FOCUS ON SAMUEL WARD ARTS AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE

PARENT’S CHOICE

The teachers at Samuel Ward Arts and Technology College have always prided themselves on their ability to work with pupils right throughout their academic career. This Focus report highlights some of the important work they carry out behind the scenes.

Even before pupils arrive at Samuel Ward, the staff work with them at their primary and middle schools both in groups and individually, using a range of diagnostic tools to ensure they understand both their strengths and areas for development.

The Head of Year and the class tutor stay with pupils from their arrival in Year 9 until the end of Year 11, supporting their social, academic and spiritual and moral development. This maintains a clear and consistent focus on the individual needs of each pupil, who have their own individual Learning Plan. This is drawn up between tutor and pupils and provides clear targets for success, additional challenge and sensitive support.

Pupils and parents are kept informed of progress by interviews that take place on Independent Learning Days each term, and by progress checks that are sent home on a termly basis. In addition, subject teachers report on progress every six weeks to tutors and Heads of Year.

Year 9 pupils experience a whole range of learning opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. Trips, extra curricular activities, exchange visits and summer term project are all offered. These contribute to the broad range of achievements with which our students leave school.

The school is recognised locally and nationally for its curricular innovations alongside its achievements. Pupils are offered a range of specialist and individual courses way beyond the GCSE National Curriculum. By doing so, the school offers flexibility of choice and matches individual needs effectively.

Activities outside the classroom are vital for enriching a child’s education, helping social integration, encouraging interests other than school work and helping them to become well rounded people.

The school offers Sunday art clubs, Summer School during the main holiday which caters for 90 middle and upper Gifted and Talented pupils. Pupils and students are involved in how the school changes through a very enthusiastic School Council which is also involved in the Youth Council for West Suffolk.

Pupils are encouraged to take exams when they are ready, including GCSEs in Year 10 and AS levels in Year 11. Triple Science, online courses and teleconferencing all contribute to pupil motivation.

Samuel Ward Arts and Technology College offer a stimulating learning environment. They add value to what every pupil achieves that is why results in SATs and GCSEs put them in the top 10% of schools nationally.

The Sixth Form has a dedicated area for students to work and socialise in an adult setting. Students are supported through AS, A level, BTEC and GNVQ by a dedicated team of talented teachers. A significant number of Sixth Form students go to university.

Parents are encouraged to be involved in the learning of their children and are into visit the school to meet with teachers when the feel it is necessary.
A recent OFSTED (October 2005) described Samuel Ward as ‘a good school with the capacity to become an outstanding school’.

Focus on Samuel Ward
Samuel Ward competes at Brooklands
Samuel Ward competes at Cadwell Park
Castle Manor links with Haverhill-UK
Call for two tier education system
Haverhill School welcomes Ambassador
Changing the System
Excellent grades for Samuel Ward
Information on Childcare
Samuel Ward adds top value to all pupils

 

If you would like to know more then please come to our Open Evening on Wednesday 1st November
From 6.30pm

If you would like to visit the school on a normal working day, please contact:
Marian Merch-Chammon
for further details on
01440 761511

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SAMUEL WARD NIMBUS TEAM SECOND AT CADWELL PARK

Samuel Ward Upper School and Technology College Gravity Racing Team recently took part in races at Cadwell Park Racing Circuit.
Publicity took off as the media realised the fun to be had. TV, Radio and Newspapers all carried the story. The school team were interviewed for BBC North East and Yorkshire TV and it gave them a chance to put over the great benefits that the event can have for young people and the chance to start an engineering career. Some dozen teams from across the UK entered.
After a fantastic series of runs the Nimbus team finished second followed by the Vauxhall VXR Firefly team from Suffolk College. Nimbus also picked up the prize for the fastest young driver which went to Justin Jones with his lap time of 91 seconds.

Samuel Ward competes at Brooklands Gravity Racing Club

A full entry of teams from the motor industry as well as education and private individuals arrived at the famous Brooklands banked race track on a hot summer’s day in late July.

Vauxhall entered two racers including the Nimbus which was driven and managed by pupils from Samuel Ward Upper School and Technology College. A very daunting task for youngsters racing for the first time against some of the best racers and teams in the country. After passing a tough scrutineering of both vehicle and drivers ability they covered themselves in glory by coming fifth in the racing even beating the Goodwood Road Racing Team.
They then won £100 by winning the Most Promising Young Drivers award for Justin James and Chris Bedford. Then going on to win the Best Turned out team and racer. For this they were awarded an inscribed model replica of Bluebird.

Richard Noble and the SW team

Prizes were given by Richard Noble OBE, the driver of the Thrust 11 World Land Speed Record car and team manager of the Thrust SSC present world record holder, who then signed their racer.
He said “We have every reason to believe that we are looking at the drivers and engineers of the future”.

The second Vauxhall entry was the experimental Vauxhall VX Firefly, designed by engineering design students at the Department of Aeronautical and Automotive Design Loughborough University and built by students and staff at Suffolk College Vehicle Studies Department. This was the first time that the racer had run. The team came fourth in a tight fight for the the top places.
The event was won by the successful Lotus entry, winning its third win in a row.

Vauxhall Firefly Team were also delighted to be awarded the ‘Spud Boorer Trophy Cup’ for the best engineered vehicle of the day. This was helped by a new revolutionary suspension system which not only looked impressive, but also worked like a dream. With the full streamlined body going onto the racer in the next few months the team hope to be unbeatable.
Samuel Ward would like to thank the many companies that helped their Gravity Race Teams achieve so much against the best.

CASTLE MANOR BREAKING NEWS WITH HAVERHILL-UK

Castle Manor Business and Enterprise College has forged an exciting new partnership with Haverhill’s official town website Haverhill-UK. This partnership will help the college expand its reach and step into the limelight in a number of innovative and progressive ways.

Starting this December, visitors to Haverhill-UK will be able to view Castle Manor’s weekly bulletins. Produced by the media team, these Castle Manor TV video clips keep a finger on the pulse of all that’s currently happening in the college. Students plan and shoot content, control the editorial process and determine how information is displayed. Now with the help of Haverhill-UK, which attracts over 7,000 unique visitors per month, they will be able to achieve an outstanding web presence and connect with an even larger audience.
Simon Ruggles, Business and Training Centre Manager, describes the impact of the new venture:
“Our students put huge amounts of time and effort into Castle Manor TV. We already have our own website this opportunity to work closely with Haverhill-UK and post videocasts on the site each week has given us another fantastic platform to show the community what students from Haverhill really can achieve.

“Our town has many qualities and assets upon which we can build a great future. Our challenge is to tell the world about them. Haverhill-UK does this brilliantly.”

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CALL FOR TWO TIER EDUCATION PLAN

A review of education in Suffolk has called for the end of the middle schools system in the county.
Suffolk County Council's School Review Panel is recommending the introduction of a two-tier education structure.
At present while the urban parts of Suffolk are served by only high schools and primary schools, many of the rural areas also have middle schools.
Panel chair councillor Patricia O'Brien said they had decided a two tier system would "best meet the needs of pupils".
The Panel's recommendations will go to the county council's full council in March - and if that is approved, the second phase of consultation will begin.
Ms O'Brien, who is also the county council's portfolio holder for schools, said: "We needed to identify a school system that the county could afford, which would serve Suffolk pupils well for several generations and which would help those pupils achieve their maximum potential." At present there are 40 middle schools primarily in the north and west of the county.

If the proposals are agreed, closures could start from 2009 but there is a belief among some that the timetable of change should be made shorter to decrease the “inevitable” disruption. “It's better to have short-term disruption than permanent disadvantage,” said one spokesman.

Not everyone is happy with the new proposals and it has caused concern among parents, teachers and children, and a campaign group, Parents Against Change (PAC), has been set up.

(PAC can be found at www.parentsagainstchange.org)

PAC have already expressed their views to Suffolk MPs Richard Spring, David Ruffley, Michael Lord and Tim Yeo, at a recent meeting in Westminster. They will deliver another report to county councillors before the critical council meeting on March 22nd.

Haverhill School Welcomes Kazakhstan Ambassador

Sixth form students went into school on a day off to meet the Kazakhstan Ambassador, His Excellency Erian Idrissov when he paid them a visit recently. The ambassador told the students his country was going through exciting times as it worked to build up a new democracy, whereas many in the UK took for granted their system of elections and rule of law.

Working in partnership with countries such as the UK would help speed up the creation of a new generation with a new mentality in his country. "It is remarkable, people from all different specta are represented in the country, which is an important role model for everyone," he said. "Not a single drop of blood has been shed on religious grounds, tolerance and respect are the most valuable things in our society. He added, "I think the school here is very well organised and disciplined and you feel that people have a love for the place." Howard Lay, Headteacher said he would like to establish a link with a school in Kazakhstan and was presented with a gift of a picture of an ancient warrior crafted in leather.

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CHANGING THE SYSTEM

Currently, some children in Suffolk go to two schools (primary and secondary: the ‘two-tier system) and others go to three schools (first/primary, middle and upper: the ‘three-tier system) during their school life. Suffolk County Council has voted in favour of moving to a stage two review of school organisation in Suffolk, with a preferred option of an all two-tier school system.
It is widely expected the outcome of the review will be in favour of change and the 40 middle schools in Suffolk will disappear in what will be the largest re-organisation of education in the county for decades. Haverhill will be one of the first region’s involved in the review process planned for later this summer.

Teachers, school support staff, governors, parents and representatives of local communities will be invited to meetings at each school in the area. These meetings will be used to canvass opinion and share ideas with councillors and senior officers over a 15-18 month period.

Formal consultations will then take place over a 12-week period, with responses assessed and brought back to Cabinet to discuss how to introduce the changes.

Although the Council say the conversion will lead to better and more cost effective schooling not everyone is convinced and a pressure group called  Parents against Change (PAC) has been set up to oppose the plans. They point to the excellent education record the middle school system has acquired.  

For more information on this contentious topic then go to the school organisation review pages at the County website on: www.suffolk.gov.uk

SAMUEL WARD ADDS TOP VALUE TO ALL PUPILS

GCSE and SAT results over the last three years have placed Samuel Ward in the top 10 per cent of schools nationally. These results, along with its unique accolades as a Training School, Leading Edge School and its three specialist College status awards for Technology, Arts and Vocational subjects make it one of the most successful schools in the Eastern region.

The success is down to the unique learning process that pupils experience when they join the school. A process that puts the emphasis on the individual pupil and their particular needs in order to achieve the highest possible outcomes. Whether they are destined to join Cambridge University or have basic literacy and numeracy needs, the school ‘values the success of each individual, their honesty and integrity, and fosters resilience and independence.’

Pupils arrive from a wide area, both within and from outside Suffolk, and the school has developed a wide range of diagnostic tools to ensure that they understand the precise needs of each pupil. These needs are the basis for an individual learning plan, which identifies academic, social and learning styles needs and becomes a route map for their journey through school.

Pupils are placed with friends in tutor groups of about 12 and their learning plan is formally reviewed every half term with their mentor and parents.
This three way partnership is crucial to the success of each pupil for it enables effective communication and swift intervention to occur when needed.

Samuel Ward believes that activities outside the classroom enrich a child’s education, support social integration and encourage resilience. The school offers a wide range of competitive sporting activities, trips and extra curricular opportunities and all pupils are encouraged to experience life outside their locality.
Cutting edge technology enables pupils to connect with their work 24 hours a day 7 days a week so that independence and communication skills are developed.

Pupils at Samuel Ward can look forward to the future with confidence, a confidence built on firm values, a confidence that comes from preparing for the future now.
As the school says ‘the best way to predict the future…is to create it.’