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To view Forthcoming Events, please click here

 

Year 9 Options Booklet
The Year 9 Options Booklet for 2010-2012 is now available for download , please click here . Please note, you will require Adobe Reader to view the PDF document.


Visit to Indian Link-School: November 2009
Ms Barnett joined a Warwickshire party of headteachers, teachers and education officials on a week-long visit to Mumbai at half-term. The purpose of the visit was to establish links with partner schools - and we are therefore now proud to have a link with St Columba School. Joint curriculum projects have been planned for the English, Geography and History departments - and work is already underway! To find out more, follow the link to Ms Barnett's presentation.

KJB November 2009

A downloadable PDF version of the Mumbai 2009 presentation, with links to videos, is available here*
*Requires Adobe Reader.
(The Mumbai videos are also available to view on the 'videos' area of our website).



Press release: GCSE results 2009
Stratford Grammar School girls are celebrating another excellent set of GCSE results.

Three quarters of all Year 11 GCSE grades (75.0%) were A*/A and an amazing 83.6% of girls in the year group achieved 5 or more A*/A grades, 69.8% of them managing an impressive 8 or more A*/A grades. In addition to 100% achieving the national benchmark 5 or more A*-C grades (98.6% including English and Maths), the average score per pupil has risen to a new school record of 589.56 points per pupil, with the average score per entry being 53.53 per exam (where 52 = A and 58 = A*).

“We are delighted!” said Headteacher Kate Barnett. “These high academic achievements reflect the positive learning ethos of the whole school community – and particularly the hard work and commitment of the girls themselves. Both they and their teachers are to be warmly congratulated on these excellent results and the whole school community – parents included – can feel justifiably proud of these record achievements.”

Kate Barnett
Headteacher
27 August 2009

 

Press release: A level results 2009
An excellent set of results again this year:
100% pass rate A-E
Record 82.3% top A/B grades (up 5% on previous years)

The successes this year have been spread all the way through the year group, and we are delighted at the number of girls who will have achieved their first choice university places this year, including the eight girls who have met the grades required for their Oxbridge offers.

And, at the top end, twenty-seven girls achieved three or more A grades (23% of the cohort), ten of those gaining four or more A grades – and of those, two gained five A grades. There were lots of successes in the higher level AEAs (Advanced Extension Awards) too – five distinctions and six merits were achieved overall, with one high-flier achieving two AEAs.

Headteacher Kate Barnett commented: “We are absolutely delighted with the record percentage of A and B grades this year – 82.3% is a five point improvement on past years. This represents welcome reward for the hard work put in by the girls over two years – and also, of course, by their very dedicated teachers. I’m obviously really pleased for them all and wish them all well.”

Kate Barnett
Headteacher
20 August 2009

 

Year 13 Graduation Party
On Thursday 25 June 2009 we had the Year 13 Graduation Party. This new event, taking place this year for the first time, was sponsored and supported by FOS (Friends of Shottery). We will of course see the girls back in school in August for results and in December for the Day of Celebration, but this was the day when we formally marked their leaving school. It was such a happy occasion, with almost all of this year’s Year 13 girls returning – with their parents – for celebratory drinks and canapés on the lawn in front of the Manor. Each girl received a purple silk scarf as a memento of the school, and information about joining the Shottery Alumnae Association, as well as the very good wishes of the school for the future – leaving school, but always to remain a Shottery girl!

 

Jubilee Weekend
Friday 26 June got our Jubilee Weekend off to a fantastic start with our first House Festival. Lessons were suspended for the girls to take part in this Festival, celebrating 50 years of Shottery. They worked in mixed-age groups throughout the school, with the Year 12 girls taking a lead with Years 7-10, to research and present the fifties, sixties and seventies in a variety of different ways including dance and drama, paint, powerpoint (“The Final Frontier”) and print (“Signs of the Times”). They worked on their presentations in the morning – with tremendous focus and engagement – and then presented them to the whole school in the afternoon. And we had birthday cake together on the lawn at break. Our School Secretary, Mrs Hobbs, baked and iced a special cake as the centrepiece – with the school crest in glorious purple and yellow! The art work created as part of this day will be mounted at the back of the Hall as a lasting memorial of the day. This collage of pictures I hope helps to capture something of the spirit and energy of the day…





Jubilee Garden Party

Saturday 27 June brought the Jubilee Garden Party, which was an enormous success. The sun shone (despite ominous forecasts); a small army of helpers turned out to provide refreshments and run stalls and other activities, with the FOS, SAL and the Alumnae Committees all working together, and the Governors’ Hamper Raffle raising a couple of hundred pounds all by itself; and hundreds of people came: girls past and present, staff past and present, parents, governors, friends and neighbours. There was a wonderful community atmosphere. The fixed points in the afternoon were highly successful too: the Mayor, Cllr Mrs Jenny Fradgley, officially opened the proceedings at 2.30, unveiled the Jubilee Sundials (see later article) and buried the time capsule; Ms Juliet Short represented the Town Trust in officially opening the new Data Lab and Science and Technology Room at 3.00; and Miss Louise Coates and the girls put on a superb open-air concert (“Music at the Manor”) from 3.30. The art studios were also open for the sixth form art exhibition – and much of that work is now on display in the Manor, as part of our now traditional Art in the Manor exhibition. Thank you everybody who contributed to the success of the day in any way – it was a tremendous day. Again, a few pictures to give a flavour:





Sports Day

And then Sports Day followed on Wednesday 1 July, livened up this year with some novelty events including a very popular tug of war – and a staff team taking part in the relay!



Ofsted 2009
Press Release
Ofsted Report for Stratford Grammar School for Girls

It’s official: Stratford Grammar School for Girls is an outstanding school – Ofsted say so!

A team of three Ofsted inspectors led by HMI Dr Rashida Sharif visited the school on 25th and 26th February to carry out a full two-day inspection under the new pilot Section 8 framework. This followed the customary two-day notice. The report was published to parents early last week, and is now available on the Ofsted website as well as the school’s own website.

Headteacher Ms Kate Barnett said: “The governors, the staff and I are all very pleased that the inspectors were able to see and endorse what we know to be the truth about Shottery: it is an excellent school – happy, purposeful and with outstanding outcomes for all individuals.”

The opening sentence of the report gets to the heart of the caring ethos: “This is an extremely inclusive, caring and supportive school”. The academic side of the school is recognised to be excellent: attainment is described as “consistently high across the school”, and “students benefit from a wide curriculum and an excellent programme of extra-curricular activities, clubs and events”. Furthermore, “students’ personal and social development are outstanding, as is the care, guidance and support they receive”. Teaching is described as “good, and frequently outstanding” and relationships between students and adults are described as excellent. There are accolades for the girls themselves, too: they “are enthusiastic, highly motivated and determined to do well in everything they do” and they “make an outstanding contribution to the school and local community”. “The school is very well led,” says the report, and particular mention is made of the impact of the school’s dual specialist status in languages and science and its international perspective.

“The process of inspection was very open and transparent in this new pilot Section 8 framework,” said Kate Barnett, “and, although it was incredibly rigorous and challenging, it was also exhilarating and really positive. “ The action points that were framed – identifying ways in which the school might improve further – reflect key areas already in the school’s development plan.

Parents’ responses are invited as a routine part of the inspection process, and the responses received by the inspection team were overwhelmingly supportive of the school although a number of parents expressed concerns about shortcomings in accommodation at the school. The Headteacher and Governors have a buildings development masterplan and are working with the local authority to find ways of funding a new learning resources centre, extra classrooms and indoor PE accommodation. The school will be opening its new science and textiles extension at Easter.

Mr Jeff Downes, Chair of Governors, paid tribute to the staff of the school, saying, “The Report is excellent – and a fitting reflection of the personal commitment of the staff to the girls at the school.”


Kate Barnett
Headteacher
22/03/09

Ofsted
Ofsted Inspection Results 2009
2009 Ofsted Published Report



SHOTTERY LAUNCHES ECO-MAIL
YOU save time, WE save money and together we save a bit of the rainforest!

Stay in touch with Shottery without costing the earth by eco-mailing your daughter’s name and form to mailme4002@we-learn.com.

SHE will get a chocolate reward when we haveemail addresses for 90% of her class. It’s that important! GO ON, ECO-DO IT!

Local students amongst top ten in the country.
Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls, its staff, parents and students can feel justifiably proud of their excellent results from the 2008 summer public examinations. These were reported in August, but the school has recently received extra information from the examination boards about top scorers. For the full press release please click here.

NEW:Weekly Parents' Newsletter
A new weekly newsletter for parents will be uploaded into the Parents' Area each week, with details about events and activities happening at the school. To access the newsletter please have your log-in details ready and click here.

Mini Manners is our newsletter produced every half-term.
Mini Manners is publication produced every half term and has detailed news about events and activities that happen throughout the school year.
For more information please click here.

Teachers TV - Making a Drama
From teachers.tv: "At Stratford Girls Grammar School, two groups of Year 12 drama students are approaching their end of year show in rather different ways. Teacher Sara Coyle has captured the process on video and shows us a glimpse of the end results." To view the video please click here.

Photographs and Artwork Now Online:
There is now a photograph and artwork section of the website, which is available either by following the link in the side menu, or please click here. This section will often be updated in the future with photographs from members of staff and pupils. Please note, to view these photo albums you must have Adobe Flash Player installed in your internet browser.

Videos Now Online:
There is now a hosted video section of the website, which is available either by following the link in the side menu, or please click here. This section will often be updated with videos and presentations from members of staff and pupils at the school. Please note, to view these video files you must have Adobe Flash Player installed in your internet browser.




Warwickshire Healthy Schools  
School Achievement Awards Scheme
.The Specialist Schools Trust Science Colleges Language Colleges