AVON VALLEY SCHOOL
MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER
Fortnightly News
3rd February 2018
Dear Parents and Carers,
At the start of February, as the days start to lengthen, I am pleased to be setting off for school in
the daylight once again, and this, along with the signs of spring in the garden, adds to the feeling of
moving forward in the year. As one of my Deputies pointed out in a staff training session on
Wednesday, there are now just 36 days of classroom teaching left before the Year 11 students
start their written GCSE papers in the week beginning 14th May – a fact that certainly sharpened
the staff’s minds on the task ahead!
Almost every Year 11 student is now involved in intervention groups after school, and staff are
really working hard to make sure the students get the best possible preparation for their exams. I
spend a lot of time checking in on Year 11 and it is really pleasing to see how well they are
responding to the pressure of looming exams and also to see how expert the staff are when it
comes to coaching the students for the best approaches for the exam. I am confident that this
year’s results will see the students gaining high grades on the new 1-9 GCSE exams.
Yesterday was a big day for 40 of our brightest mathematicians from Years 9-11 as they sat in
silence in the hall taking part in the National Intermediate Maths Challenge. I look forward to
reporting back with information on our highest achievers when the results come back to school.
The last week of this half term starts with a Splash day on
February 12th and I know that students have much to look
forward to with outside presenters working with Years 9 and 10,
and Year 8 busy on an environment themed project day. It is
always a real pleasure to see students having the opportunity to
develop skills outside those needed in the traditional classroom
setting and so important that students leave with work place
skills and self confidence - along with a great set of exam
results!
I’ll finish with a final reminder about the importance of wearing
the correct uniform for school and the need to ensure that all
students have a tie of their own on Monday morning as we no
longer have a loan system in place.
Thank-you as always for your ongoing support.
Alison Davies
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