Term begins

The holidays are nearly over, the SLT meet tomorrow and new staff join us to begin their induction process. There are a number of new colleagues to welcome: James Foster Science Mike Davies Science Charlotte Wright English HOH Terra Glowach English Andrew Parfitt Maths Alistair Russell Maths Barbara Wesley DT Emily MacGregor Attendance officer Jessica Bloom PE Alyssha Harriott Games Cover Hums PSHE Robin Hodge Maths SD Jenny Green PE SD Asia Hersi Science Tec Zig Heimann Head caretaker Emily MacGregor Attendance Alex Yuill Music internship Peter Wagstaff Music admin Lily Cox Classteacher Cathedral Primary Ellen Hornshaw CPS LSA Tara Roney-Dougal CPS LSA The results in GCSE and A level over the summer are a wonderful platform to continue to build upon. We are as always mindful that education is not just about academic attainment. I hope that year eight students have been working on their passport, telling us about their activities and achievements over the summer and was interested to catch the "School Swap: The Class Divide" programme on ITV last week. The Head of Warminster School spoke passionately about the importance of co-curricular learning. The challenge for the state schools is to provide the opportunities within a limited budget! Thank you to those students and parents who have let us know about individual achievements over the summer. Please do ask the students to let form teachers know so that we can celebrate. On Wednesday and Thursday all staff meet to prepare for the term ahead. As ever I will be encouraging all students to become involved in the wider life of the school.

GCSE

Well done all! A fantastic set of results from year 11 today. The ambitious whole school target was 85% A*-C including M+E so to achieve 91% was wonderful. It has been nice to receive thanks from parents and students to teaching staff for going the extra mile in the lead up to the examinations. I will share these with colleagues on the return from the holidays. We all know that students worked very, very hard. Some well deserved celebrations this evening I am sure.

A level Results

Good luck to all those A level students who are getting their results today. As with GCSE, I get to see the results 24 hours in advance, so I know that we will see a lot of happy faces this morning! The results are the best the school has ever seen by some margin representing a lot hard work by students and staff. The media are reporting a record number of places still available at the elite Russell Group universities. There were places on 3,451 courses at Russell Group universities last night, although these are expected to be rapidly filed through clearing. A quarter of all British applicants — more than 100,000 — have also signed up to a new service offered by Ucas giving permission for their results to be shared with universities that are still recruiting, which will further speed up the clearing process. Mary Curnock Cook, the chief executive of Ucas, said: “Most universities will have some courses with vacancies so there will be plenty of choice for students. Universities are well set up to take calls from interested students which means that although things move fast, it is usually easier to get through on the telephone.” The Mail reports that around 26% of today’s results are predicted to be A or A*s, with around 8% achieving the top grade, while the overall pass rate of A* to E is likely to be around 98%, the same as in 2014. However, the Telegraph says the number of pupils being awarded the highest marks is expected drop below 26% for the first time since the Government began efforts to halt "relentless" grade inflation five years ago. I will publish a press release later this morning.

Uniform

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer. I note that the media ran a story this week about school uniform: The Daily Telegraph considers the debate surrounding the appropriate length for a school skirt. Dr Rowena Blencowe, head of Trentham High School in Stoke-on-Trent, has stipulated that come September, girls at her mixed comprehensive will be required to wear "business-like" trousers. It is practice that has been taken up in recent years by an estimated 60 secondaries in England and Wales, or 1.5% of the total. "I don't want staff wasting any more time sorting out skirts," she explained. "And it's not pleasant for male members of staff, and students either, if the girls 'wearing short skirts' have to walk upstairs and sit down. After a while, it stops being a uniform issue and starts becoming a safeguarding issue." Her warning is echoed by another head, Sarah Pashley, of Bridlington School in East Yorkshire, who is also instituting a ban. In an explanatory letter to parents she wrote: "To set it 'the ban' in context, on one occasion when a male member of staff challenged a female student on her skirt length, she retorted, You shouldn't be looking at my legs.’” There are schools that introduced a skirt ban but it failed. John Colet School in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, insisted on trousers for girls in 2011, but has just announced the return of a regulation pleated skirt as part of a wider overhaul of the uniform, including the replacement of blazers with sweatshirts. Headteacher Christine McLintock says the change is down to parental feedback. A DfE spokesman said that uniform policy was a matter for individual schools. She added that she was not aware that uniform came within the safeguarding remit. I have some sympathy with Headteachers who are frustrated by the amount of time and energy wasted in negative conversations. We have no plans to ban skirts but please do continue to support us when purchasing new items of uniform over the summer and in conversations at home.