As we prepare for the return to school this week it is time to reflect on the exam results of the summer. I spoke of A level last week, this week I speak in praise of the year 11 GCSE scores. The year group did exceptionally well, achieving 82% overall and 65% 5+GCSE A*-C grades including English and Maths, they scored the best ever average point score per student, which is a great result.
Special note of the diploma students in SHAD and Engineering who achieved excellent results, thanks to the vocational teams who taught them both at school and at NSSC. We have now set another aspirational target for next year, which will be to achieve 70% again.
This year will be very demanding on a number of fronts. We have the planning for the arrival of years 7 and 8 in place, many thanks to Mr Bewick and Mr Wickson and their talented teams in assisting and in some cases driving this forward, and the move next year to the middle school for our sixth form, again many thanks to Mr Bewick for letting us on the site this summer to get some preparatory work done.
Many thanks to Mrs Eldrett, our Director of Finance for the way she has led the transition to becoming an academy, as I said before, the vast majority of people will notice no difference other than the additional resources that will now be at our disposal.
We welcome Mrs McKenzie as Assistant Headteacher to replace Mr Allen, her main focus this year is to plan and implement the vertical tutoring programme that will be put in place in September 2012, there will be lots of opportunities to find out more about this throughout the year.
It is great to hear of the achievements of past students, today I heard that Alexander Charlish has been awarded his PhD from University College London, it is in Electrical Engineering. Dr Charlish is now working in Germany. Well done to Alexander and his very proud parents.
Today is A level results day.
It has been another excellent year for Bungay High School. A level results were very pleasing with 105 students achieving the results that were right on target with an average 210 points per entry. The pass rate of 97% is up on last year and is testament to the commitment shown by both students and staff. There were notable individual successes and we are delighted that Head Girl Rachel Harding has got into Oxford University to read Biochemistry and Jenny Honeywood into Cambridge to read History. Particular congratulations to Oscar Hawes who achieved four A* grades and is going to York University. Other notable individual results are Margaret Hollamby – 2A* and 2 A’s, Jack Elvin-Poole – 2A* and 1 A, Jodie Runacres 2A* and 1A, Jenny Honeywood 1A* and 3 A’s, Ken Tang 1A* and 3A’s, Alice Carruthers 1A* and 2A’s, Rachel Harding 1A* and 2 A’s, Robert Kirby 4A’s and 1 B and Jhislaine Dodd 3 A’s.
Congratulations to all our students.
We have had an update on year 10 student Holly Abell and her horse The Brumby at the Trailblazers showjumping event held at the end of July.
Both Holly and The Brumby did brilliantly to be in the final 18 for the jump off, they eventuality came 9th which is an outstanding result because of the clear rounds that they achieved throughout the competition.
I am also delighted to welcome back the sixth form groups who had beeen to Egypt and Edindburgh, both groups had experienced wonderful opportunities, many thanks to the staff and parents who gave up holiday time to take them.
Many thanks to Mrs Barnard and the staff team who organised the Gold Award Tea Party on Monday, it was a really great event, where families and Students could celebrate together.
This afternoon saw a similar event held in the Sports Hall and organised by Mrs Nabarro and our excellent PE team and sixth form students. The Sports presentation afternoon has grown in strength year on year, this year saw the largest turn out of students and parents since we started the event.
Many thanks to Avril Swords the International Gymnast for her inspirational speech.
News is coming in of graduation successes, here is the latest list:
- Becky Nainby – 2:1 from Royal Holloway
- Harry Blandy – 1st in Natural Sciences from Durham University
- Fion Lai – 2:2 in Biomedical Sciences from Warwick University
- Rebecca Kirby – 2:1 in History from Lancaster University
- Becky Linger – 1st in German and History from Sheffield University
- Charles Mckie – 1st in Maths and Geography from Sheffield University
- Nemesia Wymark – 2:1 in Accountancy from UEA
- Laura Genlloud – 1st in Photography from Norwich School of Arts.
Congratulations to them all.
It was tremendous the receive a report from the Gold Award assessor in Perthshire Scotland this week.
Rob McDermott emailed me a glowing report on the attitude and behaviour of our Gold Award students who undertook a very demanding and challenging 5 day gruelling expedition in very challenging conditions, he described their attitude as exemplary.
My thanks to Miss Dix and Mrs Mckenzie for giving the students the opportunity to experience such events.
Mr Allen also reported on the mature and committed way the Silver Award groups conducted themselves in the Lake District the week before and Mr Attenburrow had a great time with the Outdoor Education groups in Snowdonia, only returning last Friday.
I would like to pass on my thanks to Mrs Barnard for the way she had organised the two weeks work experience for year 10 students, the vast majority of whom had an excellent experience. The government is withdrawing the funding for such placements in the future, so this will be our last whole year group work experience, in future it will be undertaken by students on vocational and applied courses.
This is the last week before we break for the summer.
Our Academy conversion will be completed by the end of the week, many thanks to Mrs Eldrett and Mrs Ramsey for the great work they have done on the financial, HR and site elements.
Mr Hughes leaves the school this week after 36 loyal and committed years of service to the school, he is truly a legend in the eyes of his students past and present. Also leaving is Mr Tall who is looking to teach abroad and Mr Allen who is leaving as assistant head but staying in a part time role leading Business Studies for a further year.
It has been a very emotional last three weeks in school.
Firstly, I have to announce the sudden and unexpected death of our evening caretaker and Invigilator Terry Hyde. His Funeral is in Luton this Tuesday. Our thoughts are with his wife Gillian and his children, one of whom attends our school.
Secondly, I have to announce the sudden death of one of our year 11 boys, Aaron Sayer, who died at home on Wednesday 29th June. Aaron was a smashing lad who will be sorely missed by all who knew him in school. Our thoughts and prayers are with his Family, we have been told that his friends and teachers will be able to attend Aaron’s funeral at St Mary’s Flixton, we are still awaiting confirmation of the date. We had a letter this week from Mum and Dad thanking all his friends and the school for the tributes to Aaron and the support given.
The year 11 Prom went ahead on the first of July, as both a tribute to Aaron and a celebration of all that has been great about his year group. Many thanks to Mr Middleton, Mrs Athanasouli and colleagues who made it such a special and moving occasion.
We will be creating two remembrance books in the school for Terry and Aaron over this next week. Many thanks to the Rev. Ian Byrne and Rosedale Funeral Services for their support and generosity.
We also had a visit from OFSTED for two days during this period. Their was an HMI and 4 additional inspectors, they scrutinised the school closely for two days and agreed at the end that Bungay High is an Outstanding School. We are delighted with this outcome which is a reward for the hard work our staff, students, parents and governors put in together to make Bungay High a great place to work and study.
I have visited all but one of the primary schools in the area to talk about the future 2012 and beyond, I have been made very welcome at them all. We will be providing all children and parents with more detail about the vertical tutoring and curriculum in the autumn term. We will be appointing a new assistant head in the last week of term, so that they can get to work on this over the summer and in the autumn term.
Nothing makes a headteacher more proud than watching his students who have faced adversity rise from their distress and return to learning. My admiration is beyond description for the three students who are overcoming major spinal surgery and to a year 9 girl who has fought a brain tumour. They really help you get life into perspective.
Many congratulations to the many students who have excelled in their field of expertise over the past three weeks. Examples include the following:
- Katrina Nash- Truman, who has excelled in her Drama work at the Cut in Halesworth, she completed her Silver Arts Award on 6th July with Trinity Guildhall, London. Well done Katrina.
- Congratulations to Holly Abell of 10H, she has qualified her pony for the prestigious show jumping championships at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire at the end of July. We wish Holly the best of luck. The action photos we have of Holly in the qualifiers are fantastic.
- Congratulations to George Catchpole of year 9 who is in the national squad, took part in the R.S. Tera championships at Hayling last week. George was one of 64 entries in the sports class and the top places were hotly contested. George tells me the local boy won the event and that the weekend had been a great success, he is now looking forward to the world championships in three weeks time, which are going to be held in Denmark, training hard and very excited. Best of luck at the world championships George.
- Many thanks to the Sixth Form Scientists who helped out at a family Science day held at Great Yarmouth last weekend, organised by Shell Education Services. Those involved were: Lily Capps-Jenner, Ella Charter, Sam Hubbard, Lily Crowley, Jonny Coles, Lily Booth, Beth Gooda, Hugo Harvey, Joss Ward, Shannon Hallinan, Aimee Allerton, Zoe Cole, Florrie Thomas, Louise Ellis, Pip Wagg, Robert Kirby, Teresa Rush.
- Congratulations to the Sixth form Society, Health and Development Group who have been raising money for the East Coast Child Charity. Leanne Mills who is their spokesperson has kept me fully briefed on the cake sale and car washing duties, well done to all the group.
- Congratulations to former students Tom Phillipson and Matt Woolner, who for the second year running have come top in their respective Catering groups at Norwich City College Catering school.
- Congratulations to Chris Bennett who has achieved a First Class Honours Degree in Economics from the University of Sheffield and got a much sought after job with Price, Waterhouse & Coopers. Well done Chris.
Thank you to the parents, staff and students who made last Wednesday evenings Intake event go so well, there was a great atmosphere in school which bodes incredibly well for the next five years of working in partnership.
We wish the best of luck to our Mathematicians, who are in London tomorrow, 20th June 2011, taking part in the International Maths Challenge Competition. They won the regional events, if they win this national event they go to Singapore for the World finals. The students taking part are Liam Saunders and Matthew Skazick from year 9 at BHS and brother and sister team Felix and Bea Prutton from year 8 at Bungay Middle School.
Tomorrow morning sees the visit of a Shakespeare Company to year 9, they will be performing ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, which year 9 students are studying in class at present.
All parents are welcome to attend the Friends of Bungay High School meeting this coming Thursday, 23rd June. I have been asked to give an update on our Academy status at that meeting.The meeting starts at 6.00pm.
I am very grateful to Mr Allen and Mrs Hubbard for agreeing to take our Able Gifted and Talented Year 10 students to Oxford University this coming Thursday, we know they will have a fantastic experience.
You may know that Mr Allen and Mr Hughes are retiring at the end of this term, if you wish to make a contribution to their leaving gift you can do so via the school office.
You will be aware of talk about strike action affecting schools and other public services, we will issue information this week showing the impact it will have at Bungay High School on Thursday 30th June. The Gold Award Trip to the Norfolk Show for all our 100 Prize winners will go ahead, as will the Peer Mentor training, we will bring the Sixth Form into school but may have difficulty fully staffing a full Year 9 and 10 curriculum.
This week, 8th June 2011, we heard from the Secretary of State and Lord Hill that our bid to become an Academy has been accepted, ready to start on August 1st 2011. Many thanks to Lynn Eldrett our School Business Manager for all the hard work with the DFE, Eversheds our solicitors and the County Finance/HR team. We are very lucky to have such a talented person working with us.
We are busy preparing for our OFSTED inspection at present, unfortunately the inspectors will not see the whole school in action but will see Year 9,10 and 12 in full swing.
We look forward to meeting the new year 9 parents at the Intake evening on Wednesday night of this week, we have nearly 240 students in that year group.
It was a pleasure to be welcomed at Holton Primary School last Thursday evening to meet Jean Righton the head and the 20+ parents who have children that will transfer to the High school over the next two to three years. I was able to hear about the exciting vision for Holton from Mrs Righton and was able to share with the parents the vision for the High School.
Back in school we had a fantastic Year 10 sports Day last week, brilliantly organised by Mrs Nabarro and the PE team. The participation rates and commitment from the students was exceptional creating a wonderful atmosphere on the day. So good that they persuaded me to run in the 800 metres for Miss White’s tutor group alongside Mr Webster and Mr Lewis, it very nearly killed me!
Congratulations to the two school record breakers, Kieran McMorran broke the 800metre record and Jack Strachan the 400 metre record. We now await the announcement of the Victor and Vitrix Ludorum awards which have been keenly fought for this year.
It was a delight to award certificates to the year 10 students who have excelled at the NSSC this year, the comments by their lecturers make us very proud of them.
It was great to get the news of one of our Sixth Formers this week, Andi-Louise Horne has been accepted at The Laine School of Dance in Epsom Surrey, the top Dance School attracting all the best dancers in the UK. Andi has also been working with the Royal Ballet and local dance groups, we know she will be a success and look forward to going to see her star in The West End in the near future.
I am very grateful to all the staff who gave up their half term to work with the DofE Silver Expedition group in Wales, I am pleased to say they all passed and were a credit to the school, their parents and to themselves.
We are making very good progress on the plans for the Sixth Form Biology trip to Egypt this summer, thanks to Mr Considine for leading this and for the DofE Gold Expedition to Nicaragua next year under the leadership of Miss Dix. Thanks to Miss Doughty and Mr Gunning for the extra rehearsal time they are putting in for the A level Drama groups tour of The Edinburgh Festival this year, what an amazing opportunity.
The GCSE and A level artists are taking over hall 1 over the next couple of weeks to showcase their work from the last two years, it will be great, please pop in to school to view the exhibition which will run for the next two weeks.
I think all the above shows that we live up to our Motto of Opportunity and Excellence.
The governing body of Bungay High formally approved the proposal to become an Academy from August 1st 2011 at their meeting on the 9th May.
This is a momentous decision for us all, I am convinced that it is the right decision and will enable us to keep the top quality teaching and support staff at the school.
We also had news that we will be part of the pilot programme for new Ofsted inspections. They have selected Bungay High to work with them this term. Normally schools get a couple of days notice, I will attend a briefing meeting in Nottingham on Friday 13th May to find out the ‘rules of engagement’ then return to school to plan for the visit which will probably take place in the next two or three weeks.
I believe this is another feather in our cap and I know the inspectors will be impressed with and by our students, staff and governors.
I was delighted by the response of the students to the Rotary Club Teenage Cancer Appeal, they helped raise £478 in one day. Many thanks to Chris Staines from Rotary and Mrs Wiltshire my associate head for the organisation.
I would also like to praise Hannah Alred one of our year 11 students who has led a campaign to get the county council to change their minds over the Explore card, working with other schools she raised over 400 signatures to present to SCC cabinet, we are awaiting the outcome. This is citizenship in action!
We have had Art exams at GCSE and A level over the past week, the quality of work is stunning. You will be able to see for yourselves at the Exhibition in hall 1 after 24th June.
The work on the Halesworth Campus is gaining momentum, many thanks to the tireless work of Simon Weeks, Erik Wilcock, Richard Woolnough, Annette Dunning, Annette Abbott and Tony Goldson. keep your eyes on the local press for updates.
As all parents and governors know we are consulting at present on whether the school should become an academy, if you have any views either for or against I would be interested in hearing them, you can get in touch by emailing
academy@bungayhigh.co.uk.
This week saw the last our our School Improvement Partner visits, Laurie Robinson has done an excellent job working with us for the last three years being very supportive of our achievements and asking the serious questions of why do we do things the way we do so that he can fully understand the culture and ethos of the school. We will now be working in A Raising Achievement Network (RAN) with other successful Suffolk High Schools.
This week has seen a stunning result in the UK Maths Challenge event held at Framlingham College. This was an event for years 8 and 9, there were 25 schools involved and Bungay High/Bungay Middle partnership won the event, many congratulations to Felix and Bea from BMS and Matthew and Luke from BHS. A tremendous result and good luck in the finals in London. Many thanks to Miss Marriott for working with them.
The u-15 Rugby Squad won the Area Rugby tournament with fine wins over Thomas Mills High School 32-5 and Hartismre High 24-5.
The U-16 girls Hockey team won their tournament in Lowestoft with a fine win in the final against KHS.
Many thanks to Miss Dix and Mrs Mackenzie for giving up their Sunday last week to work with the Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Award team preparing for their summer expeditions to Scotland.
It was a pleasure to Welcome back ex student Matthew Ball to the school on Friday. Matthew is currently a third of the way through his officer training at Sandhurst, he will graduate in the summer and will join either REME or the Royal Engineers. He left us to go to Welbeck College and onto University, where he graduated last summer with a degree in Civil Engineering.
It was also a pleasure to receive feedback from Waveney District Council about the contribution two of our students, George Crickmore and Alice Carruthers made to the Holocaust Memorial Day, commerations 2011. Jo McCullum, the Community Development Officer said, ” Their contribution was very much appreciated and in particular because they did this at such short notice. They presented in a professional and meaningful manner”. George and Alice will be accompanying Peter Aldous our MP to Auschwitz in the near future.
I have also had an update from Toyota PLC, and their Dream Car Team, to say that Kalun Bedingfield has been selected as one of the 5 top prize winners in his age group in this national event. He will be going to Epsom in Surrey to receive his reward in half term. Many congratulations to Kalun and the other students who entered and to Mr Gillett for providing the inspiration.
We have concluded our first exchange with a school in Valencia, Spain. All our students returned this week and by all accounts had a tremendous time, Many thanks to Mr Tall and Mrs Barnard for making it such a successful event, I know it has been appreciated by the parents.
Our very talented students have had a number of opportunities to showcase their skills over the past couple of weeks.
It was great to have four teams in the Rotary sponsored Public Speaking Competition held at the school, the debates included: ‘Should Latin still be taught in state schools’, the students thought that it should. The Myth and Reality of Time Travel, led by Jhislaine Dodd, Alice Carruthers and Thomas Chapman, a very interesting debate which went on to actually win the event and go through to the next round in Hertfordshire. The other titles were, ‘Does Facial hair have a place in modern day society’ and ‘Should Private Schools offer more subsidised places for working class children’. My thanks to the Rotarians and to Angela Brook the deputy Mayor on agreeing to be on the judging panel.
We had a visit from Robin Eastaugh the local Honary organiser of the Poppy Appeal, he was absolutely delighted with the fund raising efforts of all our students, some of whom donated even after selling out of poppies. We made a good contribution to the local total of over £6,000.
Last week we had the results of a competition entered by Mr Gillett and the design students. Four were entered in the Toyota Dream Car Competition and all four of them have been successful in getting through to the national level. Jodie Smith in year 9 has won the 13-15 year old artwork element for the region winning herslf £50 of Art equipment from Jarrolds. This really is a superb achievement.
It was great to get a letter from Nigel Wooltorton this week, he is the Team Manager of Harleston Magpies Hockey team. The team reached the national finals in Wolverhampton and contained three of our students, I quote ” Fiona Mackenzie, Jess Howland and Keira Booty all contributed to a fine team performance. Their conduct and behaviour along with the whole squad were a credit to themselves and the school”.
Whilst on the sporting theme, the U14 Rugby squad won the Northern Area Rugby festival held at Southwold Rugby Club last week, they ran out tremendous winners only conceding one try in the whole tournament.
This week has seen over 100 students sitting the Intermediate Maths Challenge, this is a national competition that pits the wits of our maths students against the rest of the UK. We look forward to the results soon.
The Year 13 Drama improvised presentations were this week, there were very powerful performances from each and every one of them.
We have just heard that our Head Girl Rachel Harding, has been selected for the UBS Award for Outstanding Students, this prestigious award celebrates the achievements of academically gifted and hardworking students from state schools who have excelled in their GCSE’s and AS level exams. Rachel has also been accepted at Oxford University to read Bio Chemistry from September 2011.
We are in the process of producing materials for all our Year 4-8 pupils in the primary and middle schools to show them what life will be like at the high school from 2012. These will be ready to go to parents after Easter 2011.
These are difficult times in schools at the moment, the new government has introduced a number of new measures about running schools and what should be taught in them. The Local Authority are having to make cuts and these are impacting on schools. We are now being offered opportunities to move away from the Local Authority and run ourselves as an Academy with funding directly from the DFE. However, there are still too many answers to find before any changes to life at Bungay High other than School organisational review can be broadcast. Interestingly in now looks like the LA will be looking to the Academies and Free Schools programme to fund the SOR in the Western Area of Suffolk from 2017, whilst the rest of us have to made do on a shoestring for 2012.
The staff and governors will be debating this contentious situation this week.
