Page 22 - link magazine

This is Greendown • 2

GCSE results again above national average

with a feast of A grades

Over the last six years Although the 5 A-C grades
has consistently are generally considered the
raised and consolidated stu- unofficial benchmark of a
dent performance at GCSE. school's success, results can
This summer, with fifty per go up or down depending
cent of our year 11 students on the basic abilities of the
achieving five or more A-C year group when they enter
grades, we have once again the school.
surpassed the national aver- Mr O'Sullivan adds that it is
age performance. important to recognise that a
This year saw a feast of A measure of a good school is
. ^ ^IIIIII y `
grades with eleven girls and how it caters for all abilities.
nine boys delivering an in- "We are particularly proud to
credible 103 A* and A grades be recognised as Swindon's
between them, in addition to Kelly George, fourth highest best school for 'adding value'
Social Science ex
their other passes. am mark in the to our students' achievements iP
Particular mention must go country as they progress through the Danny Roberts, being presented with the Green-
to Kelly George who passed eight of her nine school. These results set our students on down Victor Ludorum award at the end of year
exams at A* or A grade. She also achieved an course for good future careers and qualifica- assemblyin July, byschool governor Laura Campbell
unexpected accolade in a letter from the tions.
examination board congratulating her on the
fourth highest exam mark in Social Science
across the whole country.
Headteacher Mr O'Sullivan is delighted
with the outstanding results. "They reflect
very hard work by the students. Teachers
spend a lot of time on our principal objective
- to `maximise individual potential' — and
clearly this pays off. With careful target set-
ting, regular testing and encouragement in
our Personal Development Programmes, many
students have significantly increased results
from predicted grades. Our after school revi-
sion classes and homestudy club have also Holding their certificates for one hundred per cent attendance during the last school year at the
played an important part in raising the stand- end of year assembly, from left, Zoe Rouse, Leanne Mead, Colin Green-Thompson, Katie
ard of our results."
Thornett, Freya Keene, Katie Ryman, Sarah Gill, Chris Hughes, Kelly Haydon, Richard Eagle

Technology in the service of educational standards

For three years now, no teacher at tralia, was officially opened by North Swin-
L
Greendown has marked a register — at least don MP, Michael Wills in May 2001 when he
not with a pen. A compact computer, the was Minister for Technology in the Depart-
`Bromcom' has taken its place. Simply press- ment for Education and Skills.
ing a key calls up each class register from a We are also pleased to be able to offer our
central computer, students are marked in and partner primary schools the opportunity to
the data transmitted back, cutting out all the use Future School, as it contains modules
manual labour needed to check 60 individual suited to all levels.
register books. Bromcom enables us to rap- The computer programme marks work,
idly collate information about homestudy, diagnoses strengths and weaknesses, alerts
attendance and achievement for an indi- the student to errors and indicates work to aid
vidual and communicate it to parents at progression. Since its introduction in Septem-
consultation meetings. ber 2000, Future School has proved a power-
Bromcom has now been complimented by ful tool to aid individual students.
the 'Leeds Database', a centralised computer As a real teacher is always present in the
record of every student's conduct — both classroom to assist with individual problems,
positive and negative. The combined infor- we are finding students of all abilities make
mation from these two systems give a highly r significant and rapid progress in Maths.
accurate picture of each student's daily life. Michael Wills receiving instruction in Future
Future School, our computerised Maths School from Charley Barleycorn, Laurie Watts,
teaching programme, which was originally Kevin Kolaris, Matt Holloway, as Mr O'Sullivan
developed for long distance learning in Aus- looks on