Message from the Head

Tuesday 6^th September 2011

Dear Parents, Pupils & Friends,

Welcome back and a happy new start to the academic year! The search for summer sun has not been an easy one, but I am pleased to see, at last, warm rays of sunshine radiating over our magnificent school grounds.

I extend a special welcome to all new boys, girls and parents joining the School.  Also, to Gareth Holloway, our new Site & Facilities Manager and to a familiar face to many of you, Kathy Phillips, who becomes Lab Technician, following the departure of Rhodri Thomas.

We also welcome Dr Thomas Brown to teach physics temporarily, while Eric Skelton continues to recover. Dr Brown not only has a PhD, but he is also an international chess player for Wales and chess coach! We are indeed very fortunate to have recruited such talent.

The last two weeks of August brought remarkable success to St Clare’s in terms of exam results. I was thrilled for our pupils, who deserved this recognition for all their hard work and efforts and delighted too for our teachers who work tirelessly to guide and prepare their pupils for these challenges. This year, in fact, St Clare’s is the top performing school in the Cognita group.

At A level a 100% pass rate was recorded, with a very impressive 91% A-C grades – a significant improvement on last year’s performance of 80%.There were some exceptional individual performances, amongst these Sophie Crole (3 grades at A* and an A at AS level) and Mirali Patel ( 1 A* & 2 A grades and an A at AS level).  Similarly at GCSE level very high standards were achieved, with all pupils gaining at least 5 A*-C grades. 97% of grades were A*-C – up on last year’s figure of 93% and 51% of grades were A*/A – again an increase on last year.

All our pupils can be justifiably proud of their achievements; indeed they now have a very firm platform from which to spring. Well done everyone and many congratulations!

Parents will recall the parental survey conducted towards the end of last term to enable us to hear your views and help us with planning for the future. Thank you all for undertaking this task and I am pleased to be able to share the main findings with you .

On the whole, respondents are very happy with St Clare’s, agreeing they would strongly recommend the School to others. Particularly positive features are the School’s admissions process and its leadership and management. Other positive areas include the quality of provision and academic standards, the school environment and the School generally. Since the last parental survey in 2009, scores are higher, indicating there has been an improvement in parents’ perceptions, especially of the school environment, leadership and management and the School generally.

Although there has been improvement and progress since the last survey, there are certain areas which require further work. These are namely: the quality of extra-curricular activities; homework, marking and communication at the School. By far the largest number said that the facilities needed improving.

Your views are of enormous value in our development planning. During the course of the year we shall continue to build on our strengths and also focus on the areas for further improvement – an ongoing process. The education of our pupils is at the core of everything we do and any improvement which helps them achieve their best is the primary aim.

To help improve communication of pupil progress in Yrs 7-11 to parents and to provide a more systematic and robust assessment procedure, I plan to introduce a regular grade card system. To recognise pupil achievement or significant improvement, whether academic or elsewhere, details will be recorded by the School on a commendation card and sent directly home to parents. Also, to help educate our pupils in the safer use of the internet and to help parents, we shall put in place a Pupil-Parent-School Partnership for Internet Safety Policy, to work alongside our mobile phone policy. Details of these initiatives will be communicated in due course.

The summer holiday has been a busy one at the School, with a number of projects undertaken. In brief:

-  In the Senior School a new girls’ changing room, with proper showers and washing facilities has been created. This is a huge improvement and will significantly enhance girls’ PE.
-  This releases the old girls’ changing room, allowing for development of the music department. The plan is to move music from the top of the building, freeing up space for the creation of a dedicated library and study area.
-  1 interactive whiteboard and 3 fixed projectors have been installed in senior classrooms.
-  2 new fixed projectors have been installed in Prep classrooms.
-  A new pathway has been created next to the main driveway, improving access and safety for pedestrians.
-  The 6^th form corridor area has been redecorated.
-  The erection of major fencing will commence soon at the back of the senior hall and next to the playing fields to improve security and to enhance the appearance of the grounds.

We await eagerly the building of the new dining hall facility, with the addition of a Food Technology department. This will free up space to create a dedicated centre for the Art department. The plan is to get this underway during the course of the term. It would probably be the best Christmas present the School has ever had!

We look forward to a busy and purposeful term ahead. I ask all pupils in the School to set themselves the highest of standards in all they do – academic work, activities, dress and behaviour, both in and out of school. We have a lot to be proud of at St Clare’s!

John Aguilar
Headmaster