Newsletter_Edition_1_2017

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SUTTON REVIEW 2017 FEEDBACK
A MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER, MR P E MCCULLAGH
It has been a fantastic first half term for us at The John Fisher School. Our new Year 7 and Year
12 students have settled in brilliantly and we have been most impressed with the impact of our
new staff members already. We were delighted to have won the Arsenal FC ‘School in the Community’
Award and the ‘National Rugby School of the Year’ Award at the end of last year. In this
academic year so far our Head of Modern Foreign Language and Specialist Leader in Education,
Mr Evans, won First Give’s ‘Teacher of the Year Award’ for 2017 and one of our student’s,
Mathew Kerwick, was a finalist for the Partners in Excellence (PiXL) ‘Simon Bell Special Award’ in
2017 for overcoming adversity and securing top grades having been in a road traffic accident.
Two of our Year 13 students, Aaron Conmee and Mark Whiteley, won the prestigious United
Nations Association (UNA) debating competition for Sutton, Croydon and Surrey schools. The
school has not won this competition since 1980. We were also extremely pleased that last year
one of our Yr. 13 students secured a place at the Royal College of Music and one student secured
a place at the University of Oxford. Six of our current Yr. 13 students have applied for
Oxbridge for next year.
We have started on the development of our Sixth Form building this half term, introduced a
new inclusion department and improvements are taking place to both our Main Hall and our
Chapel. Future projects include the opening of a kitchen garden and a remembrance garden as
part of our refurbishment programme.
Students have been involved in fundraising for local charities such as the South-East Cancer
Centre this half term and through the ‘Love in a Box’ appeal along with making a contribution to
national charities such as Macmillan and Blind Veterans UK. We have also been celebrating the
European Day of Languages and Black History month. Student leadership remains a priority for
us a school and in this half term we have been a training a group of students as ‘Digital leaders’.
We welcomed an external review from a Sutton
Review Team on October 2nd to October 3rd. The
team of five were invited in to assess the school’s
strengths and identify any areas for further development.
The focus of the review was to determine
the effectiveness of teaching and learning,
to evaluate the curriculum provision and to assess
the standard of ‘Oracy’ and ‘Student leadership’.
We await the final report but I would like to
share with you some of the comments made by
the Review team:
“The school has a strong ethos and culture with
relationships between staff, students and parents/carers
valued highly.”
“The pastoral system is excellent and parents
value teachers as role models.”
“Staff, students and parents do not feel bullying is
an issue within the school environment and any
issues are acted upon promptly with compassion
and efficiency.”
“Opportunities for student leadership are strong.”
“Parents/carers are pleased that the school is developing
their children with holistic and enjoyable
provision.”
“Punctuality and attendance are excellent.”
“The Headteacher and leaders at all levels are
passionate about improving outcomes for students.
They are aware of areas for development
and are taking steps to make improvements.”
“Staff, students and parents do not feel bullying is
an issue within the school environment and any
issues are acted upon promptly with compassion
and efficiency.”
“Opportunities for student leadership are strong.”
“Parents/carers are pleased that the school is developing
their children with holistic and enjoyable
provision.”
“Punctuality and attendance are excellent.”
“The Headteacher and leaders at all levels are
passionate about improving outcomes for students.
They are aware of areas for development
and are taking steps to make improvements.”
I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely
thank all of the students, staff members, parents/
carers and governors for their involvement in this
Review process.
Finally, it is with regret that I have to inform you
that at The John Fisher Association (JFA) AGM
meeting on Wednesday 6th September no parent/carer
was elected in the positions of Chair,
Vice Chair or Secretary. The John Fisher Association
has been extremely successful in the past
and annually raises close to £20,000 which has
helped fund new computers and equipment in
two of our classrooms, paid for our new school
website, paid for new noticeboards and helped
with the decoration of our new Inclusion department.
The former Chair, Rachel Rogan, did a tremendous
job while her son has been at The John
Fisher School and I would like to thank her for all
of her hard work.
If you would like to consider any of the vacant
positions or would like to discuss any of the
roles could you please contact Mr Andrew Dean
(adean10@suttonmail.org) or Mr Mike Simpson
(msimpson@suttonmail.org) at school. Current
school budgets are unsustainable and local
authority funding has also been reduced and we
therefore rely heavily on the money raised by The
John Fisher Association.
Thank you for your continued support and I hope
that your son enjoys his well-earned rest.
Kind Regards,
Mr McCullagh
‘Aspiring for Academic, Cultural and Sporting Excellence’ Follow Follow us on us LinkedIn on LinkedIn & on Twitter: & on Twitter: @thejfschool @thejfschool @JFSChoir @JFSChoir @JohnFisherSport