Governing Body Annual Report To Parents 2015-16

Summary Continued...
We continue to provide rewards for pupils who achieve 100% attendance in any given month and for the
most improved attendance each half term. At the end of the year, we take all pupils who have managed 100%
attendance throughout the year on a free trip to a theme park. 94 of our pupils achieved this success in 2015/16.
Overall our attendance dropped from 94.6% to 94% last year. We cannot emphasise enough the crucial
importance of high attendance in school if our pupils are going to achieve outstanding academic success.
We will not authorise the taking of any term-timeholidays unless there are very exceptional circumstances.
Missing school means missing
out! The Local Authority has also instigated a series of attendance
rewards this academic year, some
for individuals and some for classes or even whole year groups.
2015/16 was an extremely challenging year for us as a school in terms of pupil behaviour,
the most difficult I can recall for many years. This was primarily because of a larger than usual number of very
challenging pupils in Year 11 and a small number in some other year groups. We responded to this through
an increased use of fixed-term exclusions (88 were issued last year) and by a thorough review of our Behaviour
Policy, including sanctions and rewards. This work was undertaken by Mrs Judith Tanner, Deputy Headteacher
(Pupils), along with a significant number of staff from across the school. As part of this review, we introduced an
Inclusion Room from January 2016 for persistent and serious offenders. The new policy was introduced on a trial
basis from June 2016 and fully implemented from September 2016. It includes clearer links between particular
misbehaviours and the sanctions they will lead to as well as a much greater emphasis on rewarding good
behaviour and effort. There has been a significant improvement in pupil behaviour since the introduction of the
new policy. However, we can never be complacent about this essential part of our provision. Good behaviour is
a pre-requisite for good learning. We rely heavily on parents to be positive role models to their children and to
support the school as we seek to ensure that pupils have the right attitudes to succeed in education and in later
life. The home-school partnership is of fundamental importance to academic and social success.
Your child is set annual performance targets in each subject and regular assessments will track progress towards
these targets. Parents are informed of their children’s current attainment and of their targets through the
interim and end of year reports. If a pupil achieves their end of year target well in advance, the system allows for
the target to be negotiated upwards. Our aim is to motivate pupils to make continuous progress across the whole
curriculum.
I hope you were able to see this year’s school production ‘When the Lights Go On Again’ in October 2015.
This was an unusual choice of musical as it has never been performed before in Wales and is unlikely to ever
be performed again anywhere because the author has now withdrawn performance rights for it! It was chosen
because this year is the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the production was a fitting
remembrance for that. There were many excellent pupil performances, too many to mention by name here. I do,
however, need to mention the wonderful acting and singing of four of our staff, Mr Christopher Thomas, Mr
Jonathan Wallace. Mr Nigel Binding and Mr Oliver Day. Enormous thanks go to all those who helped with the
organisation and rehearsals, but especially to Mrs Laura Phipps for musical direction, Mrs Emma Wilson for
choreography and Mrs Annelie Williams-Sheaf for production and direction.
Page 9