Thomas Tallis SchoolKidbrooke Park RoadLondon SE3 9PX

t + 44 (0)208 856 0115f + 44 (0)208 319 4715

Executive Head Teacher: Byron Parkerheadteacher@thomastallis.org.uk

www.thomastallis.co.uk

Issue 1 October 2011

It has been an eventful and very productive first half of the term. As

you know, the school celebrated it’s best ever set of results at GCSE this year and as a result

more students than ever are pursuing Advanced Level and BTec courses. I have been very impressed with the calm and purposeful atmosphere in the school due to the combination of first rate students along with excellent teaching. Leaders and Associate staff within the school are

supporting colleagues to develop good/outstanding lessons that will result in positive outcomes. Our biggest challenge now is the move into our new and magnificent building whilst at the same time maintaining our drive towards excellence. I am hoping that you will all have an opportunity to see the new building and its facilities in the very near future.May I take this opportunity on behalf of colleagues and governors to thank you for your continued support.Byron ParkerExecutive Head Teacher

A cause for celebration!EXAM RESULTS

The school is celebrating outstanding results with

63% of students gaining

5A*-C grades including

English and maths and 79%

of students gaining at

least 5 good A*-C grades at GCSE across

all subjects in Summer 2011.

After many years of waiting the move into the new school building is now upon us. The last day for students is 19th October. We are celebrating this historic moment with final assemblies for all stu-dents – but they will be held in year groups. Students will finish at the following times:

• Y12andY131.10pm• Year7,8and92.20pm• Year10and112.50pm

ThefirstdaybackforYears10-13isThursday3rdNovember.Itisastaggered start. Students to arrive at:• Year10at9.50am.• Year11at10.20am.• Year12and13at11.10am.YEAR10-13DONOTATTENDSCHOOLONFRIDAY4NOVEMBER.

ThefirstdaybackforYears7-9isFriday4thNovemberat8.50am.Itis a staggered start. Students to arrive at:• Year7at8.50am.• Year8at9.20am.• Year9at10.20am.

Thefirstdayoffullschoolforallstudentsis7thNovemberat8.40am.

Our move to the new school

Specialist Arts CollegeLeading Edge SchoolSchool of Creativity

MovingintoournewbuildingWe move into our new building on 31st October 2011. There are staggered orientation days for students as indicated on page 1 of this newsletter. All students come to school in the new building on 7th November 2011. We have made detailed plans so that Y11 students will get sup-port and revision sessions prior to their GCSE exam on 9th November and more detail will come direct to students in Y11 and their parents/carers.

BiometricCateringSolutionAs part of the new school build we will be moving to Biometric Cashless Catering, which allows student thumb-prints to access their account and pay for meals. The thumb image is kept as a secure digital code and not as a traditional fingerprint. This makes it a very secure payment system and will also enhance library and printing services for your son/daughter. Students will have to add money to their accounts using the cash converting machines; these will accept coins and notes. The machines are located in the cafe and recep-tion. Once converted the money is linked to the students biometric where they can then access meals with just their thumb! We will be adding online payments as soon as we can. Car ParkingThe school will have a new entrance for students and a separate one for vehicles. The student entrance on Kid-brooke Park Road will be open from 8.00am and will close at 9.00am. Students in Years 7-11 arriving after this time will have to be buzzed in. This also applies to Visitors. Sixth Form students will have their own pass card to get into the site. There will also be no parking on site for parents/carers and the gates will be closed all day for vehicle access. You will need to consider this in your plans for picking up and dropping off your children in the morning and afternoon, as well as during the day should it be necessary.

OpenMorningsOnce we have settled in we plan to open on Tuesday morn-ings commencing on 15th November between 9.00 and 10.30am. We will also be open on Saturday mornings start-ing on 5th November. This will be a chance for you to visit the school and to have a look around the new facilities. We are very excited and proud of the new building, and you are welcome to visit at these times.

School UniformWe have been informed that the final order of knitwear will be in the school in the next two weeks. This means that after half term all stu-dents in Year 7-10 will be able to wear the new knitwear top, and cannot wear the old royal blue sweatshirt or hooded top. Once the order has arrived we will make it clear when and how any out-standing or any extra items can be purchased.

At the same time we have noticed a degree of variation and some lack of clarity on the part of students about what the guidelines around school uniform are. The details can be found on the school website under the Information heading , and School Uniform. However, we would like to point out the following really important points that have presented themselves in the last few weeks

Students need to wear their uniform so that it is smart •and tidy. Polo shirts should be under the knitwear if it is being worn – and should not be hanging out.

No students should be wearing outdoor jackets, caps, •hats or scarves in the building, and they should not be wearing earphones.

Students are not allowed to wear jeans, trousers with •studs, leggings, jeggings, or shorts. Certain shorts can be worn in the summer term but no shorts should be worn at the moment. PE shorts are not allowed to be worn as uniform at any time.

Girls need to wear an appro-priate length skirt and are not to wear tight mini skirts.

Boys need to wear their trou-sers so that they are around their waist and must not roll up the trouser legs.

Students in Year 7 have to wear charcoal grey trousers, and students in Years 8-10 can either wear charcoal grey or black trousers. While there are several grey trousers on sale in retail outlets, it is a dark (charcoal) grey that is uniform, and not the light or mid grey some students are wearing. Students wearing grey trousers needs to make sure they are dark/charcoal grey.

Issue 1 October 2011

HeadlinesandResults.The summer of 2011 was a landmark moment for our school. KS3 progress showed outstanding achievements in English, Maths and Science with significant improve-ments in every headline category. 2011 ENG MA SCILevel 5+ 83% 81% 85%Level 6+ 51% 53% 60%KS2 to 3: Made *1Level of Progress + 90% 89% 87%KS2 to 3: Made *2Levels of progress + 46% 54% 52%*This is a National curriculum level of progress, ie move-ment from 4B to 5B = 1 Level of progress, movement from 4B to 6C = 2 levels of progress. The expectation is for most students to make 2 levels of progress from KS2 to the end of KS3.

The combination of these results means our Year 10 stu-dents begin their KS4 courses in a stronger position than any year group before them and we are looking forward to an exciting year seeing this progress convert into excellent GCSE grades.

At Keystage 4 the 2011 results are simply the best the school has ever achieved. 80% of all Y11 students achieved an A*to C grade in English and 66% of students achieved this level in Maths. 63% of our students achieved the threshold marker of 5 A* to C grades including English and Maths, a significant improvement on the 50% achieved in 2010. The improvements were seen at all levels with 79% of year 11 achieving 5 A* to C grades, 95% achieving 1 A* to G grade and 100% of our BTEC students being successful in attaining grades C or better. 2008 2009 2010 20115A*-C inc E&M 45% 37% 50% 63%5A*-C 54% 55% 73% 79%A*-C in English 43% 58% 80%A*-C in Maths 51% 63% 66%

This high level attainment is also reflected in the out-comes of our post 16 students where 36% of all grades achieved were either A or A*and 75% or all entries received a Grade C or better. 98% of all our A’ Level and BTEC Lev-el 3 results were grade A*-E. A huge number of our Year 13 leavers accepted their first choice or insurance university places and the remainder were successful in clearing. We proudly send our youngsters off to enjoy further studies at Balliol College Oxford, Warwick, Imperial, Kings, York and Brunel to name but a few. To see further information about our sixth form achievements take a look at the brand new Post 16 website by visiting www.tal-lispost16.com.

VisionUpdateThe Vision Action Research Group has now consulted with parents, staff, students and governors to find out what they would like to be included in a new Vision for Thomas Tallis School. The group has distilled the key findings into a single document and before devising the Vision would like to hear your views. Please follow the link on the school website to leave your comments.Student AmbassadorsAs you will probably be aware, we are just coming to the end of our student governor elections. We are now expanding our student leadership structure to include student ambassadors. These will be students from Y10 and Y12. The students this year have been selected partly by their tutors, partly through a voluntary process. We hope to build on this next year with an application and student/staff selection process. The first role of the ambassadors will be to help facilitate movement of the school community around our amazing new and rather large school site. While we are tremendous-ly excited about our new facilities, we are also aware that it may be a daunting experience especially for our younger students. We will publish the names and photographs of our ambassadors on the website over half-term, and as you begin to visit the school you will recognise these young people who will proudly greet you and help you in any way they can. They will then begin to undertake a much broad-er role which will include supporting students at break and lunch, represent the student body at crucial meetings including staff meetings and help support private study time for our post 16 students. We look forward to hearing from the ambassadors themselves about how they would like to expand their role. More information to follow in the next newsletter.

Student Governor ElectionsWe have recently run a highly successful election, with a full campaign, hustings, assemblies and poster campaigns to elect our next student governors to replace Joshua Unachukwu and Chante Roach after their term of one year. This included students having the chance to vote in proper voting booths and to enter their vote in ballot boxes. After much hard work and hours of counting the winning can-didates were announced. They are Mahizabin Ahmed and Joe Powley. We’d like to thank Joshua and Chante for all their hard work this year, and wish Mahizabin and Joe the best of luck as they embark on their period of office. A big thank you goes to all those students who applied, to Joe Linkens and Bea Dyer who also ran in the elections and to Ms Mathew and Ms West who ran the whole event. Well done to all involved.

October 2011 Issue 1

HomeworkThe school has been making a considerable effort to make sure the message is sent out about how important homework is, that it is important that it is clearly set and checked by staff, and that students are expected to do it. This is why clear homework timetables have been set for Key Stage 3, and are available on the website, along with the school’s homework policy and guidelines. In Key Stage 4 there is a clear expectation that students agree their homework with the teachers and should record this in their planners. There are many aspects to homework, not least having the chance to practice and get better at learning that takes place in school but also at other times to extend and go beyond this. It is vital that we all expect young people – our students, your children – to com-plete homework and to set up a clear routine for doing it. Students who regularly do not do their homework will be given detentions and possibly even go on report. Your support in this is crucial, not least because not doing homework can act as a serious barrier to young people progressing and doing their very best.

ASDANThomas Tallis has been running ASDAN courses for over ten years and we have maintained 100% pass rate for the past ten years. We have been recognised by ASDAN as an outstanding centre.We currently provide various ASDAN short courses for targeted students in all year groups. Some of the short courses we have run are the activities award with peer tutoring, experience of work award, sports and fitness award, and bronze and silver awards. The aims of the ASDAN qualification are to help students develop and demonstrate a range of skills and provide a way in which students can gain credits for what they have learnt from a wide range of activities. Within the AS-DAN lessons we encourage students to recognise their personal achievements and manage their own learn-ing by broadening their experiences through a range of challenges. For example all Cope (certificate of personal effectiveness) and wider key skills students take part in first aid training to gain the St John first aid certificate. Some of our students will take part in practical lessons on the school allotment with in Urban Farming and may well contribute to a medal winning garden at the prestigious Chelsea flower show as one group did earlier this year.ASDAN courses can help develop your employability skills and personal effectiveness. All students should de-velop and provide evidence of working with others both in a team and one to one, improving own learning and problem solving. This portfolio is externally moderated and is the equivalent of GCSE grades depending on the level the student is working at. We have a very successful programme aimed at the gifted and talented students who by the time they com-plete the course in year 9 have gained the equivalent of 3 GCSE B grades. Most of this work is set as individual assignments that the students complete as homework.We will be extending the ASDAN programmes over the next few years to whole year groups completing the Wider key skills in well being lessons and the BTEC sports students will be using ASDAN within their coursework curriculum.

Behaviour,Sanctions&RewardsAlso, in preparation for our move into the new school, we are reviewing and amending our behaviour, sanc-tions and rewards policy. This will allow us to refresh our expectations for our students and ensure that we have a consistent approach to rewarding students and where necessary, providing sanctions for unacceptable behav-iours. We are undergoing this review with a cross section of the school community including students, staff & parents/carers. If you are interested in being involved in this, please contact Trish Dooley – pdooley@thomastallis.org.uk

Parent/Carer ConsultationDuring the course of the year, we organise various evenings where we invite particular groups of parents into the school. These consultation forums are another opportunity for you to influence policy and practice of the school. The remaining two this term are – Y11 maths GCSE Information evening – invited parents – Tuesday 18th OctoberY7-11 Gifted and Talented – invited parents – Thursday 24th NovemberWe are also organising an open morning for all parents to visit the new school site –more information to follow.

Some more images of the new school...

Issue 1 October 2011

The next issue of our newsletter will be published in December 2011