Year 11s

A lot of our time in the last couple of weeks has been devoted to our Year 11s, and we think it worth illustrating how our ambitions for this year group are being put into practice.  On January 22, students attended an assembly to get their mock results in brown envelopes, to reproduce how it will feel in August when they get their final results.  There then followed an intense week of interviews of all students in this year group - some with parents/carers - by the Senior Leadership Team and Year Leader (Mr Cullum) to ensure that all were crystal clear about what their next steps should be.  Year 11 will now be all allocated a mentor, whom they will see as regularly as they need to. 

The mock results were quite pleasing, but everyone wants  far more of this group. We have set our own very high targets (higher than those originally set for us) and we are determined to do everything we can to ensure this year group reaches these targets.  A second week of formal mocks will be held in March, as well as intensive after-school and holiday revision and booster sessions.  Finally, students are being shown our 'AIM' room so they can see, via a hugely effective and impressive visual display, where they are now and where they need to be. AIM stands for Aspire, Inspire and Motivate and we hope this display will do just that. 

We were delighted at the large percentage of parents/carers who turned out to parents' evening last night: we believe it is the highest ever turnout for a Year 11 evening and we know that the children will have benefited from this, so thanks for your support if you were one of those who came.

Mr Costello (a Year 11 tutor and Director of Performance Faculty) and I have this morning given an assembly to this year group centred around our Words of the Week: “He who eats and drinks while his brother goes hungry is not one of us”. We used this to inspire students to contribute to the Haiti appeal and Year 11s impressed us immensely with their focus and concern.  We have been adamant that this must not be a 'mufti' day or similar: it is about giving because people need our help.

Finally, the 40 or so Year 11 prefects have all been invited to contribute to the consultation process about the Academy taking place in school tomorrow. Although they will not benefit from this - to their chagrin, I think - they can leave a legacy to the process through their input and ideas,  so we are very keen they be involved.  All other year groups are also contributing throughout the day, as will staff at the end of the day and governors even later. Consultations are also being held in all the local primaries.