Headmaster's Report to Governors – Spring Term 2019 Academic Year 8 Pupils Have Taken Entrance Exams, with a Number of the 3
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Headmaster’s Report to Governors – Spring Term 2019 Academic Year 8 pupils have taken entrance exams, with a number of the 37 children in this cohort applying to more than one school. Year 8 pupils have received the following number of offers: Norwich School – 19 Norwich High School – 12 Culford – 4 Gresham’s – 4 Langley – 3 Framlingham College – 2 Royal Hospital School – 1 Forest School (London) – 1 Stowe – 1 (conditional) Oundle – 1 (conditional) In addition, two pupils have applied for local state schools. The following offers have been received by pupils in Year 7 or below: Year 7 – 6 applied for Norwich School places (3 successful, 2 taking up the place), 2 applied for Norwich High School, 1 for Oakham, 1 for Wymondham College, 1 for Gresham’s, 1 for Langley (all taking up these places) 7 definitely leaving with 1 more possible Year 6 – 5 applied for Norwich School places (3 successful and taking up places), 1 for Framlingham College and 1 for Gresham’s (both taking up places) with a number of other pupils considering options like Wymondham College, Langley, Gresham’s, Culford and state schools. 5 definitely leaving with 8 more expected Year 5 – 1 applied for Norwich Junior School (offered and accepted place). 1 leaving Year 4 – 3 applied for Norwich Junior School (two offered places). 1 definitely leaving with 1 more possible Year 3 – No applications to other schools made. 0 leaving Year 2 – 2 applied for Norwich Junior School (both offered places) 1 definitely leaving with 1 possible Year 1 – 1 applied for Norwich Junior School (offered place) 1 leaving Reception – No applications to other schools made. 0 leaving Nursery – 1 applied for Norwich Junior School (declined). 0 leaving The numbers applying to Norwich School from Year 5 and below are considerably lower than in previous years. Numbers applying to Norwich School from Year 6 continue to be low, with most leavers being for financial reasons, academic reasons or to apply for state schools at 11. The Year 7 leave, by contrast, is higher than usual, with more applying to Norwich School at this stage than usual for this non-standard entry point. Scholarship Results 2019 This has been a record-breaking year with 24 Year 8 children being offered an amazing 34 scholarships or other awards between them as below: Culford School Oscar Hing - Music Scholarship Norwich School Catherine Burton - Academic Exhibition Daisy Clabburn - Headmaster’s Award Edward Cross - Sports Scholarship Ella Cunningham - Headmaster’s Award Benedict Dernie - Academic Exhibition Madeline Greenly - Headmaster’s Award Ava Gulliver-Jary - Music Exhibition Benjamin Hastings - Sports Exhibition Oscar Hing - Academic & Music Scholarships Zara Hunter - Headmaster’s Award Charlie Hutchinson - Sports Exhibition Eve Kelleway - Music Scholarship Nora Østergaard - Music Scholarship Krishna Patel - Sports Exhibition Joseph Philpott - Sports Exhibition Forest School, London Oscar Hing - Music Scholarship Framlingham College Eloisa Ford - Sports Scholarship Harry Ford - Sports Scholarship Gresham’s School Oscar Hing - Britten Music Scholarship Krishna Patel - Headmaster’s Award & Hockey Award Rosie Wharton - Sports Scholarship Langley School Oliver Rudling - Sports Scholarship Norwich High School Sophie Bush - Sports Scholarship Madeline Greenly - Academic Scholarship Ava Gulliver-Jary - Music Exhibition Madeleine Harries - Academic Scholarship Zara Hunter - Academic Scholarship & Music Exhibition Eve Kelleway - Academic & Music Scholarships Nora Østergaard - Music Scholarship Hannah Possener - Music Scholarship Rosemary Stuart-Sheppard - Academic & Music Scholarships Erin Wilcox - Sports Scholarship Royal Hospital School Daisy Clabburn - Academic & Drama Scholarships Senior School awards offered to pupils in Year 6&7 Framinglam College Oliver Ford (Year 6) - Sports Scholarship Norwich School Ella Cunningham (Year 7) - Headmaster’s Award Charlie Hutchinson (Year 6) - Sports Exhibition All Year 8’s not taking part in external entrance exams did internal trial entrance exams. There are no other formal assessments in the spring term. Admissions There is still uncertainty about the exact position for September with a number of pupils we believe to be leaving still to confirm this and others we believe to be joining yet to complete the admissions process. There looks to be an unusually large Reception next year and this may well need extending to four classes (for which we have space) and Year 3 also looks very healthy, in the year group where we previously had four Year 1 classes. Year 1 looks particularly small. This is the year group where a number who had been in our Nursery left for the new Norwich Junior School Pre Prep when it was announced. This has also left our Year 2 looking small, while Years 4 & 5 are also below target, again in year groups where groups of pupils have previously transferred to Norwich Junior School. Nursery admissions are running below last year, partly because we have had no room in this year’s full cohort to take rising 3s. It is likely that empty places will be filled as next year progresses as we will be able then to take rising 3’s. Overall, the trend of lower volumes of enquiries, seen since 2016/17 seems to be continuing. However, much better retention than in previous years has allowed overall numbers to remain stable. Currently the figures look as below, though they have yet to settle. Current New Total Current New Total Boys Boys Boys Girls Girls Girls Total Nursery 0 15 15 0 11 11 26 Reception 24 13 37 15 4 19 56 Year One 22 0 22 17 1 18 40 Year Two 23 1 24 22 0 22 46 Year Three 27 0 27 29 2 31 58 Year Four 27 0 27 21 1 22 49 Year Five 26 0 26 20 1 21 47 Year Six 29 0 29 23 0 23 52 Year Seven 26 0 26 20 1 21 47 Year Eight 24 0 24 12 0 12 36 TOTAL 228 29 257 179 21 200 457 Staff The following staff appointments have been made this term: Mark Woods – Deputy Head Pastoral (replacing Keith Parker from September – also Acting Deputy DSL since last term undertaking some of Jenny Pritchard’s duties) Sarah Laing – Acting Deputy Head (undertaking some of Jenny Pritchard’s duties) Anna Linsmith – Assistant Bursar (new post, starting in June) Amy Jones – Admissions and Marketing Manager (replacing Keri Ford from April) Rebecca Alexandre – Acting Deputy DSL (covering during Jenny Pritchard’s absence) Louise Guymer – Pre Prep TA - started January 2019 (maternity cover for Tanya Slater) Jackie Robinson – Prep Admin Assistant (replacing Kate Smith who left last term) Tom Marris – Appointed Head of Grounds from January (replacing James Hermitage) Thomas Newenham – Appointed to the Grounds Team in March The following staff have tendered their resignations this term: Keith Parker – Retires as Deputy Head in August after 34 years at Town Close Jenny Pritchard – Retired from Deputy Head Pre Prep role in March Diane Tanner – Retired from Housekeeper role in March James Hermitage – Resigned from Head of Grounds role in January Keri Ford – Resigns from Admissions and Marketing Manager role in April Diane Hamment – Retires from Bursar’s Secretary and Facilities Administrator in April Maxine Rushton – Resigns from teacher post in August Communication of Future Development Plans and Fundraising Following a recent meeting where school staff, Nicola Ovenden, David Bolton, Alistair Fish, and Sarah Anthony, met an external PR specialist, Clare Haylett, a strategy to communicate planning permission for the new project to parents, press, alumni and other interested parties and to seek fundraising was written. The strategy is as below: The strategic objective is to communicate the project as soon as possible, with planning permission having been granted in the autumn and being in the public domain. We need to be mindful that the project has already been trailed and promised by the School (in Clare’s words, we are pregnant with it). However, it will only be doable if the school roll stays sufficiently high and there is some support from elsewhere, both factors that may be determined by economic conditions as well as things within the School’s control. The fund needs to have a name and be launched with confidence. The messaging to parents, other stake-holders and potential donors needs to carefully thought through and the fund needs to have a logo and visual identity, allied to the School’s. The focus is communicating with parents, assuring them that most of the funding is in place and that the School is approaching trusts, charities and other organisations at this stage, looking for additional support. Engagement with parents might be along the lines of encouraging those with contacts who might be able to help to come forward – a softer way of also encouraging any parent who wishes to help to do so. Once the project is communicated, our Admissions and Marketing office needs to be ready to deal with any enquiries, with information ready to send out, and arrange meetings with the Head or Chair. We will convene a meeting of governors specifically to talk about fundraising and any contacts they might have, agreeing who might be approached by governors or senior staff with the information already drafted. We will also contract a researcher (e.g. Rachel Dawson) to look into organisations who might offer support for a project, completing applications to as many as possible, tailoring the basic information and letter (drafted by Clare) to the specific organisation concerned. We will assess progress prior to the summer governors’ meeting to consider the progress being made and whether any additional