A slightly belated happy new year to all of you!
2018 is already seeing a number of changes here at school, several of which have been instigated following the Big Conversation consultation we had with parents, students and staff last term. Can I thank all who took part in this and shared their views with us on what they feel the school already does well and what we can improve on in the future. It is armed with the information you have provided that we have been able to start making changes for the better.
Our most visual change is to our school logo. Although it is still very much the traditional St. Ninian's ship, it has been tweaked slightly to show forward momentum and better reflect the school's new ethos and values. We have distilled our school ethos down to three core values which will run through everything we do here at school: Respect, Aspiration, Empowerment. These values are not new, they have always been important, but by having them so prominent in our school I hope they will now underpin everything we do and lead to greater clarity as to how our organisation and individuals within it can make a success of their time here with us.
Our new website has also been designed to help us communicate more effectively with all of those who I include as being part of our wider school community. You will hopefully notice that our 'Contact page' has a Suggestions Box facility and I would encourage all of you to continue to engage with us to help make our school even better by posting any suggestions you may have on any aspect of our school. I am always listening and am always interested in new ideas and how we can continue to improve the educational experience our students receive here.
This is very much just a start however, and I will hope to be able to share other developments with you over the coming months.
Although we have only been back for two weeks, January has already been a very busy month. Our Year 11 students have already sat their EDEXCEL IGCSE Maths papers and some have also sat Health and Social papers too. We have also been very encouraged by the positive GCSE results we have received from the early entries taken in November in English, Maths and Science by some of our Year 11 students. The high turn out of parents at our recent Year 11 parents evening is also very encouraging and, although there is much hard work still ahead, our Year 11 students are in a great position to kick on and achieve their forecast grades later this summer.
This is also a very busy time for school trips with the senior rugby team about to travel to Cheshire to train with the Sale Sharks and play some local teams; our ski trip about to depart for France and some of our A level Mathematics students attending a conference in London. Back here at school we have a number of drop down days organised for different year groups focusing on contrasting issue.
All in all I think we have started 2018 with a bang and a really positive one at that!
— Chris Coole, Headteacher