Following our inspection on the above date we are delighted to confirm we “continue to be a good school”.
There is much to celebrate in the full Ofsted letter.
Weekly Blog
3rd March – 10th March
Year 9 Futures Event
Research shows that on average people now change their jobs every 4 to 5 years. What ever happened to the job for life? Technology and efficiency came along removing the need for many traditional jobs and replacing them with different jobs. This leaves our current school pupils posing the question: What can I do for a living and how can I become qualified?
The advice we would give is: do not put all your eggs in one basket, study a broad range of GCSEs to keep your options open and when considering a career path, ask yourself this question: “How likely is it that a computer/robot will be able to do this job for me in the future?”.
These are just some of the questions and solutions going through the minds of Year 9 as they experienced their Year 9 Futures Event. Helping them through the minefield was a series of workshops which included GCSE speed dating, careers profiling, talks from Andover College and Winchester University and an apprenticeships workshop.
One pupil commented:
“Going around each of the workshops has made me realise just how many different options there are including ones that I originally had not considered”.
Another pupil said:
“Today has been really helpful to me before I choose my GCSE subjects next year.”
Arts Workshop
This week, we welcomed many Year 4 pupils from our local primary schools to come to Test Valley for the morning to take part in workshop in Drama, Art and Music.
It was a fun-packed morning consisting of making clay fish, mastering their mime skills and trying out an array of many different instruments. They all seemed to enjoy the activities with Year 9 pupils helping Mrs Leyman, Mrs Stubbs and Mr Slater to run the workshops.
Practice Exams
Over the last few weeks our Year 9 and Year 11 pupils have been doing their practice exams with Year 11 due to take their final GCSEs in only a few months.
It was a nerve-wracking time for many of the pupils but we hoped provided a good opportunity to build up their examination skills. Staff were impressed with the respect other pupils demonstrated by moving around the school quickly and quietly between lessons.
Spring has Sprung
Many of our pupils on the Environmental Land Based Study (ELBS) are making the most of the few days of sunshine we have recently had to start planting various delights such as tomato plants, chilli plants and courgettes. One pupil said:
“It is good to be able to learn outside of the class room and see our hard work come to fruition later in the Spring.”
They have also been busy out in the farm tending to the animals — with goats, chickens, rabbits and Guinea pigs to look after there is always lots to be done.
Heading for the Finals in Football
On Thursday, our Year 7 boys got through to the final of the Eastleigh Andover and Winchester Cup, after beating Henry Beaufort 5-0 in the semi-final. All of the team played exceptionally well, but player of the match had to be Luke Findlay.