Page 11 - Bellfort Issue 3 2014

Prize Giving Oct 2013 Principal’s Address deed. curricular work, their diligence GCSE Business Studies and Mark rd and exemplary duty of care and Crawford, 3 place for GCSE En- This year our teachers continue their sense of shared leadership. gineering. to engage in that development work: In careers, recognising the My sincere appreciation also to This year saw the highest num- pace of technological change the team of 19 LSAs, and the ber of entrants for A Level in the and seeking to better prepare excellent Administrative staff school’s history achieving A our students; in the classroom, (led by Mrs Smith), Technicians, Level success. 100% of pupils focusing on bringing back joy in Ancillary staff (led by Mr Butler), achieved a minimum of two learning when teachers and chil- Canteen staff (led by Mrs Kerr), passing grades with almost 70% dren are in danger of being op- all of whom contribute in their achieving 3 A Level grades. Al- pressed by the constant drive for unique ways to making our most 90% of all grades were in results; and looking afresh at the school run smoothly. The work the A – D range while just under barriers to learning so that ob- of our exemplary School Nurses, three quarters of all grades stacles can be avoided or hur- Librarian, Sixth Form Mentor & dled. Contrary to Govian theory, our External & Counselling Ser- we do not advocate locking chil- vices complete the home-school dren into endless repetition of link and our pastoral care. the basics so that only the gifted move on to more analytical We said farewell & thank you to SUMMER 2014 thinking. Rather, we aim to give Miss Rachel Graham at the close all children the opportunity to be of the school year and welcomed analytical, evaluative, and to new members of staff who are think at higher levels, while, yes, each making a fresh contribution commensurate with their need, in their respective areas. We ex- they might have to flip back at tend congratulations and best regular intervals to the basics of wishes to those who were mar- achieved were in the A – C range. knowledge for refreshment. Not ried this year, Mrs Poole, Mrs 21% of grades were A*/A. The interested in simply giving more Sloane and Mr & Mrs McKillop, achievement for the group of the same, we are focused on and to Mrs Cupples, Mrs McCam- represents continued steady seeking new approaches, recog- bridge-Herbison and Mr McNeilly improvement. We wish our A nising that Education at its best on the birth of their sons. Level students every success as has a responsibility to prepare they embark on the world of young people to deal with prob- Turning to Results - the college is work, University or Further Edu- lems that have not yet arisen. encouraged to report that the cation courses. One of our big secrets is staff number of pupils achieving be- who each deliver and care. It is tween 5 and 10 GCSEs grades in The Literacy & Numeracy Strate- in this exciting context that we the A* - C range has risen to 66% gies have each played a central congratulate our pupils on Prize with almost one third of all role in our provision this year Day – and you will see that for grades achieved in the A*/B being gateways to future some, their achievement took range. Almost half of all pupils courses and employment. 140 great tenacity. We wish them all achieved 7 or more A – C grades, pupils benefited from Literacy well for the future. including English and Maths. Support. The Accelerated Reader programme continued to flour- This cohort of pupils has bene- Special thanks to Mr Oliver for fited from strategies devised to ish as did a range of other initia- his dynamic leadership as my raise standards since Junior tives in English and Media to im- Vice Principal, to the Senior school. The top achiever was prove communication. Over 100 Leadership Team, Mrs Alexan- Samuel Wilson with 7 A* grades, pupils received Numeracy Sup- der, Mr McNeilly and Mr an A and a B, followed by Mark port in small groups to ensure McClintock, who consistently go Crawford with an A*, 4 A and 5 B they reached their target level. the extra mile for the good of grades and Thomas Bell with 2 Every class in Years 8 – 10 partici- school, to all the teaching staff A*, 3 A 3 B and a C grade. We pated in the ‘World Maths Day’ for the excellence in the class- were absolutely delighted that when pupils competed online in st room, the hours they give in af- Samuel Wilson was placed 1 in mental maths battles against ter-school classes and extra- Northern Ireland by CCEA for pupils from all over the world. 11