RCCS Head Teacher

 The examinations started in earnest this week with Y10 taking the GCSE music on Monday morning and Y11 having French in the afternoon. This was followed by the first of the “big” exams taken in the Leisure Centre Hall, RE. The pupils have impressed us by their attitude. Lessons carry on as normal until the examination in that subject has been taken, and attendance has been very good.  There is no doubt at all that this will impact on final grades. We have arranged extra classes too in a number of subjects right up until the final exams. The Prom will be much more enjoyable for all concerned in the knowledge that they have worked so hard in the weeks leading up to it!

 The gymnasium in the Leisure Centre is being transformed into a state-of-the-art dance studio. This will be of benefit to the school and the wider community. Work started last week- although we have ensured it will not disrupt examinations. It will be a fantastic resource when complete.

I have been extremely impressed by the way pupils in Y10 have approached the prefect selection process. We have a team of more than twenty prefects ready in place now, and we just need to choose the senior team. Mrs Cooper and I will be interviewing candidates next week and I am looking forward to it.

We are planning our final INSET Day in school for 29th June; this will involve teachers looking at strategies for teaching reading, a review of skills, and sharing best practice across our departments.

I mentioned in an earlier blog  (Daisies and Data, March 30th) about the WIMD data suggesting our catchment area was more akin to Cowbridge than Bedwas or Bargoed, and how this meant that the school was compared somewhat unfairly with other schools deemed to be “similar” . I am indebted to our MP Chris Evans  for taking this up with the Welsh Government and we have received a reply from the Education Minister which acknowledges some of the issues we raised and which confirms that the use  of WIMD data will be looked at when the methods of assigning schools into families is reviewed

A couple of ”words of the week” to end the blog. And whereas last week we had a verse from Shakespeare, this week I have chosen something a little different for our quotation… I would suggest the sentiment expressed is just as valuable, however! 

NEXT WEEK’S THEME:  Live your life!

WELSH WORD OF THE WEEK :  “Bywyd” :  Life, lifetime

ENGLISH WORD OF THE WEEK:  “Animate” :   (1) vb. to give life to.  (2) adj. alive

It’s worth noting this word is pronounced differently depending on whether it is used as a verb (“an-ee-mate”) or an adjective (“an-ee-mut”)

QUOTATION :

“It’s my life
It’s now or never
I ain’t gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I’m alive.”
                                          Jon Bon Jovi , It’s my Life

I’m introducing some extra aspects into the blog each week, namely  two words or phrases, one English and one Welsh, and a quotation. Like most schools we set a theme for assemblies and tutor time, so as far as possible I’ll try to tie these in with the set theme for the following week. You’ll find them at the end of the blog- next week’s theme is “What’s in a name“- so the quotation was easy to choose!

Over the Bank Holiday weekend Mrs Howells and Mr James took a group of pupils to see the Newport Gwent Dragons play Leinster in the last match of the season. Everyone had a great time. Later in the week many returned to the ground for a special tour and some motivational input and training from the excellent Dragons team. The staff and pupils were really buzzing when they got back! Read about both occasions on the school website.

On Sunday our two ex-RCCS  pupils Brandon and Keenan got through to the final of Britain’s Got Talent in the group Only Boys Aloud and we wish them the very best of luck!

We returned on Tuesday after the Bank Holiday and held a Governing Body meeting that afternoon. There are two vacancies for parent-governors, so if anyone is interested we’ll be looking to fill those posts from September.

On Wednesday lots of pupils were involved in a dance competition over at Blackwood. At the time of writing we don’t know if we got through to the finals but I heard there were some excellent perfomances

I’d like to mention two subjects this week with regard to Y11. Ms Rouillé was very inpressed with the standard of the recent French orals,  and this bodes well for the examination as a whole- well done to all of you. The hard work  (and I know it was hard work!) paid off!  Secondly, I was really very impressed by the quality of the work in the GCSE Art Exhibition on Thursday night, a great credit to all the pupils and their teachers.

Next Monday marks the start of GCSEs. Y11 are expected to come into school for lessons in examination subjects, but  Friday was therefore the last day all would be together. It is of course traditional to have shirts signed and leavers’ books written in, and there was a nice atmosphere in school. To be honest we had originally thought of restricting this activity somewhat, but the Prefects convinced me to follow their plan of action and I was glad they made me change my mind! To be fair the large majority of them have been working so hard, a bit of informality and time to sign shirts is well-deserved.  Work needs to continue in earnest now, however, right up to the exams.

 NEXT WEEK’S THEME:  What’s in a name?

WELSH WORD OF THE WEEK :  “Cyfenw” :  Surname

ENGLISH WORD OF THE WEEK:  “Anonymous” :   (1) Not identified by name.  (2) of unknown name.

QUOTATION : “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
                                By any other name would smell as sweet.”
                                                     Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

Almost half of our Y10 applied to become prefects, and the first stage in the selection process, an election, took place at the start of the week. Although I am sure many were  encouraged by the prospect of  the privilege of a special room during breaks and lunchtime, and  some even perhaps by the stylish black and gold tie, I was delighted by the response. The election is only the first part of the process we run to select prefects and this will continue through May. Twenty-six people have been shortlisted for the next phase- there’s more information on the school website if you’re interested.

Y9 enjoyed a fascinating presentation by members of Gwent Police’s Armed Response Unit on Monday. I was able to attend part of this myself and it was most interesting and informative. The feedback we had from the pupils was excellent.

On Tuesday Mrs Cooper and I attended a meeeting with colleague headteachers from our local junior schools. This centred on ideas and strategies to improve literacy standards and was extremely useful.  I attended a meeting in Cardiff on Wednesday with colleagues from other secondary schools looking at the new school inspection framework. Again, this was a most useful meeting and it is always good to share ideas with people working in other schools across Wales.

Teachers have been very busy finalising marks for Y11 coursework and ensuring the pupils are clear about what they need to revise for the GCSE exams which start later this month.

On Friday I enjoyed listening to presentations from a Y8 class who had been doing a project on marketing a new chocolate bar in their Geography lessons.  Mr Seignot, the school business manager, and I were impressed by all the companies and their ideas.  Earlier in the day I was interviewed by two Y11 pupils as part of their project, and they asked me some very searching and awkward questions which I did my best to answer!

A group of staff and pupils are going down to Rodney Parade on Saturday to see the Dragons play. This has been organised following a staff work placement at the club on our INSET day in February. It should be a really good game.

I have been watching the results of the runaway trolley poll to the right (see last week’s blog for an explanation!). At the time of writing it seems the Risca community is in line with other people- over 70% of us would pull the lever!

I hope everyone enjoyed the Easter break. The awful  weather this week has made something of a mockery of this being called the “summer” term, but let’s hope it lives up to its name as the weeks progress!

Monday, the first day back, was a very busy day. Y8 and 9 were involved in workshops on an Olympic theme, Y10 attended a PSE (personal and social education) event in Blackwood, and Y11 had the opportunity to register for courses for next year at Crosskeys College.

Of course this is the last term for Y11. Many of them came into school during the Easter holidays to attend extra revision sessions with their teachers, and this will pay dividends without a doubt. We have tried harder than ever this year to emphasise the need to get the best possible grades on leaving school. The economic situation we are currently in is not a good one, and competition for jobs, which are scarce, is very intense, and will be for some years to come. Getting on a course at the right level has never been so important, and we have been constantly stressing this to our pupils. In these very last few weeks it is still not too late to make one final effort. Sacrificing a few extra hours now will make such a difference to grades achieved in August. Good luck to you all with your revision- we have lots of resources on our website to help.

During Assemblies this week I have raised the ethical question of the runaway trolley dilemma- are you familiar with it?  It aims to clarify how we should distinguish right from wrong. Here is the scenario; a runaway trolley car is hurtling down a track. In its path are five people who will definitely be killed unless you, a bystander, flip a switch which will divert it on to another track,  but there it will kill one person. Should you flip the switch?  You can vote in our interactive poll to the right!

Of course there is no right answer, but apparently 77% of  people on average say they would take that action. Apart from just raising the issue to provoke a bit of thought and debate I also wanted to make a point about questions. In school we can get very bogged down worrying about right and wrong answers. Some of the best questions have no answer… but they certainly make you think!

Planning for 2012/13 is moving on apace as we look at groupings and courses for September and the next school year. It is only four months away!

The Nutbrown Review  suggests many people working in childcare lack basic qualifications in literacy and numeracy. This report has not been widely reported and relates to England, but I think we need to be wise to its contents. We have lots of pupils at our school who are interested in working in this area and who would be very, very good at it. I strongly suspect we will soon see legislation requiring a minimum C grade pass in Maths and English for entry into this profession, or certainly to access higher paid grades, and we are making sure our pupils are aware of this.

The Dance Festival on Tuesday evening was amazing! All four schools in our area, Risca Primary, Ty Isaf Infants, Ty Sign and RCCS were involved in what has become a well-established annual event. The quality of performance gets better every year and the audience response said it all. Well done to everyone involved.

I invited two former pupils, Brandon and Keenan, to be special guests at the event. They are in the singing group “Only Boys Aloud” which is currently finding fame on our TV screens. At the start of the show I interviewed the lads and I asked Keenan what the experience had taught them so far, and if they had any tips to pass on to aspiring performers. Without hesistation I got back the reply: focus and motivation. This is so true, and I hope the young people at the Festival will take heed!

Today, Thursday, we have had a non-uniform day to end the term. Many are wearing  red or rugby shirts as we are celebrating the Grand Slam victory. It has been a long term, but a productive one. I wish everyone at RCCS a very Happy Easter. For Y11 this is not a two week holiday, however. There are revision classes taking place and plenty of work to be done at home. The good news for them, though, is that their summer holiday, when it comes, will be very long. Make sure it is well deserved by working hard now!

I wrote last week’s blog on Friday before the Sports Relief mile, so I want to start by saying how impressed I was that afternoon to see all of our pupils in KS3 and many staff running,  jogging, or walking around the school field to raise money for this worthy charity. Well done to everyone involved.

On Monday I was joined by three colleagues on a visit to schools in Swansea and Port Talbot. At Risca we are always happy to learn from others, and we picked up a lot of good ideas from our colleagues down the M4.

Two of our Y9 pupils presented to a specialist Sports panel on Wednesday in an effort to win funds for paralympic sports equipment. They wanted £258, but the panel was so impressed they were awarded £400, which was also the highest offer given to any of the participating schools! Lucy and Sophie were great ambassadors for the school and we are all very impressed and very proud of this amazing success.

On Thursday some smart new lockers arrived in school. These have been requested by the pupil council and we should have them in use by next term. They work on a £1 deposit;  pupils will initially be able to store things in them on a day by day, first come first served basis.

Year Ten have been away doing work experience this week, and with more than one hundred fewer pupils in school it has seemed very quiet. The amazing weather has made lunchtimes very enjoyable, with pupils sitting outside in the sun or playing football and rugby. I even found some Y11s making daisy chains, but I won’t embarrass them by mentioning names on here!

I had a good meeting with our MP Chris Evans in school this morning. There is a strange anomaly in some data which needs to be addressed. Basically the Welsh Government  WIMD (Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation) figures suggest our area is rather affluent, and according to their figures a staggeringly small 2.6% of our community live in the 20% most deprived areas of Wales. This would put us on a par with places like Stanwell  (2.2%) and Cowbridge (2.6%) in the Vale of Glamorgan and this is clearly not the case.  I would expect us to be in a similar position to places like Bedwas (40.8%) or Bargoed (44%)- if anything probably higher. This makes the figure inaccurate by over 40% .  Because this figure is in official documents it means we can find ourselves compared to schools in very different circumstances to our own, and this is not appropriate. It could also mean the community missing out on grants, for example, as it is not just an education issue. I am grateful to Mr Evans for following this up on our behalf.

I promised in one of my earlier blogs that if Wales won the Grand Slam we would mark the occasion in school. I am therefore pleased to confirm that we will have a non-uniform day on Thursday 5th April, which is the last day of this term. Pupils and staff are invited to show their pride in our national team’s fantastic achievement by wearing something red, ideally a Welsh rugby shirt or similar. This is a celebration rather than a charity event and we are not asking for any donations.

Many of you reading this who, like me, attended school in the 1970s will remember taking exams at the end of the 5th Year- or Y11 as we call it now. Everything depended on those exams in terms of the grade or level you were awarded, and one bad day could be disastrous. Subsequently many subjects introduced different ways of testing including coursework and modular exams. Whereas this can be seen as fairer, it does keep pressure on students right through the last two compulsory years of secondary school. Y10s and Y11s have taken lots of modular exams recently, and I have been impressed by the approach most have shown. It’s not easy, and we need to be aware of the pressure people are under, whilst also ensuring they fully understand the importance of these tests. I think we are getting the balance right.

All of us were in good spirits on Monday after the Grand Slam weekend. Following events on the previous Friday I issued a letter to parents reminding them of our safety procedures- you can read a copy of my letter on the school website or download one of our FAQ sheets on the subject here. The terrible  tragedy in France last week reminded us of how vulnerable we all can be in schools- or anywhere else for that matter. Scaremongering is dangerous; however, we must ensure we have the correct procedures in place should something occur, and “safety first” is always a sensible maxim to follow, I think.

We welcomed a senior education consultant to work with us during the week and many of us had some really good conversations with Ruth Sutton. We looked especially at teaching for learning strategies and working with Primary Schools to develop our transition programme (which, don’t forget, has already been commended by Estyn, the school inspection service for Wales, in a recent report)

Today our younger pupils are running  a mile for charity to raise money for Sports Relief, and some of the teachers are getting involved by doing a stint on the rowing machine. Using sport as a means of generating funds for charity is a great idea, and everyone involved deserves to be congratulated.

Next week Y10 will be out on work experience finding out a little bit more about life after school. I am looking forward to finding out how they get on!

This has been a very busy week! On Monday and Tuesday I was joined by three colleagues to conduct a review of the school which involved visiting lessons and talking with teachers and pupils. We were most impressed by what we heard and what we saw, and the review supported the findings of our other self evaluation processes in identifying areas for improvement. There was a strong message that we have much to celebrate and plenty of good practice to share. I’d like to thank our visitors for helping us conduct this review, and I’d also like to thank the staff and pupils at the school for welcoming them and for showing them what a good school RCCS is.

On Wednesday I attended a meeting of  local Head Teachers. Talking of sharing good practice, the work we have done at Risca in working on literacy skills, especially in connection with boys’ achievement, was held up as exemplary and I am grateful to Mr James and the staff who have worked on this. Mr Parker attended the Head Teacher’s ICT meeting on Thursday and found it useful and has some interesting ideas to bring back into school.

GCSE PE pupils were involved in moderation activities on Thursday, and the Art exam was held over Thursday and Friday. All involved are to be congratulated for their efforts and we are confident of some good results in both these areas in the summer.

Our family learning class in History with Mrs Weston met for the second time on Thursday this week. This project engages pupils from school with adult members of the community in finding out about local History, and continues the intergenerational learning project we pioneered with such success at RCCS last year

Mr Heron took a group of pupils to an Eco Conference in Cardiff Bay on Friday- more of this in a later blog.

Attention turns again to the Millennium Stadium this Saturday. If Wales do win the Grand Slam we will have to find a way of marking this in school somehow…. Come on Wales!

We’ve had some good sports results again this week in both netball and rugby, with pupils involved in several fixtures as well as a rugby tournament on Thursday. Congratulations to everyone involved.

On Wednesday Harry Browning of Y9 entered the Young Musician competition and played extremely well, just missing out on getting to the final. Harry is one of our up and coming brass players, and is already at grade five standard on the cornet.

On Thursday I attended a conference at which Leighton Andrews the Education and Skills minister confirmed we would be getting some extra funding for school improvement. This is welcome news and this will certainly be put to good use over the coming months.

Next week is a busy one as we start with a full two day review of the school. This will involve lesson observations and meetings with teachers, pupils and governors and other stake-holders, as well as an analysis of the recent survey we carried out with a random selection of parents. Thanks to those of you who returned the forms; it is important we get a feel for what you think. This review has been planned for some time, but the news of the additional funding we will be receiving means we’ll now be able to target areas for improvement more effectively

Following discussions at school council we have bought some more bins for both inside and outside use and these have now been installed. Ironically, I was informed last week that Caerphilly County Borough Council Environmental Health Department will again be taking action to reduce the number of people dropping litter, and that officers will be carrying out spot checks. They have the authority to impose £75 fines on anyone caught dropping litter, so please ensure litter goes in the bins!

I continue to listen to the views of pupils and parents with regard to the uniform. You are aware that the PE kit is in the process of change, and we now have a superior and better value product. With regard to the standard school uniform, the one change we’re introducing from next September is to relax the rule about outdoor coats being of a dark colour. Several parents and pupils have pointed out that it is in fact far more prudent to wear a brighter coat on dark evenings and mornings in terms of road safety and I completely agree.

There’s another crucial game of rugby this weekend. If Wales can keep their nerve against the Italians we should be looking forward to a great game against France next weekend, with the Grand Slam very much a possibility!

A small group of musicians from RCCS joined forces with Ty Sign Primary to take part in the St David’s Day concert in Risca on Thursday. This was a great event and the weather for once stayed sunny- in fact it was really very pleasant for March! They played two pieces and sounded very impressive. We are developing quite a good number of brass players in the school with more joining next year who have already passed graded examinations, so things are looking very healthy in this area. Other schools were also involved in the event which was being repeated across the borough in three other towns.

Although many schools hold their Eisteddfod on St David’s Day, ours is usually in the summer term to avoid disrupting examination classes, and that will be the case this year.

The school record books we still have from years gone by- they go right back to the 1880s- confirm that St David’s Day  was always a half day holiday in Welsh schools until relatively recently. I wonder if that is a tradition which some would welcome being revived!

Netball has seen great success this year, and a group of girls went to watch a game for a change rather than play one on Thursday evening. The venue was Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, where the Celtic Dragons faced Loughborough. Stephanie Williams who taught for a time here at RCCS was playing for the Dragons, and the game was shown on Sky Sports. Everyone enjoyed the evening.. and the Dragons won!

There has been a real feeling of Spring in the air, and people have been enjoying the warm sunshine at lunchtime.. but we have been warned winter is not yet over and it’s going to be colder next week!