School Newsletter Volume 9 Edition 6.pdf - Highcliffe School

m a thematics/ict
Excellent Year 12/13
January Modular Results
After an outstanding set of results at KS5
(ALPs national indicators), an excellent set of
results have been achieved by Year 12 and
13 students in their January
modular examinations.
Thirteen candidates achieved 100/100 UMS
marks on their respective papers.
All students that achieved these results
have received Head Teacher certificates.
In Year 13, 72% of all students are
currently on C grade or above,
with 42% on an A or A*.
An incredible achievement,
Well Done!
e n glish
Debating Skills
Highcliffe School has had a Debating
Society for a number of years
now. However, after a short period
of dormancy, it has once again
erupted into life thanks to the efforts
of a number of students, in
particular, Head Boy, Sammy Joynson,
and David Levesley. It is now a
highly-active, thriving society,
meeting every Thursday lunchtime
and attended regularly by about
20 students.
Sammy and David - along with help
from Beth Waters, Rachael Smith
and Michael Worrall and others -
have created a model of how a
student-organised society should
run. They have taken the initiative
of publicising debates on social
networking sites and drumming up
interest in assemblies. Furthermore,
they have efficiently organised
debate topics and chaired debates
when necessary.
Topics debated have ranged from
the heavy to the light-hearted.
They have dealt with topics of direct
concern to students, such as
the Educational Maintenance Allowance
(EMA) or have been addressing
more intellectual themes,
such as whether the arts and sciences
have been more beneficial to
society. They have dealt with particular
issues such as immigration
and on election day supporters of
the Liberal and Conservative par-
Key Stage 4 ICT - 100% A-C!
The ICT Department would like to take the
opportunity to congratulate all Year 11 students on
their fantastic ICT results. The students were
entered for the OCR Nationals First Award
- a qualification worth 1 GCSE.
After a huge amount of effort by the students and
staff during lessons and lunchtime/after-school
support sessions the students’ work was submitted
for moderation. Highcliffe School was visited by a
Senior Moderator from the OCR exam board who
spent a day scrutinising the students’ work
and ICT teachers’ marking.
At the end of this visit the moderator was pleased
to be able to confirm that he agreed with the ICT
teachers’ marking and from the 212 students
entered, all 212 had passed at grade C or above
giving us our best ever results: 100% A*-C.
Report by Mr Smith
ties had the chance to put forward
their views. The debates are
fiercely contested and points of
view are put forwards with passion
and conviction. Nevertheless, despite
the important adversarial
nature of the debates, the process
is always good-humoured and enjoyable.
As David Levesley, Year 13, said:
“The Debate Club has proved itself
in the years we've been members
and leaders to not just be about
stuffy, hackneyed ethical discussion,
but also about light-hearted
humour and serious, topical discussions
that affect us as students.” At
the end of each debate, there is a
vote to see which side has been
most successful in persuading the
assembled students.
Debating is a skill that is highly
sought after by universities. Students
have to spend time preparing