Farlingaye and some with colleagues at .

Leading Edge team members contributed to the Teaching and Learning fortnight, inviting colleagues into their lessons and delivering a range of CPD. Miss Chapman has run the IRIS project with efficiency and clarity. Several members of staff have now recorded lessons and this will be extended in the new academic year. Mr Hall and Miss Hetherington led the Behaviour Support Conference in July for all those who support students in lessons. Approximately 60 delegates attended and many said that it was so useful that they wished it could have lasted all day! Mrs Rudge and Mrs Curtis organised the joint meeting of NQT, second and third year teachers which allowed everyone to share new ideas and to celebrate the end of another successful year. Of particular note was the inspirational session led by Mrs Carrick and Miss Seals on using props to help articulate good teaching and learning.

At our final leading edge meeting we recognised the immense contribution made by Ms Hargadon to the life of the team. We thanked her for the amazing support and opportunities she had created for the team and for promoting high quality teaching and learning at Farlingaye and across Suffolk.

This term we hold our first meetings for second and third year teachers in October and November. We are continuing our in-house mentoring programme. We will shortly be sending out our Leading Edge brochure in which we outline the many different forms of support we can offer here at Farlingaye and to our partnership schools. Looking ahead we are beginning to plan for our conference events in the spring and summer terms: the NQT conference in March and a new teaching and learning conference for primary and secondary schools in the summer term. It has been a pleasure to welcome Dr Sievewright to the team and we look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Literacy

Our Word of the Week and Grammar Focus posters continue to make literacy visible round school. Literacy link teachers will be meeting shortly to plan the year’s work and to ensure that appropriate resources are available in each faculty area and a CPD session will take place in October showcasing some of the best resources and looking at literacy for all.

Most Able

The KS3 Most Able Day was titled ‘The Challenge Ahead’. This was a task designed to encourage students to research and present an open ended question within small teams. Students learnt skills and gained the confidence to present to staff, parents and Governors in a final covered by the local press.

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October 2016

J BUILDING AND REFURBISHMENT WORKS AND HEALTH & SAFETY (Mrs Rozier)

J1 Building Report:

This summer the following works have been carried out:

 Technology student toilets have been refurbished  The carpark has been remarked, a one system for the 6th form carpark and two new speed ramps  Shirley Shelley have carried out window cleaning, carpet cleaning and a deep clean of T1 and T2  The water machines have been replaced  Samples of the roofing were taken by experts ready for possible Condition Improvement Fund Bid.  A rusty radiator was removed and capped off underground, this involved digging up the floor which will need new flooring.  T9 had benching removed and was repainted  The bus park the small bricks were replaced and repaired, although the path remains uneven.

J2 Health & Safety:

 All the tables in the dining hall have been serviced  All the seating in the New Hall has been serviced  All sewing machines have been service and repaired  All cookers in T1 and T2 have been cleaned, repaired and lined.  All technology equipment has been checked, serviced and repaired.  All fitness suite, and gym equipment has been serviced and repaired.  The school kitchen has been deep cleaned, and all equipment checked and serviced.  The fire alarm and intruder alarm have had their quarterly checks  The annual audit by faculties has been carried out and all remedial work and concerns addressed.

J3 Accident Book:

There have been no significant accidents reported other than cuts and bruises in the last term. This is always available if any governor would like to see it.

J4 Governor Involvement:

Andrew Dalby visited the school when the lower school production was on in June and met with Rob Picton the show director. From that meeting he has drawn up an excellent document for use in school when there is a show as guidelines for all involved. This will be shared with the Creative Arts Department and the technical crews to make sure that everything has been covered. An autumn visit will be arranged soon.

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K SPORTS (Ms Alexander)

We have had a very positive start to the new academic year with many students attending the various PE clubs that we offer. Fixtures haven’t yet started but we have a very packed diary as usual with teams entered in district, county and national competitions in a range of sports. We continue to try and broaden the range of sports we offer as extra-curricular activities and it’s great to see that sports such as volleyball, gymnastics, table tennis and handball are very popular with the students. We were pleased to be asked again to host the first round of the National Schools’ Cross Country Cup and this will be taking place on 7th October. Hopefully we will have some good news to report next time. Our croquet players are taking part in the National Schools’ Finals and are hoping to defend the National title they won last year.

The summer term was extremely busy as usual and along with many fixtures we had a successful sports day and sports awards evening.

Girls Cricket has really taken off and we now have excellent links with a local club. The under 13 girls won the local tournament as did the under 15 girls. Both teams progressed to the County Final. The under 15s did well to finish fourth in that tournament and the under 13s won and progressed to the Regional Final. That was held in Chelmsford and our opponents had travelled from as far as Brighton and Wembley! The girls did fantastically well and got to the final 3 play off. They played superbly and finished a very creditable third overall.

The athletics teams had another good year. We enter teams in the Ipswich and South Suffolk competition which is split into two leagues and we also enter the National Schools Cup. In the National Cup we were very pleased that 2 of our 4 teams qualified for the Regional Final in Watford. The standard of competition at this event is very high and the students did well on a very wet and windy day! Each of the teams performed well in what was a very competitive final.

We are looking forward to another very successful term and the level of enthusiasm we are seeing from the students indicates that we will have lots of positive news to report!

M SPECIAL NEEDS REPORT – please see Appendix B (Mrs Pritchard)

N SAFEGUARDING (Mr Tunaley) – please see Appendix C (Mr Tunaley)

O POLICIES

We need to discuss and accept the following updated policies at the meeting:

Health and Safety Policy LGPS Discretions Attendance Policy Behaviour Policy All of these will be emailed to you or have already been sent.

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P KEY ISSUES

P1 Key issues from the last report:

1. To be fully staffed for September 2016; 2. To produce a budget that is close as possible to not being a deficit budget; 3. To hold a successful Activities Week; 4. To hold successful interviews with Year 6 and a Year 6 Day and Evening for New Parents; 5. To successfully help students go through their exams and achieve the best they are capable of; 6. To produce updated School Improvement Plan; 7. To continue curriculum planning; 8. To work with the new Headteacher to ensure as smooth a transition as possible.

P2 Key issues for the school up to January 2017:

1. To evaluate the progress of Y11 students and to put in place concerted and targeted interventions (including Quality First Teaching) that will address key instances of slow progress 2. To progress discussions and planning related to formalised collaboration with other schools 3. To update the SEF and faculty SEF reports; 4. To run successful Year 6 Curriculum Day and a successful Open Evening; 5. To hold successful events including Christmas Concerts; 6. To complete the Performance Management process for 2015-16 and to ensure that targets set for 2016-17 effectively address the school’s development agenda; 7. To address any concerns relating to subject areas that emerge from analysis of past results and progress data; 8. To hold a successful Focus Fortnight with the theme of ‘Origins’; 9. To review all work on Pupil Premium students with an aim to keep improving results; 10. To develop the school’s approach to Character Education through the efforts of the staff Character Education Working Group.

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