Welcome back to the autumn term and the new school year.
N I was delighted to welcome both our new Year 7 and 8 students to the school on Wednesday 4th September along with our new Year 12 students. It was a really exciting day for everyone and I was very E pleased that so many students took to their new school so quickly and happily. The new uniform looks wonderful and many students in the W upper years also took this opportunity to adopt the new blazers as well as jumpers and ties. We will be maintaining a strict policy regarding S correct uniform including length of skirts and proper trousers. But suffice to say our students looked very grown up and smart. We were incredibly pleased with this summer’s examination results L when we received them this August. There is clear and significant improvement in nearly every subject area at GCSE and our 'AS' and E 'A' Level results have maintained their high level of 'value added' progress of previous years. The key marker of 5 A* - C (GCSE) grades including English and T Maths now stands at 53% which is an increase of 7% on last year. Our students take a range of traditional GCSEs and a limited number of vocational courses. We have not T entered students for multiple examinations with different exam boards but have opted to complete 'end of course' style exams in line with Government intentions. The further marker of (GCSE) 5 A* - C E grades for all subjects now stands at 83%. English Language results A* - C show an increase of 9% from last year and now stand at 61% and English achieved 85% A* - C grades. Maths results also improved by a tremendous 11% to R 70% andLiterature this is well above national figures. Whilst those students who achieved two or more sciences A U T U M N 2 0 1 3
improved from 49% in 2012 to 62% this summer. A wide range of subjects improved significantly from Geography (75%) Drama (82%) to French (75%) and Spanish (92%). We are also delighted with the strength of our English Baccalaureate (EBacc) results. This is not a qualification in itself. The measure recognises where pupils have secured a 'C' grade or better across a core of 5 academic subjects – English, Maths, Science, History or Geography and a language. Therefore any student achieving the EBacc measure will also have achieved the 5 A* - C measure but not necessarily the other way round as some students have not chosen this very explicitly academic route. In this measure we have also improved from 10% to 13%. As the results quite clearly show, it was a record year for Poole High and one which makes us so proud of our young people and this is a testament to the hard work of the students, the support of their families and the commitment of their teachers. Thank you and congratulations to everyone who has contributed to these students' success. We are delighted to welcome quite a few new staff. There are increased teachers in English, Maths, Science and Design Technology. We have also welcomed a new Deputy Headteacher, Dr James Adams and Mr Sam Bury has replaced Mr Ingram as Assistant Headteacher Behaviour and Support. A further new member of staff is our Operations Manager, Mr David Newman who has replaced Ms C Richards. As always our site maintenance and ICT network teams under the direction of Mr Ian Byrne, our Site Manager, have been extremely busy during the school summer holiday continuing the programme of improvement of our facilities. During the summer break many classrooms in the older parts of the school have been redecorated. In addition, the Jolliffe corridor classrooms were completely redesigned and four ICT classrooms completely refurbished. We have also given a much needed facelift to our Design Technology rooms. All in all the school has been refreshed and is ready for the school year. Please be aware that we are looking to develop our Governing Body and if you are interested in becoming a School Governor please can you let either me (f.heafield@poolehigh.poole.sch.uk) or the Clerk to the Governors know. (clerk@poolehigh.poole.sch.uk)
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