GOVERNORS' ANNUAL REPORT TO PARENTS ... - Highcliffe School

Augus t that we had been successful. No mean feat! Only some 360 schools
nationally have managed to s atis fy the r equirements since the awar d was
launched in the late 1990s. This not an end but only the beginning…
We have been appr oached by the B r itis h Council to twin with Padma S es hadri
Bala S enior Secondary School in Nungambakkam in I ndia to mentor them
towards securing the s ame awar d. The B r itish Council have a maj or project
with a gr oup of schools in I ndia who want to “go for it” as we did. Additionally,
Highcliffe has appeared in two lead ar ticles in national (TES) and local
newspapers (Your Dorset) for our work in this area. We ar e now putting in
place a world-wide networ k.
We have j us t really begun to “s cr atch the s ur face” of how our link with the
British Council and networ k might be br ought into play to impr ove the r ange of
oppor tunities for all at Highcliffe. Our “global teacher” Mr . Coughlan has led
this initiative well to this stage and a br oader “international team” has been set
up to help take it on a pace.
B uilding Bridges Partnership w ith Ballard S chool New Milton
Acting mor e locally to impr ove oppor tunity, with the enthus ias m and har dwork
of Mr Pearce, we s ubmitted a bid with Ballard S chool to the DfES for additional
funding under this scheme. Our intention is to wor k together on quite tightly
focused ar eas to extend oppor tunities , making the mos t of each other’s
strengths and assets so they can be us ed to extend lear ning oppor tunities ,
especially for students who have par ticular talents. Transport has been a key
to opening up thes e oppor tunities and ther e may be a Chr is tmas surprise in
store! We will keep ever yone pos ted thr ough H2U.
W olfson Foundation Award
Last term our Science team, keen to impr ove fur ther and enhance the
refurbishment work in the labor ator ies already in hand, decided to make a bid
for additional funding for new equipment and other complementary resources.
We have been visited by the assessor and now are awaiting the result which is
due ar ound Chr istmas . We will again keep you posted thr ough H2U!
S ummer School (Dorset LEA bid)
Our team, eager to develop pr ovision for gifted and talented s tudents ,
committed thems elves to r unning a S ummer School for Year 7 students.
Again their initiative and har d wor k paid off and by all accounts it was greatly
appr eciated and a s uccess. The LEA evaluation report has been very positive
about the r ange of activities offered and the enthus ias m of both staff and
students alike.
T hese ar e only some of the examples of the s uccessful projects which secured
awards in the las t period. Some ar e s till to come into fr uition. H2U throughout
the year tries to keep ever yone infor med about these activities .