SCHOOL YEAR 2013/14 NEWSLETTER NO. 1 Dear Parent(s)/Guardian(s), I hope that you all had a restful and enjoyable summer break. My colleagues and I are very much looking forward to the next academic year. Just before we broke up for the summer holidays, we were fortunate to be awarded a grant from the Education Finance Agency to refurbish our windows. As a result of this and an investment programme approved by the Governing Body last year, over the summer, the school has undergone a massive refurbishment programme and students have returned to bright and airy Maths and English classrooms, new lockers, an additional new Apple Mac suite and of course new school windows. I hope the Parents of new Year 9 students have had the opportunity to read the important information sent out over the summer holidays. On behalf of the staff I would like to thank you for your support as parents in helping us to uphold the school rules by ensuring your child comes to Prince Henry’s with the proper uniform and equipment. It is very important that the pupils take pride in their appearance and behaviour, respect the school, each other, and our neighbouring community. Prince Henry’s has a very special reputation, and we expect very high standards indeed from our pupils. At the start of every school year, there is always a great deal of information to share with parents and students. Therefore, I appreciate you taking the time to read about the recent successes of current and former Prince Henry’s students. Important information about our routines and procedures is also provided within this letter, which enables our school to be truly successful.
Music Trip to Austria At the end of the Summer Term, sixty Prince Henry’s music students experienced a memorable seven days on tour in Bavaria and Austria. In Salzburg Cathedral, the famous Neuschwanstein Castle and the renowned English Garden in Munich (amongst other venues), audiences were thrilled with a wide range of music, performed by ensembles and soloists – all with great public acclaim. Thank you to our students who are exceptional ambassadors for our school, also to the staff - Mr Bullas, Miss Heywood, Mr Fisher, Mr Painter, Mr Parker, Miss Park and Mr Browne (a parent who drove the van), who worked so hard to make the tour the best so far and to all parents for their support.
Tanzania expedition Sixteen sixth form students had a truly amazing experience in Tanzania when they visited our partner school in Dumila. All returned safe and well at the end of July and further information about the trip and the experiences of the students will be found on the website shortly. A big thank you to the staff who accompanied the students: Mr. Freeman & Miss Wareham, as well as a particular thanks to my predecessor, Mr. Roberts, who briefly came out of retirement to help out, when Mrs Tozer had to drop out of the trip due to illness.
Examination Results I am delighted to report that we are very pleased indeed with our examination results this year. At ‘A' level, 57% of the grades were at least A* to B grades. Matching last year’s previous best score. Impressively 28% of the grades were at A*-A. Two students Frank Syvret and Shanti Daffern obtained places at Cambridge, and nearly all students have secured their first choice University placements. Frank achieved 5 A* grades and Shanti 3A* and an A grade. There were some quite exceptional performances notably from James Schembri A* A* A* A; James Lolley A* A A A B; Eleanor Broome A* A A B; Holly Broome A* A* A; Lauren Pigounakis A* A A; Lucy Button A* A A; Bridie O’Brien A* A A; Harrison Parker A* A A; Jonathan Hancox A A A A; Ciaran Grant A A A A; Alex Gittens A A A B; Alex Jones A A A B; Alice Morrey A A A D; Nick Martin A A A; Alice Kennedy A A A. There are also very many more success stories, too numerous to mention here, with many students reaching their personal targets. In addition, the AS results were very good, and our current Year 13 students are now in a good place to capitalise upon this with further hard work next year.
GCSE results We have also been delighted with the GCSE results achieved by our students and the overall results for 2013 have been excellent. Some of our stunning performances include Harriet Arnold achieving a brilliant 10A* and 1 A grade, Bethan Smith achieving 10A* and 1 A grade and Matthew Manns achieving 9A*, 3A grades and 1 B grade. Our overall benchmark figures are some of the best Prince Henry’s has seen with 87% of the students gaining at least 5 A*-C grades (up 3% points on last year) with an impressive 70% (up 1% point on last year) of the cohort gaining 5 A*-C passes including Maths and English. Many of our students worked extremely hard to achieve their target grades with 97% achieving 5A*-G grades. Impressively, 28% of the grades were at A*-A and our overall pass rate was 99.3%.
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Our top performers were as follows: Student Harriet Bethan Matthew Caitlin Holly Megan Max Sarah Nicola Hannah Michael Olivia Dan Emma Robert
Arnold Smith Manns Bromfield Sagar Betteridge Ellis Radley Ford Childs Lolley Gittens Barber Jaura Wakerley
A*
A
10 10 9 8 7 6 7 7 6 6 6 5 5 5 5
1 1 3 5 5 4 5 2 6 4 5 7 6 6 5
B Others 0 And a Pass in ICT 0 And a Dist in ICT 1 And a Pass in ICT 0 And a Pass in ICT And a Merit in ICT And a Dist* in Health and Social and a Merit in ICT 1 And a Merit in ICT 2 And a Merit in ICT 0 And a Pass in ICT 1 And a Merit in ICT 1 One D in Additional Maths and a Pass in ICT And a Merit in ICT And a Merit in ICT 1 And a Merit in ICT 1 And a Dist in ICT
These results are fantastic for the school following on from the A-level successes last week. Congratulations must go to all parents, staff and of course most importantly the students.”
International School Award I am delighted to inform you that following an application process, we had our International School Award renewed this week for a further three years 2013-2016. This is awarded to Prince Henry’s by the British Council, in recognition of outstanding practice in the international dimensions of teaching and learning. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the award, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need to live and work as global citizens. My thanks to Mrs Bloom for co-ordinating this for us at the school.
2013 - 2016
Reports and Progress Checks We are now looking forward to the achievements of the year groups to follow, and of course it is important to monitor the progress of your son / daughter. If your son or daughter was in Year 10 last year he/she should have been issued with a Report on the last day of term. The same applies for the Progress Checks for pupils in last year’s Year 9. If you have not received these then your son/daughter must ask their Tutor who will ensure that it is issued.
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Staffing Update We welcome the following new teaching staff and we wish all our new colleagues a very happy and successful career at Prince Henry’s High School. I am pleased to welcome some new members of staff to Prince Henry’s:Mr. Allen Mrs Fryer Miss Giordano Mr. King Mr. Quantrell Miss Capaldi Miss Streather
Teacher of ICT/Maths – from 9th Sept, based in the Lodge Teacher of English Teacher of ICT Teacher of History & Business Studies – rejoining us Teacher of Maths Learning Supervisor Learning Supervisor
I would also like to inform you that the following teaching staff will be taking on new roles:Mrs Wood Mrs Baston Mr. Lovett Mr. Martin Mr. Roleston
Deputy Headteacher SENCO Assistant SENCO Deputy Head of Sixth Form (i/c Year 12) Assistant Deputy Head of Year 11
In addition to the above, the following colleagues will be involved in coordinating a number of projects set up for the next academic year. STEM Mrs. Martin, Ms Park, Mr. Parker, Mr. Williams STEM- Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Charity Co-ordinators Teaching & Learning Support NQT Yr 2 & 3 Support Student mentoring Literacy across Curriculum Numeracy across Curriculum
Mr. Meehan, Mrs. Taylor Miss. Thomas Miss. Heywood Mr. Thompson Mrs. Barker Mr. Pilling
Mrs Marcham commenced her maternity leave during the break and has given birth to a son, Andrew. Mrs Summers will be Acting Head of Maths during her absence, supported by Mr. Collings (Deputy),Miss Clilverd (Assistant Deputy) and Mr. Lovett (intervention/EBacc). Mrs. Pearce is also now on maternity leave, having given birth to Ben shortly after the start of the holidays. Mr. Bridgens is therefore Acting Head of PE, with Mrs. Knott & Mrs. Mifflin sharing the role of Acting Deputy HOD. Congratulations too, to Mr Bridgens who has recently become a first-time father to Jack. Mrs. Pomeroy also gave birth to her second son, Teddy, at the start of the holidays. Mrs. Cook, supported by Mrs. Hall will be Acting Head of Drama during Mrs Pomeroy’s maternity leave. Mrs. Tozer will be away from school for the first few weeks of term, recovering from an operation. Mr. Head will be covering Jane’s lessons on a supply contract. We are pleased to welcome Mrs. Hobbiss (English) back to school following her maternity leave. Congratulations too, to Miss Fox (MFL), who got married during the holidays although she will continue to be known as Miss Fox in school.
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Finally, my PA Mrs Bradley has undergone some surgery earlier this month. She will be off for most of September, and we all send her our very best wishes for a speedy recovery.
School Website We have refreshed website www.princehenrys.worcs.sch.uk over the summer holiday which will contain a lot of important information including this newsletter. The website is our main communication vehicle and a list of the extracurricular activities taking place will appear on a daily basis. The website will also contain information for parents during the periods of bad weather or when there may be uncertainty about whether the school will be open or not.
Calendar It is our intention to issue all parents with a copy of this year’s calendar and if you have not already received your copy, you will do so in the next few days. Please keep this in a safe place. If there are any changes e.g. relating to In-Service Training Days we will highlight these on our website and in future Newsletters which I intend to publish on the second Monday after each half term break. We will also highlight changes in our chronicle of school life, which is published from time to time during the school year.
Contacting the School I would like to remind parents that all routine enquiries and information about your son or daughter should be conducted through the Form Tutor. For more serious matters please try to contact the relevant Year Head, Deputy Year Head or Assistant Deputy Year Head as listed below:-
Year 9 Year 10 Year 11 Sixth Form
Year Head
Deputy Year Head
Mrs L Biggs Dr H Patel Mrs S Thomas Mr W McGarvey
Mrs S Workman Mrs L Walker Mrs S Thorner Mr J Martin (Year 12) Mrs C Webb (Year 13)
Assistant Deputy Year Head Mr M Thompson Mr J Goodhead Mr L Roleston
The school also has 3 Deputy Heads who you may need to contact: Mrs V Butler (particularly for matters to do with school transport) Mr A Roberts (pastoral matters) and Mrs Wood (matters relating to Teaching and Learning). We have 2 Assistant Heads: Mrs K Holyoak and Mrs A Lungley as well as a Business Manager, Mrs Smith. Please bear in mind that my colleagues have many commitments and that they are not always immediately available to deal with enquiries, although they will do their best to get back to you as soon as possible. If you contact the school to discuss a pastoral matter and your child’s Year Head is not available, you may well be put through to Mrs A Davey who acts as the school’s pastoral secretary. She will ensure that your enquiry is passed on to the relevant Head of Year and that it is followed up as soon as possible. Parents who wish to see a teacher are asked to make an appointment in advance. When contacting the School by phone, the following options are available:-
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1. 2. 3. 4.
Reporting your child’s absence in years 9-11. Sixth Form issues including reporting absence. Mrs Davey / Pastoral issues. The Finance Office.
Or stay on the line to speak to the receptionist. In case we need to contact you please keep us updated with any change of address and/or telephone numbers and any change to home circumstances.
Pupils’ Behaviour in Public Places I have been made aware that a large proportion of our pupils walk home to addresses in the Evesham area, or in some cases, walk into town to catch a bus. I would be very grateful if parents would impress upon their children the importance of consideration for others in public places, particularly where pavements are narrow and where elderly people or those with pushchairs or young children may be trying to walk against the flow of PHHS students. While this applies mostly to Evesham, it is also relevant to at least some of the villages that our pupils live in. Thank you for your co-operation.
Parents Who Bring Their Children to School by Car I have been advised by Mrs Butler (Deputy Headteacher) to inform you about the issues concerning the school at the start and the end of the school day. There is restricted access to the school and at peak times there are at least 14 school buses dropping children off in the morning and picking them up again in the evening. Parents using any part of Victoria Avenue or the other nearby side roads to drop children off in the morning and to pick them up in the evening cause serious problems for the bus drivers and for the school. On occasions the congestion caused by parents parking in the street or the school car park poses a major problem with traffic becoming jammed and unable to move all the way back to the main road. Dropping children off before 8.50 am and picking them up after 4.25 pm is not a problem, but otherwise, would parents please arrange an alternative pick up/drop off point well away from Victoria Avenue and the surrounding streets. Even parking at the end of Victoria Avenue is causing the bus drivers problems as they have found difficulty turning into/out of the road with so many cars parked there. Sometimes the buses arrive late at school solely because of the difficulty in negotiating their way through parents’ cars! Please do try and help us. If your child has an obvious medical problem which necessitates him/her being dropped off/picked up at school please contact Mrs Butler. I am sure we can make a special arrangement with you.
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Abbey Bridge Closure Worcestershire County Council’s Transport department have issued final details of the public & school transport diversions that will apply during the forthcoming closure and replacement of the Abbey Bridge in Evesham. The bridge will be closed for a period of approximately 10 weeks, from 19th September – 30th November. Click here for more information
Mobile Telephones & Electronic Devices Mobile phones/electronic devices are a distraction to the learning process and are not required during school time. In Years 9 – 11 inclusive, these devices must not be used in school. Any mobile phone/electronic device in plain sight will be confiscated and only returned to the appropriate parent/guardian who will need to collect it from the school office. Any mobile phone or other device that is brought into school is entirely at the risk of the student. The school will not be responsible for any loss or damage to the device.
Attendance Our School Attendance figure improved last year to 94.3% compared to 93.2% for 2011-12. There is a very clear link between pupil attainment and attendance and this is highlighted in the pupil planners. An attendance of 95% still means that two weeks of school and therefore 50 lessons have been missed during the year. For this reason, we would appreciate your support in ensuring pupils do attend unless genuinely too unwell to do so. If your child is unable to attend, please ring the school on 01386 765588 between 8.30 - 9.15 am. Parents will receive automated notification each time their child is absent from school and we have not been informed. This is in line with government policy to notify parents of unexplained absences and is aimed at safeguarding pupils. Dedicated attendance line- message on the answer phone Option 1 - Reporting your child’s absence in years 9 -11 Option 2 - Sixth Form issues including reporting absence Please leave details of your Child’s name and tutor group and the reason for their absence.
Punctuality Reminder Students are expected to be on the school premises at 9.05 am, ready to move to registration or Assembly at 9.10 a.m. Any student arriving after 9.30 will trigger a late text to a parent. We appreciate your cooperation in ensuring your child has left home in ample time to get to school.
Holidays During Term Time Last year, the government announced changes to the current regulations which have allowed Headteachers to grant leave of absence for family holidays during term time up to a maximum of 10 days during an academic year. These changes came into force from 1st September 2013 and clearly state that Headteachers may not grant any leave of absence during term time, unless there are exceptional circumstances. A family holiday is not deemed as an exceptional
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circumstance. Coincidentally, this change is entirely consistent with the message that I have been sending out in my previous newsletters last year. I have always strongly advised against parents taking their children out of school during term time for holidays as it can be disruptive for the pupil and the classes they are in and has a detrimental impact upon exam performance. As you are aware, the Governors had already approved a change to the school’s attendance policy which is in line with the government’s new regulations. Please ensure that you are very aware of future term dates which are available on our website.
Healthy Eating & Lifestyles We know that most of our children eat very healthily, but we are keen to improve this even further. This year we have new caterers, Accuro, and our café area has been renamed Henry’s. You can view a newsletter from our new caterers by clicking here. A good range of healthy food options are available at school and the service is quick and efficient. Please do everything you can as parents to encourage your children to eat healthily and in particular, we would be grateful if you could impress upon them that they should not bring into school crisps, sweets and fizzy drinks. In addition to eating healthily, we encourage our students to get plenty of rest at night by getting enough sleep, and leaving the electronic equipment alone now and then, to get some appropriate exercise.
Astro-Turf We are keen for as many pupils as possible to engage in exercise during the school day and for this reason, the school’s Astro-Turf is available for casual games at lunch time. As long as they wear proper trainers and adhere to the rules for use, pupils are allowed to play casual games of football on the Astro-Turf or on parts of the field at certain times of year. There are also tennis court areas which are available for a variety of ball games including basketball for most of the year. I would like to make it clear that these games and other casual lunch time sporting activities are not supervised, although there is always a responsible adult in the vicinity. Our pupils are expected to conduct themselves sensibly, to avoid injury to themselves and others. The Astro-Turf is also available for community use after 6.00 pm and at weekends. Please contact the Sports Hall Manager on 01386-45074.
School Premises I would like to remind all parents that the school site, including the school fields, is out of bounds out of school hours. This includes before school, after school, at weekends and during the school holidays. The only exception to this is for formally organised events such as sports practices and fixtures (we of course welcome parental support for our sports fixtures) and to access facilities such as the theatre, the Sports Hall and the astro-turf for formal activities. Unfortunately a growing number of people within the local community seem to believe that the school fields are public property. This is not the case. There has been an increase in out of hours misuse of the premises and the fields in recent times which has led to damage being done. This means we are having to divert money and caretaker/grounds man time to make good the damage done by trespassers. Please would you make sure that your child/children understand that they are not allowed on to the school site out of school hours. Thank you for your co-operation.
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Homework Homework reinforces what is learnt in class. It goes without saying that if students adopt good working practices at home this inevitably enhances their overall learning and performance. We encourage all parents to support good attitudes to learning at home and please see attached letters for the year group your son /daughter is in. I will write to you separately regarding this.
Parent View Parent View is a facility for parents to give their views about their child’s school. It features twelve questions that cover a range of issues important to parents, such as the quality of teaching, whether your child is happy at school, and whether or not a parent would recommend the school. The results for the school are visible in Parent View although individual responses are not. OFSTED analyses the responses given by parents on a monthly basis. Many parents who are happy with their child’s school use Parent View to share their satisfaction or to show their support for the school. Where large numbers of survey results are critical of a school, inspectors will look at the information alongside other data, such as examination results, attendance records and complaint levels, to make a decision about whether to inspect a school. I am drawing Parent View to your attention, because your voice will be essential in terms of the judgement Prince Henry’s receives in its next inspection. As you know, my colleagues and I have been very impressed with the way our students contribute to the school and the vast majority of students we meet and talk to seem very content and happy in their learning. The survey is not designed to receive complaints about the school. Parents who wish to make a complaint or have a serious concern regarding their child, should contact the school in the normal way and ask for the Head of Year. If you are a parent or carer, you simply need your email address and a password to register on the Parent View website at http://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk. This link will take you straight there. Once your login has been activated it only takes a few minutes to rate Prince Henry’s against the 12 questions. You can also look at the views of some of our other parents. My staff and I would be very appreciative for five minutes of your time to kindly complete this survey for us. Thank you for your support with this.
Key Dates Thursday 12th September Wednesday 16th October Thursday 24th October Friday 25th October Monday 28th – Friday 1st Nov
Year 12 Parents’ Information Evening Year 11 Parents’ Evening Open Evening – school closes at 1 pm TED Day - school closed to pupils Half term holiday
And Finally, I do very much appreciate there is a lot of information here. Prince Henry’s is a very busy and vibrant school. On behalf of the staff, I would like to thank you once again for your help and support in all the matters referred to the above. We are all looking forward to 2013/14 being another fantastic year for Prince Henry’s High School. Yours sincerely
Dr A A L Evans Headteacher
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