Have our annual

Newsletter No 9 — March 2017

Dear Parents,

We are now roll ing out our new assessment system based on GCSE grades. In all

RET schools each student is now assessed every half -term on a 1 to 9 scale in

every subject. It is very st raightforward. I have attached a short explanation of how

this works and encourage you to get in touch via the usual channels if you have

any queries.

We discussed the new assessment system with several Year 8 parents this week

and the response was very posit ive. This is a very clear way of measuring progress

and attainment and sett ing targets. It answers the most important questions for

parents, students and teachers: what grades are students achieving and are they

making suff icient progress? It also helps students to understand how they will be

assessed in future GCSE examinations. Please do read the more detailed

explanation below.

Further congratulat ions to our Y8 boys’ football team and to Mr Philippou. This

week in their semi-f inal they defeated the London Academy by 7 goals to 1. This

means they have now reached the Barnet Cup Final which wil l be played later this

term. The boys produced a real team performance and kept their energy and

enthusiasm going thorough-out both halves. We wil l give parents further details

about the f inal in due course.

I am very pleased to announce that we have recently appointed two excellent new

members of staff who will be joining us after the Easter break: Ms Eaves joins us

as Head of DT and Mr Charalambous is joining the science department and will

also be the Year Leader for our new students who will be start ing in September.

Best wishes, Rob Ahearn Headteacher

St Andrew the Apostle

Greek Orthodox School

Creative Writing Workshop

As part of World Book Day, we were very

fortunate to have Lewis Buxton, who

joined us on Monday 27th February and

delivered a fantast ic creative writing

session to a group of students from Years

8 and 9. Lewis is a writer, workshop

leader and events producer. He read

English Literature at the University of

East Anglia and now works in education

teaching creative writing and reading. He

has worked extensively with First Story,

Writers Centre Norwich and assists in

programming Apples & Snakes monthly

open mic night in London. He has had

poems published in Ambit Magazine,

Elbow Room and Paper Swans Press and

is currently working on his f irst pamphlet

of poems.

Students were introduced to a range of

writing styles during the workshop and

given the opportunity to experiment with

their own writing. The aim was to

encourage students’ creativity, l iteracy

and their confidence. Working with

professional writers who understand the

skil ls and emotions involved in writ ing

has a signif icant impact on the students.

The attention each individual student

gets from their writer is a really

transformative experience— it shows

them that their words are important and

teaches them how to craft their thoughts

into stories or poems.

What was also very pleasing about this

particular workshop was that it enthused

students into wanting something more

regular of this nature. With that in mind,

the English department are in the process

of putting together a creative writing

club which will run as an after school club

this half term.

Finally, Lewis Buxton added: “To see their

work written down, professionally

typeset and published gives students a

sense of validation, a physical piece of

evidence showing all their hard work”.

We were very grateful to have Lewis work

with us and the students very much

enjoyed having his expertise as a

professional writer. We look forward to

having him join us here at St Andrew’s

again in the future.

World Book Day 2017

Continuing with the theme of World Book

Day, students in Year 7 had lots of fun

dressing up as their favourite book

characters to mark the occasion on

Thursday 2nd March. Prizes were also

awarded for the most original and

inspiring costumes. In addition, students

participated in assemblies throughout

the week where the signif icance of World

Book day was explained and also had the

opportunity to f ind out about some of the

favourite reads of their own subject

teachers.

Students were

given a £1

voucher towards

purchasing a book

of their own

choice from all

participat ing

bookshops.

News from the Maths Department

Year 10 students were given an opportunity to comple te the f irst RET Mathematics Winter

Challenge in term 2, set by our maths adviser Mrs Teresa Robinson. Irakl is Armakolas in

Year 10 was awarded a si lver certif icate and Tanya Jamil , also in Year 10, a bronze. Mrs

Robinson was impressed with the depth of ef fort and the understanding of high level

mathematical concepts demonstrated by students in RET schools.

The mathematics department woul d l ike to congratulate Vasil iy -Alexander Milkov, Fotis

Dimitriou for receiving bronze awards in the UKMT (United Kingdom Maths Chal lenge)

individual maths competition whereby Kazushi Ogasawara was awarded the Gold award .

He is the f irst student at St Andrew’s to achieve this level.

Congratulations to all students for participating. We are proud of their efforts and

achievements.

On Friday four of our Y9 and Y8 students will represent the school in the UKMT team

competition held at Haberdasher’s Boys School accompanied by Miss Abraham. We will

let you know in our next newsletter how they g ot on.

The English

Team on World

Book Day

Year 8 Visit to Hatfield House

Year 8 were treated to an audience with King Henry

VII I during a visit to Hatfield House at the beginning

of last week. Year 8 students have been studying

the Tudor period in History recently and this trip

was organised to complement and enhanc e their

understanding of Tudor Britain.

Students were met in their class groups and taken by

their guide to the Old Palace Green where they were shown the

outside of the Tudor building. This was an opportunity to talk about the differences

in the l ives of r ich and poor people in Tudor times. Students were taught about daily l ife

in Tudor society, including education, food and drink of the period. They then moved to

the West Garden.

The guide talked about l ife at Court and the comforts of r ich Tudors and the stone tableau

of the Elizabethan Court, which includes the Queen and Raleigh and is used to discuss

costume, trade and travel. The Tudor Knot Garden and an ancient mulberry tree in this

area lead to the discovery of the history of the garden. This was an important part of the

day, as it prepared the students to look and l isten carefully to the presentations which

followed. The action moved to the Upper and Lower Solar rooms in the Old Palace where

the date was taken back to 1537. There they met Princess El izabeth's nurse and a court

musician in period costume. These characters prepared the students for an audience with

King Henry VII I.

King Henry VII I talked to the students about

his previous marriages, his hopes for the

future and the religious situation at the

time. Finally, they met Nicholas, the Tudor

armourer, to learn about a soldier's dai ly l ife

and the skil ls of the f ighting men of the age.

At the end of the formal programme there

was also free time to explore the Park; a

leisurely walk up to the Queen Elizabeth Oak

Field where Elizabeth I received the news of

her accession to the English throne.

New Assessment System using Grades 1-9

Our new assessment system uses 1 -9 grades across all years. 9 is the highest grade.

It answers two key questions:

What is my chi ld’s current attainment? Are they making progress?

Every subject has a separate target. The targets are calculated from their scaled scores at

the end of Year 6 (out of 120 in English and Maths). We then adjust them in foundation

subjects to take into account different aptitudes. This provides a f l ight path. We can track

progress against this across the years. We expect students to make two subgrades of

progress per year. This is very similar to our previous model of assessment.

KS2 Scaled Score

<93

93

95

98

100

103

105

108

110

113

115

116+

Target Bronze Silver Gold 1- 1 1+ 2- 2 2+ 3- 3 3+

The table on the left shows how targets increase year on

year to take into account our expectations of progress at

St Andrew the Apost le School.

As you can see, it involves adding two sub -grades each

year. If a student consistently exceeds their targets

then we will careful ly review whether this target is

appropriate and moderate it upwards.

The current GCSE targets are set using old levels because students didn’t have scaled scores; they used the old national curriculum levels.

Key Points

It ’s very simple and effective. We know that the interim measures we have used in

Engl ish have been dif f icult for parents to decipher. This solves these issues. A student

has a target based on what they achieved in primary school and they are measured

against this .

It is transparent for students, teachers, staff and parents.

It l inks to the new GCSE criteria and specif ications and reflects the deman ds of the new

curr iculum.

Students achiev ing a grade 3 in Year 7 are doing very wel l in terms of attainment. A

grade 4 is roughly equivalent to a C at GCSE. Beyond that it ’s about progress. Are they

on track?

The outcome of the GCSE exams this summer wil l lead to some minor changes as we

become aware of precisely what a grade 4 or 5 means in year 11. Any changes we make

wil l be around our understanding of what the grades mean: the system wil l stay exact ly

the same.

Y7 Y8 Y9

Target Target Target

4- 4+ 5

3+ 4 5-

3 4- 4+

3- 3+ 4

2+ 3 4-

2 3- 3+

2- 2+ 3

1+ 2 3-

1 2- 2+

1- 1+ 2

G/S/B 1 2-

Making sure your child is safe when Using Social Media

Explore sites and Apps together

Talk about what might be OK for children of different ages. Ask your child what sites or apps they like. Write a list and look at them together.

Be positive about what you see, but also be open about concerns you have: "I think this site's really good" or "I'm a little worried about things I've seen here".

Talk to your child about what you think is appropriate – but also involve them in the conversation. Ask what they think is OK for children of different ages – they'll feel involved in the decision-making.

Be aware that your child might talk about friends who use apps or visit sites that you've decided aren't suitable. Be ready to discuss your reasons, but recognise that they may not agree with you. Listen carefully for the reasons why.

Go through a final list of sites you both agree are OK and work out when you'll next discuss it.

How safe are the sites, apps and games your child uses?

Net Aware keeps you up-to-date, with simple advice on what's new in social networking.

We review privacy settings, suitable ages and appropriate content for over 50 sites.

Apps such as Screentime and OurPact allow you to control the times that your child uses their phone, tablet or ipad.

OurPact

Please do have a look at the NSPCC site which gives parents a lot of very useful

advice:

https://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing -abuse/keeping-children-safe/online-

safety/talking-your-child-staying-safe-online/

Future Dates for the Diary 2017

13th Mar

29th Mar

30th Mar

30th Mar

31st Mar

1st April – 9th April

18th April

New Assessment System Presentation 6.30 – 7.30pm for parents Y7-Y10

Y10 Globe Trip (Set 2&3)

Y10 Globe Trip (Set 1&4)

Awards Assemblies

End of term

St Andrew’s Ski Trip to Italy

Start of Summer Term for students and staff