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Oxclose Herald Issue 11

12 pages

Published by sinead.olney

E-Mail: oxclose.
school@schools.
sunderland.
gov.
uk www.
oxcloseschool.
net
Nov 2007
Mr M W Foster BA HeadteacherCIRCULATION: 19,000
Oxclose Community School
A Specialist Performing and Visual Arts College
Issue No.
11
TOPMARKS! A‘KNIGHT’INASHINING
NEW SCHOOLmore info on Jim Knight, MP, see pg 6
I am delighted to have
been asked by the school
governors to become Acting
Headteacher of Oxclose
Community School for
the period of Mr Foster’s
secondment to the local
authority.
I have worked at
Oxclose since 1990 and it has
been a source of some pride
to see the school progress
and develop year on year to
become the fantastic and
high achieving school that it
is today.
Our exam results in
2007 were among the best
we have ever achieved and
we continue to rank highly
within the City of Sunderland
overall.

For me personally,
stepping up to the role of
Acting Headteacher is a
challenge but also very
exciting.
I am looking
forward to continuing the
improvement of the school
and working with our parents
and partners within our
local community.
We have
an excellent, dedicated and
hardworking staff of teachers
and support staff who have
coped admirably with the
enormous upheaval our
two and a half year building
programme has entailed.
All
(at least most of it!) is now
complete and we are looking
forward to making the
very best use of our brand
new building and superb
facilities.

The children in the school
now and in future years have
the opportunities to enjoy
an education in a school of
the 21st century.
We know
they appreciate all that has
been done for them and we
are now all focussed on the
year(s) ahead.
There is so
much for our children to
look forward to, in sport, the
performing arts, information
technology and every other
area of the school.
I know
they are as excited as we are
and I am looking forward to
another very successful year
for us all.

Happy to be
Acting Head
BY ANY MEASURE, OXCLOSE COMMUNITY SCHOOL ACHIEVES OUTSTANDING GCSE RESULTS AGAIN THIS YEAR
66% five or more A* - C grades | 95% five or more A* - G grades | 98% one or more A* - G grades
Mr M Foster
This is an outstanding result
for Oxclose School, placing
Oxclose in the top 25% of all
schools nationally this year.

When you consider these
students have been through a
two year building programme
which has actually rebuilt the
school around them, this is
nothing short of remarkable.

This is an amazing
achievement for the students
and staff of the school.
We
had predicted very good
results this year and I am
particularly proud of the
students and staff who have
worked so hard to make sure
that the building work did not
interfere with our attainment.

This achievement supports
the way we work with students
at Oxclose, where everyone
is seen as an individual and
we work to make sure that
our Key Stage 4 curriculum
maximises the individual
talents of our students.

We are delighted that the
life chances of so many of
our students have been
enhanced by their time with
us.
66% of our students now
have the chance to follow
further education courses at
an advanced level and all of
our students can progress
into the Usworth Sixth Form.

It is worth noting that 25% of
our students achieved three
or more A or A* passes.
This is
well above local and national
averages showing that we
encourage our students to
aim for excellence.

You may have seen in the
news that one of the problems
nationally this year was the
number of students leaving
school with no qualifications.

This was not the case at
Oxclose where 98% of our
students achieved GCSE
exam success and the great
majority, 95%, passed five
or more GCSEs.
This again
shows that we cater for the
needs of all of our students
whatever their ability level.

There are so many individual
successes that this list could
go on forever.
It is important
to consider that GCSE results
only measure where a student
has got to, rather than how
far he or she has come.
Some
of our students have made
incredible journeys to achieve
the results they have and I
am very proud of every single
one of them.

Remember, exam success
is only one indicator of a
school’s success.
We want
students who can cope
with the complexities and
insecurities of the 21st
century with confidence.

We want our students to
be good communicators;
people who are creative, well
motivated and independent.

They will need to be able
to present themselves and
their work effectively, plan
their time, work as part of a
team, solve problems and
be flexible.
There are no
GCSEs in these subjects but
we have been working very
hard as a school to ensure
our students leave with these
skills which will help them to
become effective students,
employees, employers and
citizens.

You will hear people criticise
young people regularly, and
it is true that all sections of
society, young and old, could
improve in a variety of ways to
make our society a better one
to live in, but I have a great
faith in our young people.
It
is up to them to make their
world a better place.
Adults
have shaped the present and
your children, our students,
will shape the future.
On the
evidence I have seen this year,
I have great confidence that
our, communities, our town
and our country will become
a better place.
I firmly believe
that the future is safe in the
hands of young people such
as these.

Good luck to all of our
students.
Be proud of your
achievements; aim high, think
big, and treat people well.

Mr A Cunningham
[Less]