Headteacher's News
Head's Letter: November 2011
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Dear Parents,
Our summer term comes to an end on Friday- as usual we finish with our Prize
Giving Service- a wonderful celebration of students' achievements. It is an enjoyable occasion, and I hope to see many of you there. The church doors open at 10.30 and seating is on a first-come first-served served basis. We should be finished by 12.15- pupils can be collected from the school immediately afterwards.
I would like to thank all the parents kind enough to host pupil visitors from the Anna Van Rijn College in Holland. Our international exchange programme provides our students with important opportunities to appreciate different cultures and perspectives, but it is only possible with the generous support of parents who are prepared to host exchange students.
The end of term is always tinged with the sadness of a few goodbyes. Sushma Das, one of our excellent nursery staff is leaving us. Sushma and her family are moving to Australia- we wish them well. Penny Weeks, our Year 5 teacher, starts maternity leave from September. All being well she will return to us in September 2012. Penny’s replacement is Heather Shaw, an NQT from London University. Heather has had experience in both key stages within primary education and comes with excellent references. She is currently teaching a Year 4 class and has had very positive feedback from both her class teacher and University tutor. We interviewed three candidates for the post but were most impressed by Heather's energy and enthusiasm. We are sure she will make an excellent addition to staff. Finally, congratulations to Kerry Thurley- another of our excellent EYFS team who gave birth to a baby boy, Isaac, in June.
I would like to say a few words about social networking sites. Essentially, these comments are aimed at parents of senior students as Facebook is only for children aged 13 or above. However, it may be useful for all parents to be aware of these issues. Whilst I appreciate that sites such as Facebook can be a very good forum for keeping in touch with friends, all too often this year we have found ourselves dealing with the fallout from inappropriate or ill considered use. A colleague from the International School recently told me that all the incidents concerning friendship issues she deals with have Facebook embroiled in them at some stage. In light of this I thought parents may find the following advice helpful:
• Facebook is only open to children aged 13 or above. Responsible use
of social networking sites requires a certain level of maturity, hence the age limit.
• Social networking sites can become addictive and take up a disproportionate amount of time. This can have a negative effect on homework and sleep patterns. Usage times need to be regulated.
I will also be speaking to senior students in assembly on Thursday about the following:
• Good manners and kindness extend to cyberspace and there is no place for offensive language or hurtful comments.
• It is our experience that even closed networking communities leak and whatever pupils place on sites will eventually become public knowledge. Internet gossip has a momentum of its own and if pupils want to express private thoughts they are best advised to do so in an old fashioned diary
• Whilst the school does not police social networking sites, it does
actively promote their responsible usage. Also, we will investigate any instance of inappropriate usage where Sancton Wood pupils have used social networking sites in a deliberately hurtful fashion which causes distress to other members of our community. We do not tolerate cyber bullying and will use appropriate sanctions against proven offenders.
• I will remind all pupils not to give out personal information such as telephone numbers and addresses on social networking sites
• Children should also realise that what they write now could have a disastrous effect on their career & relationship prospects. Particularly now that employers are monitoring social networking sites of prospective employees. Students should realise that nothing gets deleted off the Internet, what they put up there is there for ever.
• Any pupils concerned by the nature and/or content of social networking sites should report their concerns to an appropriate adult.
Our advisory board met last month in order to discuss iGCSE exams. After a long and useful discussion it was felt that there should be no hard line taken on this issue. Rather, the Head teacher and Head of Seniors would listen to any teacher’s reasons for offering an iGCSE exam and treat each case separately. We will therefore continue to offer a mix of GCSE and iGCSE at the school.
The parent reps felt that they would benefit from increased support on the advisory board. We would therefore like to ask any infant/ nursery parents interested in joining the group to contact me.
There will be one final mailing from school this year. I will send out the finalised times of the clubs for 2011-2012 and the key dates for the autumn term.
I hope that parents and students have a lovely Summer break.
Warm regards,
Richard Settle
May 2011
Dear Parents,
Many thanks to all parents who offered their support for the marathon run. I got round in a respectable time (3h 42min) but have to admit to feeling ‘tired and emotional’ towards the end. The words never again were muttered as I finished, although I’ve since started to think about another- New York? Paris? The sponsor money is still rolling in and we expect to raise in excess of our target amount of £2,000. The pupil who raises most will receive their iPad in our next full assembly.
The inspection report is now with us. Thanks again to those parents who completed the questionnaire they sent out. I have attached a copy to this letter and posted it on our website. It makes for excellent reading. Independent Schools Inspectorate do not categorise with the word ‘outstanding’, they prefer the less grand ‘excellent’. Other categories are ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’ and ‘unsatisfactory’.
Under the broad headings they use we were judged as follows:
ACADEMIC AND OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS- EXCELLENT
PUPILS PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT- EXCELLENT
GOVERNANCE, LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT- GOOD
EFFECTIVENESS OF EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE- OUTSTANDING*
*the EYFS stage was inspected under OFSTED criteria, they do apply the word outstanding in their judgements.
There’s plenty more in the report supporting these judgements. They gave us three action points. The first being that my teaching timetable should be reduced in order to allow me to carry out my leadership and management responsibilities more fully, there was a comment about assessing pupils ICT competencies across the whole curriculum and an instruction to include the EYFS policies within the whole school policies and switch from an OFSTED self evaluation form to an ISI one.
I agree with these recommendations- the first of which will be most welcome. My timetable was due to drop slightly due to the departure of the double GCSE class and I have also agreed to leave the teaching of GCSE Media Studies to the capable Mr. Mount and share some of my KS3 English teaching. The second target will be addressed in next year’s school development plan and the third requires a slight re-write of policies.
Once you read the report I’m sure you’ll agree that it is wonderful. I am proud of the school and it is great to see that the inspectors recognised what a special place it is. In their words,
“The school is highly effective in meeting its aim of making an outstanding contribution to the social, emotional and academic development of each pupil. From EYFS upwards, pupils at Sancton Wood are highly successful in their learning and development. Their achievement is excellent.”
With regards other matters, our Advisory Board met last week discussing the report and next year’s fees. Directors will contact parents shortly on this matter. Our next meeting will cover the senior curriculum and the issue of the iGCSE in particular. Some parents have expressed interest in this qualification being taught at Sancton Wood, it is a GCSE equivalent which is popular in some independent schools. If any parent has strong feelings on this matter, they should contact our parent reps at parentreps@sanctonwood.co.uk.
This term promises to be a lively one. Our fingers are crossed for our year 11s who embark on their programme of GCSEs, whilst the rest of the school will be busy with all manner of activities and adventures. We look forward to reporting on them in the term’s newsletters.
Warm regards,
Richard Settle