Haxby Road New Earswick
York
YO32 4BZ
Tel: 01904 552100
E-mail:
Website: www.josephrowntree.co.uk
11 September 2017
Dear Parents/Carers
Welcome back after the summer break. I hope that you had a fantastic time with family and friends.
We start the new academic year having achieved the best ever set of GCSE results in terms of progress measures for our students. Students achieved very highly in the new more rigorous English and Maths GCSEs and it is worth noting that one student achieved 3 Grade 9s, only one of 2,000 in the country to do so. We also achieved a positive Progress 8 score, this is a new measure that has been introduced which looks at progress made by students from their starting points at the end of KS2 to the end of KS4 across all of their subjects. To achieve a positive score is a real reflection of the hard work of students, staff and parents to achieve these outcomes for our learners. We were also delighted with the large number of students gaining A and A* grades, with over 20% of all grades being 8/9/A/A*. This success is also reflected in a very successful set of results at AS and A level, where again, as well as many notable stories of individual success, our progress measures place us as a very high performing Sixth Form in the top 25% of the country. We are delighted with this well-deserved success for our students, and are determined to build on this and continue to improve the learning experience for students at The Joseph Rowntree School. There are new challenges ahead; this year our current Year 11 will take the new GCSEs in a range of subjects whilst Year 10 will begin the new specification in all their subjects. While the new GCSEs are more difficult in terms of their subject content and method of assessment, we are confident that we have the right staff to support out students in order to achieve the success that they deserve.
To support this, we have changed our old Head of Year roles to that of Progress Leaders for Yeas 7-10 for this academic year, supported by a full-time Pastoral House Manager for each House. For this year only, Year 11 will retain their Head of Year to ensure consistency for them as they approach their GCSE exams.
Finally, students have made an excellent start to the new academic year, and we are confident as a team of having a very successful year. Please do not hesitate to contact the school should you need to discuss how we can support your child to make the best of their education at The Joseph Rowntree School.
Yours sincerely
R Crane
Headteacher
HEADTEACHER: Mr R Crane, MA (Hons), NPQH
DEPUTY HEAD: Mr G Davies, MA (Dist) DEPUTY HEAD: Mr A Haigh, BSc (Hons)
“Working together to achieve success”