15th December 2023
HEADLINES
By James Saunders
BACK TO FULL ATTENDANCE Thank you everyone for your support this term. Learners have embraced our drive to achieve excellent attendance which has resulted in a marked improvement compared to the last few autumn terms. Excellent attendance is the cornerstone of successful outcomes. Our data is clear that for those learners who are in the building more than 95% of the time, they achieve excellent gcse grades and make well above national average progress. Excellent attendance allows us to focus firmly on supporting our learners to achieve their very best this year. For C11’s, next term is the final furlong that will take them to their gcse exams, whilst for C7’s they will be well on their way to the end of their first year at Honywood. Each cohort will have its own milestone to reach: C8 will be choosing their GCSE programme; C9 will be completing the first year of theirs; C10 will be looking ahead to their first round of mocks. At Honywood we have a simple strategy - to support our teachers to deliver the best lessons they can and then support them further to constantly evolve and develop their craft as professionals. We use this approach because above all else the one thing that makes a difference is excellent teaching. It is the one thing that will ensure when our learners hit their respective milestones, they are where they should be. This is only possible with excellent attendance. I will leave you with the words of Dylan William as a reminder that it is the individual that has the greatest impact not the structure or the system. For many years, it has been known that there are large differences in the achievements of students attending different schools, and for many years, the main policy thrust has been to try to emulate the features of the most successful schools. However, as we have managed to collect better data, it turns out that the biggest difference between so called
“good” schools and “bad” schools is the difference in the students attending the schools. Some schools get all their students five good grades at GCSE including English and Mathematics, and some get hardly any, but only 7% of the variation between schools on this standard benchmark is due to the effect of the school. The other 93% is due to factors over which the school has no control[i]. This is why schools make much less difference than is commonly supposed. In the average school, 15 out of a class of 30 will achieve five good grades at GCSE (including English and mathematics). If those same students went to a so-called “good” school, then 17 out of 30 would reach the same standard, and in a so-called “bad” school, then only 13 out of 30 would do so. It turns out that it doesn’t matter very much which school you go to, but it matters very much which classrooms in that school you are in. And it’s not class size that makes the difference, nor is it the presence or absence of setting by ability—these have only marginal effects. The only thing that really matters is the quality of the teacher[ii]. [i] Wiliam, D. (To appear, 2010). Standardized testing and school accountability. Educational Psychologist, 45. [ii] Wiliam, D. (2009). Assessment for learning: why, what and how? London: Institute of Education, University of London. Looking ahead, we begin the year with learning reviews for cohort’s 7 and 8. Learners should have already begun the process of preparing for these review meetings. Should you ever have any questions or concerns about your child’s progress please don’t wait until a learning review or parent’s evening. Our teachers are available all year to discuss, on a one to one level, the progress your children are making. Should you have concerns at any time or would like to