Theale Green Community School Newsletter

Staff are particularly pleased that our policy of retaining a very broad range of subjects at GCSE and A level has borne fruit and that we have achieved a steady improvement in results at a time when many schools have restricted their curriculum in order to focus on improved grades in core subjects. Indeed it is now the case that we achieve the highest average points total at GCSE of any school in West Berkshire. GCSE points totals come from awarding a number of points to each grade achieved in each subject by each student. It is becoming recognised as a much better indication of a school’s success than the league table figure of the number of students achieving five plus A*-C grades. Our students take more subjects on average and achieve higher grades on average than other schools and consequently we achieve a higher points total for each student.

We are sure parents agree that this gives all our students an advantage when it comes to preparing for academic or vocational A levels because they have experienced a broad and balanced curriculum up to sixteen and all options for A levels are kept open.

The exam season will soon be upon us. Anybody visiting schools these days during the summer term would think the country has gone examination mad. There are now national examinations available for every year group, although at Theale we prefer to give our year 7, 8 and 10 students school based exams. Nevertheless the Hall and Gymnasium are pretty much out of commission for two months this term because they are filled with examination desks. This testing regime makes it all the more important that students prepare well and revise what they have learnt. Every teacher knows that revision of work is essential if students are to retain knowledge in the longer term. So we tell the students that the lead up to examinations is the most important part of the process. Parents can help by encouraging their children to plan revision time and prepare seriously for the examination. We have sent out guidance about this in previous newsletters. Any parent who wants another copy of the information about helping with homework and revision can contact the school front office and we will send you the booklet. Easier still, the school website contains all this information and much more, including advice to students on revision.

Our recent survey of “families online” shows that the number of families with computers connected to the Internet has risen from 54% to 78% over the last twelve months. This increase means that the school website is becoming an even more important learning tool. We want to extend connectivity between families and school and parents who wish to give us the home email address are being added to a mailing list, which will allow us to contact them regularly and instantly with news and information. The time is not far away when email contact will be able to replace newsletters such as this.