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Latest News
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The Start of Term
An exciting few days! -
Start of term beckons
It's been a busy summer! -
Goodbye and thank you
Farewell from Mr Hughes -
Some superb events still to come
Examinations over and holidays on the horizon -
Science and Enterprise
Learning outside the classroom -
Farewell to the U6
A superb evening -
Goodbye and thank you
The U6 depart
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The Start of Term
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Archive News
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Examinations are upon us
Hard work will pay off -
Glaramara Day 6
Penultimate day in the Borrowdale Valley -
Glaramara Day 5
The ups and downs of Glaramara -
Glaramara Day 4
Climb every mountain... -
Glaramara: Wednesday
Years 3 and 4 depart; Years 5 and 6 arrive -
Glaramara Day 2: Tuesday Evening
The Great Outdoors -
Glaramara Day 2: Tuesday Morning
Wish you were here
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Examinations are upon us
January 28
Although there are a few AS examinations still to go, with mock exams behind us the school is virtually back to normal this week. The children are getting down to work as usual, and there are already plenty of signs that they are busying themselves with music, drama and sport, where we were delighted to receive news of Ben Perkins' selection for the England rugby 16 Group. Well done to him and to all our Lancashire representatives.
Despite the difficult economic situation, the 11+ Entrance Examination attracted a large field from primary schools from all over the Fylde. Not only were we very pleased with the level of interest - the best in recent years - but the ability and talent on show was impressive. Offers of places have been made to prospective pupils and we will now wait to see which of these youngsters join us and make their own special mark on the school.
Sadly, the "gremlins" that affected the website over Christmas appeared again recently and regular visitors to the site will know that it was down for a few days. The problems have now been identified and repaired and we hope not to suffer again any time soon.
It was good to see that Arnold did so well in the recent Performance League Tables, although I would not blame any parent for being bamboozled by some of the data that was presented in the media. Perhaps most confusing is the Government's measure of our performance at GCSE. With over half of the grades at A* or A, this year's results were pleasing. However, the key GCSE-Level indicator used by the Government is the number of pupils gaining 5 GCSEs at grades A* - C, including English and mathematics. Although over 90% of our pupils achieved this, the tables report our score as 0%! This is because our Year 11 pupils sit the International GCSE (iGCSE) in mathematics, which is disregarded in the tables.
Some years ago we took the decision to abandon the traditional GCSE course and replace it with the iGCSE, because of its greater rigour and because it is a better preparation for A level. Despite much lobbying the government continues to refuse to include this more demanding qualification in its tables, even though it is of the same standard and status as other GCSEs. The result is that the percentage of Arnold pupils actually gaining an A or A* in mathematics is not reflected in the Performance Tables and the overall percentage recording 5 grades at A* to C including English and mathematics appears to have declined. This is certainly not the case! In fact, the challenge for us now is to ensure that the other GCSE courses we offer continue to be sufficiently demanding to stretch and interest our pupils and, like many other successful schools, we will consider extending iGCSE to other subjects if we feel it necessary or take other measures to strengthen and protect the curriculum.
It should also be noted that the Sixth Form colleges, which offer a plethora of vocational and other non-academic courses, also benefit greatly in these particular tables as these qualifications count towards their overall achievement score. Arnold, and schools like it, tend not to offer this type of qualification and as a consequence the tables can be misleading when comparing the performance of different types of institution. Every year the tables fail to give reliable information about independent schools where the percentage of A/A* grades at GCSE and A/B grades at A level are better indicators. Beware!
Kind regards
Barry Hughes
Headmaster