Friday 30 January 2015

Head Master's Weekly Notes - 30th January 2015

The School Performance Tables were published yesterday by the DfE and the results were very pleasing indeed. According to the tables we are the best performing state school in Somerset and Dorset and our results rival many of our competitor schools in the county (and country). I am very proud to be leading such an outstanding school, but there is still plenty of work to do. Although the league tables give us an indication of school standards, I feel that they do not paint the whole picture about a school, particularly a special one like ours. Don’t get me wrong, we certainly care about these results, and celebrate the success of our students, but not exclusively. I believe education is about more than just grades; the published data doesn’t tell us about the character and quality of our school. Nor do they give a true reflection of the ethos, values and culture of our school – from the wide range of extra-curricular activities on offer (art, music, drama and sport to name but a few) to growing up in a caring and safe community. Personally, we need to be careful when looking at league tables in judging whether a school is successful or not when in reality a whole range of factors need to be considered before a judgement can be made. We will continue to strive to get the best out of our pupils both in and out of the academic arena, but at the same time understand what is important about education and the intrinsic values that make up a successful community. During assembly this week, we talked about the values which define us and underpin everything we do at Sexey’s -Tolerance, Respect and Kindness - and we reminded the students to ‘Stay on TRaK’ in all that they do. It is all about values and the reflective courage to live them; it is what you do and how you act and react which ultimately defines us. The liberation of Auschwitz which commemorated its 70th anniversary this week teaches us that these values are core if we want the world to be a safer place for our children and their children, and education is the enemy of ignorance and bigotry. And bigotry is the enemy of humanity and the only way we are going to survive as a human race and learn to be tolerant and respect one another is through education.

And so the weekend beckons and with the weather being as settled as it can be for this time of the year, we look forward to more boarding interviews tomorrow morning, welcoming Catholic University School from Dublin who will be playing our U15s tomorrow morning (KO 10.00am), the block football fixture (home and away) vs Milton Abbey School tomorrow afternoon (KO 2.00pm); the Somerset Cross Country Championships and rehearsals for ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’ the latter of which takes place all weekend. There is certainly plenty going on here at Sexey’s as well as plenty of prep and assignments to complete, Governors reports to write and of course, Y11 reports. Thank goodness for small mercies.

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