As GCSEs come to a close for this year, you would think ‘normal service’ would be resumed in school , but there is simply too much going on! We were delighted to welcome Grp Capt Peter Mountain into school this week who gave a fascinating presentation on the future of aeronautical engineering to our year 10 triple science students. Peter has very kindly volunteered to support us in all things aeronautical and ‘spacey’, after reading one of our articles in the local parish magazines. To have someone who has literally, been there and done that, gave students much needed context and greater depth of understanding in this tricky GCSE Physics topic. Chatting afterwards in true RAF style, in turns out that Peter and I do have some mutual RAF acquaintances …it’s a small world.
I attended two local authority meetings this week. The first was a consultation meeting on the review of current special school, pupil referral units and alternative education provision. In North Yorkshire we are woefully short of alternative and special school provision, which can cause a great deal of stress to parents. Parents who have a child with specific needs and are entitled to a special school place, are often frustrated as all our specials schools are full. It is a welcome review by the local authority, but I do fear that financial constraints will mean that even with a review, not enough places will be made available. Schools are being urged to become ‘no exclusion’ zones, and although I believe fully in inclusive education, there are some situations when permanent exclusion is the only option for a school and student.
The second meeting was about the importance of careers education in schools and a new benchmark, which has been launched to ensure schools are doing more. As I sat and listened to the presentations, it struck me that everything we’re doing with our new Post-16 offer and the introduction of business GCSE- along with other initiatives for September- we are doing everything recommended. Happy thought!
All teachers have now completed a lesson observation using ‘Lessonbox’ and we held the first faculty review on Thursday. The system has been a huge success, with accurate judgments being made about the quality of Teaching and Learning taking place in our school. Heads of Faculty are drawing up robust action plans to address any identified weakness and governors have been able to get a real feel of the work being completed by our staff.
Finally I would like to thank the many parents of yr11 who have sent emails, texts and cards, thanking the staff for all their hard work during this year’s GCSE exams. It is very much appreciated.
