HEADLINES
By James SaundersKNOWLEDGE IS POWER
I was reminded this week of an assembly I did earlier this year on the art of listening. In that assembly I discussed the phrase ‘knowledge is power’. Well knowledge came home in a big way this week as we made great strides in the creation of our new library. Mr Smith, Mrs Frogley and a diligent team of learners prepared all of our books and categorised them. There was quite a production line in operation. The leadership team even took part and spent one evening labelling up books. We now have our electronic system working and have begun to register our books ready for learners to access.
Libraries are places of unfettered access to information, resulting in critical thinking, discourse, and analysis. This leads to knowledge. Libraries protect the freedoms to read, freedoms that are critical to democracy. Reading allows one to make a choice. To not have to take what one person says as gospel but to independently access the knowledge to make up their own mind. Libraries are treasure chests of the most amazing imaginations and inspirational stories.
I am looking forward to our learners being able to develop their knowledge and love of reading further as we continue to improve our library space.
MOCKS
On Monday our C11s will begin their mock exams. And following on from that, I am sure that many teachers will be providing some formal assessments ahead of the learning reviews. On its own an assessment or mock exam serves little purpose other than to give us an indication of where a learner is in relation to the final outcome. Ultimately that is how everyone is assessed at the end of their GCSE journey, however, before then we have the ability to use assessment more purposefully. As part of the learning journey, any assessment and its resultant feedback offers something to the learner. If they are not happy with the outcome they still have time to do something about
it and guidance as to where they need to concentrate their efforts. I have however, heard quite a few times comments such as this: ‘they are only mocks, not the real thing’; ‘it’s just an in class test’; ‘it doesn’t really mean anything anyway’; ‘they are not the grades I will get in the summer’; ‘I don’t like sitting exams’; ‘I can’t do it - I get anxious in exams’.
These are not uncommon feelings toward this part of the curriculum and guess what? No one really likes exams - I know I don’t. However, I would argue that they are an important part of a learners journey. To unpick that, let’s think about what the point of testing is in the first place. Think about the possible things that require a test: a driving test; a blood test; a test match; a fitness test; a crash test.
A driving test checks whether you have met a certain standard of knowledge and skill to be able (trusted even) to drive independently. A blood test is designed to diagnose you - to test whether there is a problem. A test match is a simple test to see who can perform the best. A fitness test diagnoses how fit you are. A crash test identifies weaknesses.
So what is the point of a mock or end of topic test? It is all of the above. Teachers will want to assess whether a learner has met a standard appropriate for their age - that they have made the right amount of progress; that they are able to independently master a certain body of knowledge and understanding. They will want to identify any problem areas so that they can then address these in their teaching. They will want to diagnose how much a learner has learnt and they will want to identify the weaknesses that need addressing.
Sitting exams is tough. It is mentally and physically exhausting. It is perfectly normal to find this a struggle; to not want to do it in the first place. That gut wrenching feeling when entering an exam hall is very common. If you feel this you are not alone. Even today I feel this way if you put me in a high stakes test
situation. However, what I have come to realise is that a little anxiety around exams and tests is quite normal. We want to do our best. We care. It means a lot to us. That’s why it can often cause us pain. But that pain is short, it does not last forever. In fact the only certainty regarding an exam is that after two hours it is over and so is the pain.
LEARNING REVIEW DAYS
We shall shortly be launching the learning review preparation process with all learners during their LS5 time. You will be aware that our learning reviews will be taking place at the start of the Spring term. These meetings will give parents an opportunity to talk with learning group leaders about how their child is progressing. Learners will be taking an active role in this meeting and will use their preparation time next week to complete the necessary reflection work to ensure that the meetings are valuable. Mr Smith has created an excellent set of resources that learning group leaders will be using. We shall be circulating these so that they are able to see what learners are doing and hopefully engage in the conversation of learning ahead of the review meeting.
I wish you all a lovely weekend. Don’t forget that next week we have a four day week as it is our training day on Friday.
PARKING AROUND SCHOOL
It is inevitable that the roads around schools get more busy at the start and end of the day. Whilst we appreciate that space is of a premium around the roads near school please be mindful of the resident parking zones and take care not to block the driveways of our neighbours. We thank you in advance for your cooperation and support.
END OF TERM ARRANGEMENTS
TUESDAY 20TH DECEMBER
All subject sessions are 40 minutes with LS5 105 minutes and including assemblies.
The timings are as follows:
8:45am AM Registration
8:55 LS1
9:35 LS2
10:15 Break
10:30 LS3
11:10 LS4
11:50 LS5 - Cohort Challenges / Assemblies
12:55 Learners depart
THANKS
To: Mrs Jones for giving up her Sunday to take the C9 Netball team to a Essex tournament. And congratulations to the team who narrowly missed out on a semi-final place by a goal difference of one but won 5 games and lost 1 but all performed really well. Faye Longstaff, Scarlett Evans, Sophia Cooper, Emily Henrici-Fernandez, Diana Twardosz, Olivia Walby, Emma Jullien, Phoebe Hazell-Young and Lois Heath.
To: Amy Barnes-Grame and Eloise Duffy for leading the Mental Health Champion training with our C10 Peer Mentors.
To: Rose Collier 10CWa, Damini Manku 10AHa, Theodore McQuillan 10ATo, Anish Mistry 11HGo, Finlay Newton 11CHo, Dylan Probert 11FJo, Dominic Scherer 10NPO, Theo Wilson 11CGa/RHo for supporting the indexing and preparation of books and logging them onto the new library system.
To: Sumeyye Almas, Rivyn Barnes, Georgia French, Katie Norris, Olivia Wilson for supporting the C12 GCSE certificate evening.
Well done to Alex Whitehead, Jack Garner, Logan Humphreys, Rhys Rowley, Theo McQuillan, Owen Johnson and Zach Thorogood on being selected for the North West Essex District football. They played a match against the Chelmsford District and won the match 2-1.
A house point will be given to each learner in a Christmas jumper.
