April 2014

Dear Parents and Carers, Before I begin my summary of news and information, I wish all students and their families a restful and happy Easter break! School ends for students on Thursday 10th April and we all return on Monday 28th April. Happy Easter!

Superb Turnout at Monitoring Meetings – Wednesday 19th March 2014 Once again, we were delighted to meet so many families at our recent Monitoring Meeting. In the past, you will be aware that turnout for parents’ evenings has been very mixed and as low as 43%. Our most recent evening was attended by well over 80% and we have been delighted with the feedback we have received from parents and carers regarding the organisation and ‘feel’ of the evening; including the greater range of appointment times available, the opportunity to explore issues in depth with learning tutors and space! Please remember that if you wish to add a further meeting or conversation with any of your children’s teachers then this can be arranged and it is something we strongly encourage if you remain concerned or simply have a question. We aim to further improve the evening next year and intend to offer a range of drop-in ‘briefings’ for parents before or after their appointments

on a range of topics that may include: diet and nutrition, Internet safety and awareness, university fees or behaviour management, for example. If you would like to suggest a topic for a drop-in briefing then please send your ideas to Mr Boardman (Assistant Headteacher) at cboardman@colmers.bham.sch.uk.

Year 11 Charity Enterprise – Almost £2000 Raised! Congratulations to all of the Year 11 tutor groups throughout the Charity Enterprise Week that took place in March. Led by Mr Charlett, the Year 11 Learning Tutors and Team (Mrs Snell, Miss Hanlon, Ms Nevin, Mr Ashton, Mrs Hardy, Mr Wilcox, Mr Briggs, Mr Strong, Mr Bailey, Mr McHale, Ms Rushton and Mrs Brereton) raised almost £2000 for a variety of local and national charities. We hope that the Year 11s learned a lot about starting up a business and realising that turnover and profits are not the same thing – whilst experiencing the pleasure associated with doing some good for other people. All monies raised have now been sent to the charities and I thank Mrs Tranter and Mrs Murphy for their help in sending off those donations.

Farewells As we approach the end of another term we say farewell to Mr Beale, who will be leaving us at Easter. A rugby fanatic and teacher of science and maths with vast experience, he will be greatly missed by students and colleagues here at Colmers. On behalf of all of my colleagues, we wish him and Mrs B a very long and very happy retirement! We shall also be saying goodbye to Mrs Keogh (nee Hallam) at Whitsun. Although she will be with us for another half term this is my opportunity to wish her every happiness and success, following her recent promotion. Like Mr Beale, Mrs Keogh has been a dedicated professional in her time at Colmers and whilst we are very sad to see her go, her promotion is fully deserved! Finally, Ms Cox, Pastoral Support Worker, has recently been successful in a promotion as a social worker and will also be greatly missed for her energy, commitment and professionalism.

Consultation Invitation – PEG Wednesdays You will be aware that for the past two years we have run a regular Professional Enquiry Group (PEG) session for staff on Wednesday afternoons; leading to an early closure on those days (1.10pm). Following a period of evaluation and review, we propose to reform the PEG afternoons from September 2014. Our proposal is that we should retain the PEG afternoons but change their frequency and their timing. It is therefore proposed that instead of students finishing at 1.10pm on a PEG Wednesday, we should finish at 2.30pm each week instead. This enables a full first break and lunch for all students and minimise the impact on lessons. This proposal would only affect the Learning 4 Life lesson that takes place each Wednesday afternoon (currently 1.55pm - 3.15pm). Under this proposal, the Learning 4 Life lesson would take place between 1.55pm and 2.30pm. Consequently, this proposal would have no impact whatsoever on examination subjects and ensure we remain well above the statutory requirement of taught hours within a school.

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

mailto:cboardman@colmers.bham.sch.uk

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

We would continue to provide supervision for all students whose parents or carers prefer their child to remain in school until 3.15pm. The proposal also involves PEGs becoming a weekly occurrence and therefore school would start as normal each Wednesday (i.e. 8.45am) but would finish for all students at 2.30pm, each week. Apart from the advantages of a longer school day on the PEG Wednesdays, the avoidance of impact on examined subjects and the opportunity to maintain an ordinary break and lunch, we believe there are a number of key advantages under this proposal. A weekly PEG would enable the school to extend its training and development provision for all staff so that between 2.30pm and 4.30pm, weekly, colleagues could engage in professional development activities on site. In a time of very significant changes in education, we must ensure that those changes are managed smoothly and successfully so that the sheer pace of change in education does not in itself depress standards at Colmers. I should add that a detailed evaluation of this proposal is available on request. In the coming months and years the introduction of a new National Curriculum, GCSEs and performance measures will, in themselves, present significant challenges for all schools and I wish to ensure that we are able to take advantage of these positive changes and use them to raise standards across the school. The scale and impact of these changes cannot be underestimated or introduced without very careful planning. I therefore invite parents and carers to submit any comments or questions regarding this proposal. I ask that you write to or email my senior colleague, Mrs Docherty (Assistant Headteacher) on jdocherty@colmers.bham.sch.uk by Friday 30th May 2014. If you wish to meet or speak to either myself or Mrs Docherty then please call the school and leave a message with my PA, Ms Shortland to arrange either a telephone conversation or a meeting.

Disruption to Power Supply I wish to thank all parents and carers for their patience, understanding and support during our recent power supply problems that caused disruption before half term. The heavy rain that the UK experienced led to our local water table rising, which in turn caused water to seep up from the ground and into the electricity cable connected to the North Building. Fortunately, our regular checks picked up this problem and we were able to avoid damage to our main distribution board. A new cable will be installed over the Easter break and we shall then be able to dispense with the generator, which currently supplies electricity to the North Building. The incident demonstrates the importance of our regular health and safety checks and monitoring. I wish to thank our Premises Manager, Mr Essery, for his tremendous efforts throughout that period to restore power and normality as quickly as possible.

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE

Attendance and Behaviour – Remains Outstanding!

As I type, student attendance remains at over 95% - an increase of over 2% by the same time last year – that’s an increase of about 25,000 lessons attended by students! 825 students are currently on target to complete the Spring Term with improved attendance compared to the Autumn Term or above our minimum target of 95.2% attendance across the school. Two or more days of absence is becoming much lesson common as students increasingly value and recognise the importance of excellent attendance. Thank you again to parents and carers who have been so supportive of our focus on attendance this year. A treat is in store for those 825 students on the final day of this term – if their attendance remains outstanding!

Years 11 and 12 Revision – Fail to Prepare = Prepare to Fail…

The Easter holidays have always been the start of the major revision period – a time when all students must be preparing for examinations by investing significantly more time revising at home. In addition to our regular period 6 revision booster sessions, students must determine their own revision programme at home so that they can maximise their chances of success in the forthcoming examinations. As we near those exams, Year 11 and 12 students ought to be revising for at least 5-6 hours on a non-school day, with 2-3 hours on a school day – right up to the very last examination. At this stage, a comprehensive revision programme can add more than two grades to a student’s final grade.

mailto:jdocherty@colmers.bham.sch.uk

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

BELONGING TOGETHER

Friday 11th July 2014 – World War One Day at Colmers Almost 100 years ago the world was entering its first global conflict. Between 4th August 1914 and 11th November 1918, countless men and women entered into a war that led to the deaths of millions of people - soldiers and civilians. Survivors of that conflict endured physical and emotional scars on a scale unseen in world history. Others remained embittered and sowed the seeds of the Second World War, twenty one years later. Between 2014 and 2018 we are planning to commemorate the centenary of World War One with a series of cross-curricular days, activities, visits and assemblies. Our goal will be to raise awareness of the sacrifices made on all sides and the lessons that historians, artists, poets, novelists, politicians and philosophers have drawn from that conflict over the past 100 years. We shall begin with a cross-curricular day involving all of our students on Friday 11th July. Further details will be provided during the course of our next term, but will involve all students being given the opportunity to explore an aspect of World War One through a subject of their choice – not just history! The day will end with a non-denominational commemoration service and launch an exciting opportunity - which I shall say no more about at this stage…

In the meantime we ask you, our local community, to consider providing copies of letters, postcards and photographs relating to local men or women who were involved in the war between 1914 and 1918. Whilst we shall be trying to avoid a narrow focus on the war from a British perspective, we do wish to emphasise the tragic impact of the war on families who lived in this area. Much has been said and written about how we ought to remember World War One as a nation. Our goal at Colmers will be to enable each student to arrive at their own conclusion about how to look back on that war and choose lessons that he or she believes are worth remembering. If you have any information or thoughts on our commemoration plans then please email my colleague, Mrs Hodgson (Head of Learning & Achievement), on dhodgson@colmers.bham.sch.uk.

CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

Why do some kids do better than others at school? Each week in assembly I have been introducing students to the great philosophers of history and sharing their questions and ideas. Recently we looked at a French philosopher called Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) who spent his adult life in fear of being assassinated for his dangerous ideas and beliefs.

Rousseau was feared and hated because he believed that the way 18th century European society was organised was wrong. He rejected the idea that a small elite (usually a royal family) should be allowed to have disproportionate power and wealth. He rejected the popular view of the day that ordinary people did not have the same abilities and potential as the elite. Simply put – he believed that we all have equal potential. Dangerous ideas in 18th century Europe! Today, his ideas seem pretty obvious. Would any sensible person seriously believe that a baby born in a deprived neighbourhood is destined to be less clever or successful than a baby born in a wealthy neighbourhood? It strikes me that whilst any sensible person rejects that kind of prejudicial thinking, we fear that this may turn out to be true in some cases.

mailto:dhodgson@colmers.bham.sch.uk

HEADTEACHER’S HALF-TERMLY NEWSLETTER

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE BY BELONGING TOGETHER & CHALLENGING MIND-SETS

This bar chart illustrates the range of national attainment outcomes (measured by Average Point Scores) of different groups of students: gender, free school meals and ethnicity. The average attainment in England and Wales is shown by the horizontal red line. Groups above that line do better than average. Groups below that line do less well than average. So, why do children have such different patterns of achievement at school? Sadly there is not a simple answer – if there was we would have sorted it all out by now! The answers are complex and at times controversial:

A good school filled with good teachers is important.

Supportive parenting is also essential.

A home that encourages and enables study and learning is a major advantage.

Computers and Internet access can help – but there is no evidence that expensive possessions make any real difference to an already motivated child.

What is clear is that a child with an ambition (any ambition!) who also wants to make progress and be even better tomorrow than they are today, will be successful – irrespective of their background. We hope you know that we want the very best for your children – the very best. We believe that education sets a person free and we know that education gives young people choices and opportunities. It is our view that success at school cannot be bought with iPads, laptops, books or even private tutors. Success is extremely inexpensive and simply relies on a student’s belief and desire to succeed. As the adults in each child’s life, it is our responsibility and duty to strengthen that belief and fuel that desire. Rousseau was right – wealth and power is everyone’s right at birth and no adult should be allowed to take those rights away.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY…

Thursday 10th April - Final day of the Spring Term for students

Friday 11th April to Friday 25th April 2014 – Easter Holidays

Monday 28th April - First day of the Summer Term (all students)

Friday 2nd May - Monitoring Reports issued to parents

Monday 5th May – Bank Holiday Monday

Wednesday 14th May – PEG

Tuesday 20th to Thursday 22nd May – Performing Arts Musical

Monday 26th – Friday 30th May - Whitsun Half Term

Friday 6th June – Year 11 Leavers’ Assembly

Wednesday 11th June – PEG (+ Year 11 RE Examination)

Friday 13th June – Start of Years 7 to 10 end of year examinations

Wednesday 25th June – Summer Concert

Thursday 26th June – Year 11 Prom AND Year 12 UCAS Information Evening

Tuesday 1st July – Year 6 Induction Evening

Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd July – Year 6 Induction Days

Monday 7th July – INSET Day (School closed to all students in Years 7 to 12)

Friday 11th July – World War One Day (All Years)

Tuesday 15th July – PEG (1.20pm close)

Friday 18th July at 2pm – End of Term and School Year

AS Results Day – Thursday 14th August – East Hall from 9.30am

GCSE Results Day – Thursday 21st August – East Hall from 9.30am

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National Attainment Outcomesat Key Stage Four in the summer of 2013