Forest Gate Community School Fly, Grow, Connect, Strive
Winter 2018
School maintains its place among the elite FOREST Gate Community School has once again been recognised as among the best in the country for GCSE results. For the third year in a row, the school had a Progress 8 score more than a grade higher than expected, according to the latest figures released by the Department for Education in October. Forest Gate is also the best-performing school in Newham for attainment in GCSE with 64 per cent of students achieving a grade 5 or higher in Maths and English. The school is among just eight across the country to have achieved a place in the top 50 in three consecutive years. The school was placed sixth last year and 14th in 2016. Progress 8, which is the new government benchmark for measuring school success, charts pupils’ progress from when they start to when they leave school. Head of School Mrs Whelan said: “What is most pleasing about this year’s set of results is that we have maintained our consistency of high achievement. “As a school, every day we ask
Delight: Students receive their results
ourselves how we can do better, how we can challenge our students and staff for further improvement. Being among just
eight schools in the country to achieve this level of consistency is a testament to that commitment.”
New accolade for student progress portal THE school has been nominated for a prestigious IMPACT award thanks to our ground-breaking teaching, learning and assessment portal Dynamic Progress Reporting (DPR). We have been shortlisted for the prestigious BETT award for the contribution the online resource has made to our exam results. The online resource tracks student progress in real time to make sure they are staying up-to-date with their class and homework. Parents can make sure their
child is not falling behind by logging on to the portal to check they have completed key pieces of work. Last year, DPR was nominated in the ‘Innovators of the Year’ and ‘Leadership and Management Solutions’ categories at the BETT awards, which recognise excellence in school ICT. Creator Shofiquez Zaman, (right) who is the Deputy CEO of the Community Schools Trust, said: “DPR allows school leaders to foster a genuine focus in learning and knowledge acquisition,
moving away from dealing with abstract data and peripheral discussions. “Schools are able to map out their personalised curriculum and make it transparent to students and parents in a language that is easily understood by them.” DPR is also used at Newham schools The Cumberland School, Plaistow, and Eastlea Community School, Canning Town, as well as others throughout the UK. Forest Gate Community Executive Headteacher Simon
Elliott says DPR is the secret behind the school being ranked among the best in the country three years in a row. He said: “We are among just a handful of schools who have been ranked in the top 50 nationally three years in a row. “One of the main reasons we have been so consistently successful is the introduction of DPR. It has been nothing short of a game-changer. “Every single child, no matter what their starting point, is monitored. This means no child at this school ever slips through the net.”
Forest Gate Community School newsletter n Winter 2018