Short but effective

No, not a quote from one of my school reports, but instead a summary of this half term. A short ‘five-weeker’, but in that time we’ve squeezed in a full set of Year 11 trial exams, helped 300+ Year nine students choose their options for next year and raised attendance to the highest sustained level since September. We’ve done a lot more besides of course, and in particular we’ve been really encouraged to see the number of books loaned from the Hub (our Library) continue to rise too. I may have said it before, but if students ‘turn up and read’ then they are half way there!

Today though I’d like to focus on our Year 11 cohort who have, like I say, just completed their full set of trial exams. Students have collectively sat over 3000 exam papers, giving them a good impression of what the ‘real thing’ looks like. The vast majority of the year group have taken the tests really seriously indeed. This has been shown by the increased attendance, the comments from the invigilation team and the early feedback from Year 11 teachers who report that levels of effort in answering the questions have been high. This is so important as it means we can give proper, meaningful feedback to students to help them in the coming months. Years ago, I’d say that too many of our Year 11s didn’t take the old ‘mock’ exams seriously enough. ‘I’ll try for the real thing‘, they would wishfully say to themselves to make themselves feel better. I’m increasingly confident that we have tackled that dangerous attitude head on, and that the current Year 11s are leading by example.

Before I finish on the theme of the trial exams, a final thank you to my colleagues for all the hours of marking and feedback preparation. I know all too well how long it takes to do this job properly, and so thank you.

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support,

Have a great week,

Joe Barker

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