Dear
Parents, Carers & Guardians
Welcome
to my Easter Blog
As
you will be aware from our daily news feed our successes of the first term have
continued at a pace and the achievements of our young people have been simply
spectacular and never cease to impress me. These on-going achievements,
together with our track record of success mean that once more, we will be welcoming
a maximum intake of 237 Year 7 students in September 2014. It is interesting to
note, that despite this year’s Year 6 cohort being small, there were over 260
applications to join the school.
Our
target for 75% of Year 11 students achieving 5 A*-C GCSE grades including
English and mathematics, whilst challenging, is achievable. It is essential, however, that students
realise the level of commitment that is now required from them at this stage of
their school career. This commitment should also be extended to ensure that
they turn up for scheduled booster and intervention sessions that are taking
place both after school and during the supported study programme during May and
June. Some of these sessions will take place at weekends and during holidays,
including over the Easter vacation.
The
Easter holidays will provide all those students who are preparing for public
examinations with the perfect opportunity to undertake some quality revision.
Also remember the impact that MyMaths, SAM Learning, BBC Bitesize and other
e-learning sites can have on your child’s results. I am sure you will join me
in wishing all our students the very best with both their preparation and their
actual tests and examinations. We will be waiting for the results every bit as
anxiously as they will as we look to set more new records for ourselves.
I
have been informed that there is a rumour circulating that I will be leaving
the school this summer to take on the leadership of Selby College. That is not
true. I am committed to serving Selby High School as we move towards being
rated outstanding by Ofsted.
Incidentally,
since the new Ofsted Inspection Framework was introduced in September 2013 we
remain one of only three secondary schools in North Yorkshire to achieve a
‘good judgement.’ Nationally, since September 2013 66% of schools have received
a RI (requiring improvement) or below judgement; clearly illustrating the
punishing nature of the new inspection framework. Moreover, only 6 schools
nationally have received an outstanding judgement.
I
hope you have a restful and peaceful Easter!
Yours
sincerely
Paul
Eckersley
Headteacher
Important Dates for Diary
Training
Day (school closed to students) – Tuesday 22nd April
School
re-opens for – Wednesday 23rd April
Early May
Bank Holiday – Monday 5th May
School
re-opens – Tuesday 6th May
Trestle
Workshop event – Thursday 8th May
Duke of
Edinburgh practice weekend – Friday 9th – Sunday 11th May
Eurofest
languages event – Tuesday 20th May
School
closes for holidays – Friday 23rd May
