Dear Parents & Carers
Education in this country can be perplexing. Let’s take an example. Last year’s Year 11s – when measured nationally in their KS2 and GCSE results – were more able than the previous year group. Faced with this, rather than allowing more children to pass the exam, the government instead choose to inflate the grade boundaries and ensure the same proportion of children pass the exam. In other words, it was harder to pass the exam last year than it was the year before. This is nothing new in the English system, as education wafts in the wind of whatever political change is taking place. I have written to our Year 11 students today with my advice on insulating themselves from the vagaries of the system and how to get the grades they want.
In our Myton world, we can choose to look at our own success criteria for education and take a broader view than just exam grades. We do well with our grades, but we want to do more to give children a wider and richer experience whilst they are here. With that in mind, we have a few new initiatives this year that I wanted to share with you. The ’50 Things’ challenge is designed, following consultation with parents and children, to unlock a wide set of experiences – including school trips and clubs – for our students. We are also conducting a curriculum review to look at those aspects of school life which, although they don’t lead to a grade, they do develop character, such as PSHE, careers and social education. We have some highly motivated sixth formers who wish to start a project to ensure our school is at least carbon neutral, something which will combine challenging maths and science. And finally, there are plans to further develop our LGBT+ group – HERO – to make it even bigger and better.
We will no doubt end up with whichever government comes through the current mess who will then go on to implement their own ideas for education. In the meantime, we will continue with these plans, and others, in order to ensure that our students have a real feeling of success.
With best wishes
Mr Perry – Head Teacher
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