Headteacher’s Blog 16/05/2022

Monday 16th May, 2022

I am writing to an early blog this week to share some news and to remind our students in Year 11 and 13 of the arrangements for revision and examinations in the coming weeks.

Head of School appointment

During this academic year I have been fulfilling the role of Secondary Strategic Lead, supporting two ATLP schools, as well as leading The Coleshill School as your Headteacher.  I will be continuing in this role from September.  In order to strengthen leadership at The Coleshill School and across the Trust, we will be appointing a Head of School to support me in my role as Headteacher.  I want to reassure our families that I will still be responsible and accountable for the school.  This new appointment will provide greater capacity in ensuring we provide the best quality of education for your child and our community.  Applications are currently open.  I look forward to working alongside whoever is successfully appointed and know that they will be welcomed by the Coleshill community.

Exams and revision

This morning the news was full of stories of students sitting public examinations for the first time in three years.  As a parent with a daughter in Year 11 and a son in Year 13 I can appreciate the nerves and stress that the exams bring.   I heard a doctor on the radio this morning who made a really good observation that ‘a little stress is good for you as it is the brain’s way of getting more energy’.  I think it’s important that we remind our children that feeling a little nervous or stressed before an exam is perfectly normal.  We have lots of staff around before the examinations to support the students and keep them calm so please encourage your child to speak to us if they are worried.

I am aware that Mr Howard has already written to students in Phase 3 with the arrangements for revision and examinations. Please be reassured that we have a clear plan in place for our students, with the collapsed timetable starting for Year 11 today, most of whom have biology revision all day and some have computer science.  We made the decision early on to do what we normally do and keep our students in school so that we can structure their revision time and give them revision sessions taught by subject specialists.   Year 13 will also continue to have lessons until their exams.

When revising at home students are reminded to visit our website and click the ‘Revision Guides’ tab on the home page. Each subject then has its own information and resources.  https://coleshill.warwickshire.sch.uk/students/year-11-gcse-help/

Your child will have been given their own personalised examination timetable, as well as a copy of the collapsed timetable of revisions sessions for Year 11.  If you want a copy of these you can access them here https://coleshill.warwickshire.sch.uk/files/2022/05/Year-11-Exam-Timetable-Summer-2022.pdf . Please spend some time going through this with your child so they are clear on when their examinations are, so they can schedule their revision accordingly.

We are incredibly proud of all our students, who have shown real resilience and determination to do their best.  We wish every student the very best of luck and look forward to celebrating them achieving their best when results are released this summer.

Ian Smith-Childs

Headteacher