Newsletter items for Tuesday 22 March 2011

Dear Parents

Easter is approaching and Easter Sunday, this year, is the latest possible date for that celebration. For those of you who have children in exam years, it can therefore be extremely misleading. Quite often students commence their personal revision for their exams at the start of the Easter Holiday. I am sure it is quite a sobering thought for you that after the Easter Holiday there will only be three school weeks before the main AS and GCSE examinations commence. They are also broken weeks, because of Bank Holiday and the Royal Wedding. It is, therefore, absolutely essential that all students in the public exam years i.e. Years 11, 12 and 13, plan to commence their personal revision no later than 1st April.

All students will be given subject revision schedules and if advice is required on how to organise their revision, tutors, subject staff and senior staff are all available to be consulted. Departments are organising revision sessions at lunchtime or after school, with some subject areas planning to offer revision during the Easter Holiday. I cannot stress enough how lucky we are to have staff with such commitment to our young people. I hope the students, in turn, will accept all the help being offered by the staff, so that maximum potential is achieved in the examinations. Equally, I cannot overemphasise the importance of school attendance during the final run-in to examinations. We often hear ridiculous statements about finding it easier to revise at home. This totally ignores the expertise of the staff when it comes to dissecting and constructing answers to past questions.

My strong advice for revision is:

• Years 12 and 13 - 3 hours per night, 5 nights a week and 4 hours on either Saturday or Sunday at the weekend. During school holidays, 4 hours a day to commence no later than 10.00am and with a break of 10 – 15 minutes every hour to be finished around 3.00pm.

• Year 11 - 2_ hours per night, 5 nights a week and 3 hours on either Saturday or Sunday. During the holidays they should work the 4 hours a day as recommended for Years 12 and 13.

• During school time the above hours includes work set and going over the work of the day. Also, Years 12 and 13, with any free time during the day, should use it in the sixth form study area.

NB. If studying at home is an issue during the school week, our sixth form library and study area is available until 6.30pm every night and by giving names to Mr Barnard, these facilities are available for student use. Similarly, they are available from 7.30am each morning and this applies to Year 11 as well as sixth form. Prior to school, if Year 11 want to use the facilities, they would have to vacate the study area at 8.30am.

If the above schedule is adhered to, I am sure the vast majority of our students will achieve their potential. Equally, during the holiday period, if work is finished mid-afternoon the remainder of the day and evening is available for the essential social activities, hobbies and family time. A sensible lifestyle is also very important during this time when students will be not only anxious but also finding it extremely tiring to undertake the level of work indicated. No student should work any night later than 9.00pm so that they are guaranteed to get a good night’s rest and they will be refreshed and ready to maximise the benefits of work in school the following day.

I make no apologies for starting this newsletter with comments relevant to the top end of the school. I think it important that parents of students in the lower school understand what will be required from their sons and daughters when they get into exam years. Hence, our plea for students to revise the work of the day each night so that they develop good study habits. It is with this revision of work that you as parents can help by occasionally asking children to explain what they have done in certain subjects during the day and checking exercise books to ensure that homework is presented in such a way as to ensure that future revision is made easy for themselves.