Please follow the link below for a letter from Sue Carbert, Headteacher, regarding the recent Ofsted inspection, study leave and dates for your diary.

Letter from Headteacher

The Year 9 End of Key Stage 3 Maths examinations were postponed due to the visit of the Ofsted inspectors and have been rearranged to take place as follows:

Newport Pagnell campus

Monday 14th May and Wednesday 16th May, Period 3 in the Sports Hall.

Olney campus

Thursday 17th and Friday 18th May, Period 3 in the Main Hall and Maths department.

As the exam season has now started, Years 11, 12 and 13 may take Study Leave, according to the following dates:

Year 11 : Leave starts from Monday, 21st May.
Year 12 : Leave starts from Monday, 14th May and students will return to school on Monday, 11th June.
Year 13 : Leave starts from Monday, 4th June.

Please follow the links below for more details.

Important Information for Students and Parents - Year 11

Important Information for Students and Parents - Year 12

Important Information for Students and Parents - Year 13

As we continue to focus on preparing students in Years 10 to 13 for their summer exams, one can easily forget that education is much more than gaining qualifications. There was an excellent reminder of this last week when the whole of Year 11 came together at Newport Pagnell to celebrate outstanding achievement in sport. I am a great believer in competitive and traditional sport. The teams, and individuals, have achieved so much over the last five years and it was wonderful to recognise them in a formal setting.

Our students are always an absolute credit to us at fixtures; their behaviour and manners are always exemplary. I am also blessed with having a fantastic team of staff who work hard to ensure that students are successful in GCSE, BTEC or A level PE, but they also give many more students numerous opportunities to successfully compete against other schools in a wide range of sports.

I meet with a group of Year 10 or 11 students at each campus on a weekly basis. They are after all our clients and they provide very useful feedback on the quality of teaching and all aspects of school life. I share with you a few of their comments - in their words:

• When you were first appointed Headteacher and toughened up on uniform we were a little annoyed as we had been in the school for three years. However, when we see a student with their shirt out (which is rare) we now think they look scruffy and keeping our shirts in is something we now do automatically. We think you did the right thing.
• The material on the website is really helping us to revise
• We would like more substantial quizzes in science lessons to help us learn the material
• When we were first given our target grades in Year 10 we thought some of them were high, but now we realise we can achieve the grades and it has made us want to work harder. We think it is important the school give us aspirational (their word) targets.

I am pleased to report that both campuses are full for September 2012. Once again we apologise to over 200 families who have failed to obtain a place at Ousedale School. We understand it is a worrying time for many, but clearly we cannot take any more children. We wish the families well in finding a secondary school place.

Best wishes

Sue Carbert
Headteacher