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This is

GR E
E NDOWN

A Newsletter from West Swindon's Local School • October 1995

:ndividual attention
40

idividual achievement

The 1995 GCSE results repre- one GCSE pass. This year we of year 11 we establish a set of school as part of the creation of
sent a very creditable perform- had 13 pupils with statements of anticipated grades for all pupils 'personal development plans' for
ance; the result of hard work by special educational need; if an and then try to relate these to all pupils. These will allow our
students and staff. Although adjustment is made for this, the what we believe are the pupils' tutors to establish clear goals for
slightly down on last year, they figures nearly match last year. capabilities. We also use a set of all pupils and will further enable
are good,with 45% of our pupils One student who did excep- standardised NFER tests of ver- us to continue to meet our aim of
achieving 5+ A-C grades and tionally well this year was Sarah bal, numeric and visual ability to getting the very best from each
67% achieving 1+ A-C. 93% of Compson, who achieved 10 check our own assessments. We and every student.
the year group obtained at least grade A results, five of them the have a whole range of proce-
top A grade. She worked stead- dures designed to support stu-
ily throughout her five years at dent who appear to be
Greendown, and picked up her underperforming.
first A grade GCSE, for Maths, We aim to treat each student
two years ago at the end of year as an individual. Each targeted
9 as part of our early entry Maths student receives a programme
scheme. We wish Sarah, who is designed to meet their specific
taking A' Levels in Maths, Phys- needs. The further help includes
ics and English all the best for extra teaching sessions both af-
the future. ter school and in the evenings,
We are delighted to con"ratu- individual counselling or assist-
late her brother Andrew, a 1993 ance with planning. This is
Greendown graduate, on ,ain- reinforced by frequent contact
ing three As at A' Level and with parents. The result has been
assured his place at Oxf' cd Uni- a general improvement in per-
versity's St Peters College. formance often resulting in
Our first Oxford University Many students are well organ- GCSEs well above our initial Not to be outdone: Sarah
entrant: Andrew Compson ised and successful, and we sup- estimates with over 40 pupils Compson was Greendown's
achieved three As at A Level port their efforts. achieving higher grades than we top GCSE performer this
at New College and will be We 'target' those students who originally anticipated. year with 5 A and 5 As.
start an engineering degree need extra help to reach their This process of 'targeting' is She has started three
in October full potential. At the beginning being extended throughout the A' Levels at New College

Big Blue takes on Greendown graduate

A 1993 Greendown graduate been in suspension for some Delighted mumJune Barr paid expectations of students. We're
has secured a much sought after years. On the short- tribute to the prepa- really proud of Arthur's achieve-
position with IBM, one of the list of seventy, Arthur ration Greendown ments which reflects well on
world's largest computer com- had to undergo two had provided for him and also on Greendown and
panies. days of interviews, Arthur. "IBM wasn't New College."
Arthur Barr, from Freshbrook, informal chats, as- just looking for aca- Arthur moved to Freshbrook
left Greendown two years ago sessments and ap- demic high flyers. with his family in 1982 and was
with 9 GCSEs, including Maths praisals at IBM head- The successful can- one of the first children to enter
which he took in year 10. He quarters in Port- didates were selected Freshbrook School when it
gained A's in Computing and smouth. for all round person- opened. With a birthday on 19
Maths at New College this sum- The company will ality, flexibility and July, Arthur was always one of
mer which secure one of only pay him a salary of ability to work in the youngest in his year group
settings.
which makes his achievement
twenty sponsored undergradu- £7,400 while he stud- team
ate places with IBM. ies for a BSc in Computing at Greendown encourages self-re- all the more impressive.
There were over 1,000 appli- Portsmouth University on a day liance, self-organisation, initia- We congratulate Arthur. The
cants for the scheme which has release basis. tive, adapatability and has high future looks good.