THE ECCLESBOURNE SCHOOL

ANNUAL REPORT

2004 - 2005

This report is intended to summarise the work of the School in the context of its Annual Improvement Plan at whole school, faculty and other levels, together with any other significant developments not identified there. Over many years, The Ecclesbourne School has been plagued by poor facilities in many curriculum areas and by insufficient resources, particularly with respect to latest technologies. The last OfSTED report in 2000 pointed to the many deficiencies and the results of attitudinal surveys completed by students, staff and parents in 2003, indicated extreme concern about learning and working conditions. This year there have been significant improvements to the condition of the buildings, both externally and internally, and many of the faculty reports indicate the delight in the improvements made. In brief, the most exciting developments have been as follows:

• The completion of our superb Sixth Form multi purpose facility which provides state of the art study and recreational facilities for our students and for the local community.

• The opening of six general-purpose classrooms which has enabled us to rationalise our mathematics teaching into one area of the school.

• The extension of two classrooms which have been equipped as science laboratories to bring together our science provision more sensibly and to provide one additional laboratory.

• The refurbishment of a classroom as a small drama studio with storage space for props.

• The complete refurbishment and redecoration of C block with new flooring. • The refenestration of B block to provide tinted, double glazing to classrooms,

kitchens, the gymnasium and halls. • The redecoration and carpeting of classrooms in the older part of the English

block. • The extension of provision in the Enhanced Learning Faculty with carpeting in all

areas. • The redecoration and carpeting of the bottom of A Block and the B block

corridor. • The total refurbishment and carpeting of the Library. • The installation of latest technologies to enhance our learning provision across the

whole school. It should be noted that music and sporting facilities continue to be a concern so the focus of fundraising by The Ecclesbourne Foundation and other groups continues to be the MIDAS project. In addition two of our oldest laboratories need to be totally updated and refurbished and our office accommodation and staff facilities require urgent attention. The appointment of the new Site Manager, Mr Moore, and increased personnel in the Site

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Team, mean that more maintenance will be completed in-house. In addition, the appointment of a full-time Business Development Officer from September, will lead to income generation to enable further projects to be completed. During the year there were a significant number of developments involving the increased use of ICT across the School in line with our Specialist School status as a Technology College. We have expanded our work on innovation and collaboration this year in the form of further ‘Leading Edge’ projects. Details of all these developments may be found in the body of this report under each section heading. This year we have made improvements in our tracking and monitoring system and introduced a new reporting system to parents in response to their request for more frequent progress updates. A significant amount of work has been undertaken to monitor student progress more effectively. Data has been collected at set times during the year, following consultation with groups of staff to determine the most appropriate and valuable times for that data collection. In addition to effort information, we have collected progress information too. As yet the system is unrefined but we have moved forward in identifying key areas for further improvement. An added benefit of the new system is the ability to inform parents and pupils of progress through an interim report. This has been trialled this year with Years 7, 8 and 10. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The new reporting arrangements will be used for all year groups next year. We will continue to improve the system next year in response to feedback from staff and parents. In recent years many national reports have provided evidence that there is a growing trend amongst young people to live an unhealthy lifestyle. Considerable interest in the diet of children has been generated, both locally and nationally. This year we undertook a major review of eating habits including catering and vending provision in school. A large working group made up of staff, students, parents, governors and other interested external agencies have worked closely together to look at all aspects of healthy eating. Parents and students have been surveyed and the results analysed. Representatives of The School Council were heavily involved in the consultation exercise. The following recommendations have now been agreed: vending machines selling healthier merchandise to replace the current vendors, highly processed and fatty foods to be removed from the school lunch menus, healthy foods only to be served in the tuck shop and advice to be offered to parents about what constitutes a healthy packed lunch. Special assemblies have been held to inform students about the decisions and a letter has been sent to inform parents. Most of the changes have been trialled during “Healthy Lifestyles Week” with full implementation planned for September. The Beech Tree, our new deli bar in the Sixth Form Centre, will only serve healthy foods. The School Policy on “Challenging all Children” is now complete and is a response to the Government’s national ‘Gifted and Talented’ policy. The name of the policy was considered important since it was felt that “challenging all children” sits more easily with the ethos of the school where every child in the school matters, regardless of ability, and all students are encouraged to reach their potential. Heads of Faculty and other

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curriculum leaders have been involved in writing or amending their own faculty policies and work has been underway throughout the year updating existing schemes of work to try and ensure that all children are challenged by a range of extension or enhancement activities within their normal lessons. This is in addition to the wide range of extra-curricular activities in which so many of our students are involved. In addition, applications have been made to the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth at Warwick University for all students throughout the School who meet the entry requirements. A thorough evaluation will be necessary next year regarding membership and its benefits to the students. During the year, members of the Strategic Leadership Team [SLT] have attended conferences in order to gain an insight into the issue of personalised learning. According to David Miliband [Minister for Schools 2004], personalised learning occurs when education is “shaped around the needs, interests and aptitudes of individual pupils”. We already meet this objective in many ways, as individual students are central to our thinking. Our starting point focussed on what additional actions were necessary to pull together the various processes that impact on individual students. We need to complement what we currently do with respect to recording student progress, personal review and target setting. Several activities have already been trialled and this work will be further developed in the next academic year. Although the school has an extensive Rewards system, a complete review has taken place during the year with recommendations for changes in the Merit system to encourage wider participation by students and staff. Proposals include the development of a Certificate of Achievement under the direction of the Year Heads and implementation will be from September 2005. At Key Stage 3, the ICT strategy is now fully implemented across years 7-9. All members of staff are consistent with the delivery of the strand and the students are finding the course both stimulating and challenging. One member of the faculty is leading ICT across the curriculum and has worked closely with the LEA consultant on a whole school audit and on assessing ICT training needs for staff. The science faculty has continued to work closely with the LEA consultant to develop specific aspects of the KS3 strategy following a full audit. Booster classes were held and the teacher with responsibility for this aspect of work trained other members of staff in the use of support materials. It is felt that this was a very effective use of resources. The bridging unit which was developed with the primary feeder schools last year has been fully evaluated and extended for use again this year. Members of the Geography and Music Departments undertook to work with an LEA consultant on various aspects of the Teaching and Learning Strand of the Key Stage 3 Strategy. They trialled certain aspects and evaluated what worked best within their own departments before sharing their findings with their faculties during training events. They have been able to implement many very innovative ideas across their departments as they have shared their examples of good practice. They have delivered INSET to the whole staff on effective starters, plenaries and planning activities.

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The final strand of the Key Stage 3 strategy, ‘Behaviour and Attendance’, has now been developed and the LEA consultant for Behaviour and Attendance has been involved in training activities with Newly Qualified Teachers and support staff. These sessions received very positive feedback and we have already identified other groups of staff who would benefit from this type of training. Citizenship is now a compulsory part of the curriculum in Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4. The elements of citizenship, which are delivered by the form tutors, have formed the basis of this year’s Personal Development and Citizenship [PDC] lessons. Tutors have delivered the topics in highly imaginative ways and the heads of year have supported the process. In addition those elements of citizenship, which are to be delivered through religious studies, geography and English, have now been identified and those subjects involved have updated their schemes of work accordingly. It has been agreed that a coloured sticker will identify these citizenship topics in the students’ books. The new Key Stage 4 curriculum introduced in September 2004 left space for a further innovation when students move into Year 11 as the equivalent of an afternoon per week has been left available for the development of work related and personal interest courses. A link was made with Derby College with the intention of developing a taster course in Construction. Most areas of the school have committed themselves to the development of courses and work is under way on the writing of a course description booklet. Although meetings have taken place through the year to plan provision, a decision was taken to postpone implementation for one year because of illness. Mrs Borrington was appointed as the faculty leader for all vocational, work-related and enterprise learning and will now lead the development in consultation with the Head of Upper School for introduction in September 2006. The launch of the expanded flexible vocational curriculum post 16 was very successful in terms of uptake in AVCE Business and AVCE ICT. We had hoped to expand the curriculum still further with the development of a third course in Level 2 and 3 Travel and Tourism but there has been no uptake for September 2005. We will continue to promote the flexible route into Post 16 studies through these courses and Applied GCSEs next year. A review of the 2004/2005 Specialist School programme will be included in the application for re-designation to be submitted to the Specialist School Trust during the Autumn Term, 2005. The Specialist School Coordinator has reported back to the Pupils & Curriculum Committee of the governing body during the year. We have also considered the possibility of a second specialism within the Creative Arts area but information with respect to second specialisms has been delayed due to the General Election and, at the time of writing, we do not know whether we will be invited to apply. During 2003 and 2004 we undertook a review of the support staff structure in line with the national Workforce Agreement and increased responsibilities and changes in role for support staff. Throughout this academic year we have considered potential changes in the

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teaching staff structure. By December 31st 2005, there is a statutory requirement to review the whole staffing structure, with particular emphasis on the change from management responsibilities to teaching and learning responsibilities for teaching staff. As part of the review process, a forum meeting was held for all staff to consider the changes proposed by the School Teachers’ Review Board with respect to new teaching and learning responsibilities. A briefing session was also held for the Governors’ Personnel Committee. The current teaching staff structure was published after meetings had been held with each group of staff that potentially could be affected by the changes [CLT; Heads of Year; Curriculum Leaders; Heads of House]. Professional Associations were also consulted. The SLT spent an Away Day to discuss the Strategic Structure of the school with proposals for the full Governors, together with a rationale. Part of the Governors Away Day considered the SLT structure and also the new teaching and learning responsibility points. Due to the General Election, final details of the changes were delayed but we have now entered the formal consultation phase and this review will continue next year. From September 2005 there are new statutory arrangements for the inspection of schools. The new style OfSTED process means that all schools will be inspected on a three-year cycle rather than the current six-year cycle. The latest inspection advice suggests that, as a successful school, we might receive a ‘light touch’ inspection if we demonstrate that our self-evaluation procedures are well developed. Although our whole school improvement plan demonstrates that we are already involved in continuous self-evaluation as a whole school, all schools are now required to complete the new style Self Evaluation Forms [SEF] following in depth evaluation. The new arrangements mean that the school may receive as little as two days notice of an impending inspection. There will be no opportunity for a meeting with parents prior to the inspection, the inspection will be for two days with fewer inspectors than previously and the final report will be briefer. A significant amount of self-review has been undertaken to prepare the school for the new style inspection. The new SEF [Self Evaluation Form] has been considered in detail at CLT meetings throughout the year, at SLT meetings, at an SLT Away Day, at a Governor Away Day and at the staff forum. The results of the attitudinal surveys from staff, learners and parents have formed an integral part of the self-evaluation process for the school. In future this Annual Report may be replaced by the Self Evaluation Form to avoid duplication of information.

The ADMINISTRATION OFFICE continues to be responsible for the smooth day-to-day running of the school. The new Deputy Administration Officer has taken responsibility for all the cover arrangements within the school in line with the National Work Force Agreement. This has included the interview, appointment and training of two new Cover Assistants to work alongside teaching staff to substitute for absent teaching staff. The Office also has responsibility, through the Senior Invigilator for the invigilation of all external examination. For the first time this year external invigilators have been employed to invigilate external examinations instead of teachers as part of the Work Force Agreement.

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The use of the SIMs management system has continued to be rolled out with the introduction of the Electronic Registration system from September 2004. The SIMs system has also been integral to the introduction of a new Pupil Monitoring, Tracking and Reporting system which has been introduced and developed throughout the year. Staff have attended various courses and conferences, along with in-school staff training to help members of the administration team support these initiatives. The manual inventory system that the school has operated for many years has with effect from September 2004 transferred to a computerised version. Due to the amount of information held on the manual inventory this will take years to fully transfer to the computerised system as and when items are written off. Staff concerned with updating their department’s inventory schedule are being introduced to the new procedures as their needs arise. To initiate and become responsible for this new procedure and to generally assist the BURSAR’S OFFICE a Finance Assistant was appointed last year who has proved to be a valuable asset. The Curriculum Assistant who was appointed 18 months ago has established herself into her duties and is another valuable asset to the Curriculum staff. In September 2004 the next generation SIMS software package was installed in the SCHOOL OFFICE. This integrated the functions of many modules into one easily customisable area. The Office Manager attended a training course on SIMS.net Core (including simple and advanced reporting) which is a new and valuable tool providing the ability to generate reports via Microsoft Word and Excel. New daily absence lists are generated after each morning and afternoon registration to assist the pupil count in the event of emergency evacuation/fire drill. The new system has also made it easier to generate letters to parents regarding unauthorised absences. The old style Pupil Reports, previously collated by Office Staff, have been replaced with a computerised system. This year the LEA has introduced new admissions procedures which have run relatively smoothly. The BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Office came into existence in December 2004. The overseeing of the final stages of the building project has been very rewarding and pupils and staff have put the resulting Science, Maths and Sixth Form facilities to good use since we took possession in October, January and April. There has been a huge amount of refurbishment work completed throughout the school including total refit of the library which is now a bright vibrant teaching and study space. One of the oldest areas of the school, C block corridor, has also undergone a complete transformation with a bright colour scheme and new flooring. The refenestration work to replace many of our windows and curtain walling will be complete this summer. The main hall will receive a facelift were, as well as improving the aesthetics of the school, the new doors and windows will also improve the efficiency of our heating – reducing our overheads during the winter months. The MIDAS project continues to receive growing support from the community with a huge variety of fundraising events taking place throughout the year including the Annual Summer Ball, Concerts, Antiques events, a sponsored swim and of course the regular

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amounts of money raised by students. The school shop continues to provide a valuable service to students and now stocks a number of items of uniform as well as stationery. A thorough review of our school uniform supply has resulted in better value for parents and regular donations to the MIDAS project to reward the loyalty of our parents. The coming months see changes planned to staff facilities with the long awaited refit of the staff toilets and upgrading of some of our office accommodation. Great strides are being made in the renovation of some of the older parts of the school and a continuous programme of maintenance ensures that the school is a pleasant place to learn and work. The past 12 months in PERSONNEL have seen the successful continuation of the recruitment and selection system. The creation, last year, of master documents such as job descriptions, person specifications, interview questions, faculty information etc. have greatly improved efficiency and time management this year. These masters will now be built on year on year. A yearly Personal Review for all members of the Support Staff Team (SST) has been trialled and introduced over the past year. By the end of this academic year every member of the Support Staff team will have had a Personal Review. These reviews are proving to be very successful in that they give staff a chance to discuss all aspects of their jobs and to plan further training and development. Personnel has now become closely linked with CPD and Support Staff training has taken on a higher priority. Sessions are held specifically for the SST during Whole School Closure Days, staff development is better identified from the introduction of the Personal Review System and discussions during half-termly meetings of the Support Staff Team Leaders. CPD will be developed further for support staff over the next 12 – 18 months by the introduction of a formal Training Analysis and Training/Development Plans for the Support Staff Team, which will link to the Faculty and Whole School Improvement Plans. Administration for CPD is gradually being integrated into the Personnel role and when new office accommodation becomes available will be totally integrated. Within the ENGLISH FACULTY this year, several major curriculum changes from previous years have continued. At AS and A2 levels, major changes to all the texts and to the subject area for the final A2 synoptic paper are half way through. At GCSE level, changes to all the set texts for Literature have been implemented. At Key Stage 3, news that results would not be available until September has simply served to reduce further the relevance of these tests in pupils’ eyes. At the start of the year we welcomed Mrs McCormick and Miss Colton. We continue to be very fortunate in that we benefit from a very stable teaching force. The benefits which accrue from continuity are very evident. Throughout the year, development issues in the Faculty Improvement Plan have been addressed. We have also played an active part in the development of several whole school issues. A range of activities has taken place within school and staff have attended externally run courses on several issues. Once again, much of the focus has been on Key Stage 4 and A level developments but we have also been able to address several issues at

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Key Stage 3. Year 8 pupils identified as having ability in English have taken part in an after school project designed to enhance their interests and skills. Pupils in Year 9 who were identified as being on the border between Level 6 and Level 7 were given weekly booster classes. We have also begun to use interactive whiteboards in lessons and intend to develop this further next year. Extra-curricular activities have once more enhanced the opportunities we offer our pupils. Debating and Spoken English Competitions have again helped many of our students to hone their powers of argument and develop their confidence in public speaking. Both the Lower School and Sixth Form Spoken English Competitions produced excellent finals and, once again, the judges were delighted with the standard. As usual, our contributions to Prize Giving and the Carol Service were maintained by preparing readers, orators and chairs for these important school events. The Faculty has once again organized many theatre visits. The high point for A level students was seeing the 1999 Chicago production of Arthur Miller’s ‘Death of a Salesman’ which was revived at the Lyric Theatre in London. Year 7 students were thrilled by the RSC’s production of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. The whole of Year 11 benefited from seeing R.C. Sherriff’s ‘Journey’s End’ at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham. Results at all levels were again excellent. At Key Stage 3, 95% of pupils gained a Level 5 or above. At Key Stage 4, 87% of pupils achieved a grade C or above in English and 84% achieved this result in English Literature. At A level, 85% of our students gained an A or B grade. These results were described as the best A level English Literature results for girls from a non-selective state school in the country in ‘The Good Schools Guide’. The ARTS FACULTY consists of Art, Drama, Music and Physical Education. We support each other as much as possible during the year and of course tender for many of the same students on our extensive extra-curricular programme. Through the Faculty, pupils in the school enjoy many hundreds of hours of exciting and challenging activities. The ART DEPARTMENT has enjoyed another very successful and productive year achieving excellent examination grades, improving facilities and welcoming practicing artists into the department to work with students. Examination grades achieved were very pleasing and the Art department was delighted with the progress made by students following all examination courses. At GCSE level 96% of students achieved an A*-C grade, a 6% increase on the previous year. Amongst those 86 students, 16 achieved an A* grade and 25 achieved an A grade which is very pleasing to note. At AS level, students achieved a 100% pass rate with 69% gaining an A or B grade. Whilst at A2, students also achieved a 100% pass rate with 65% gaining an A or B grade. It is pleasing to highlight the success of one of our A2 students who attained the highest mark, along with four other candidates (nationally) out of a total of 4533 students following the AQA Fine Art course. Following the completion of the A2 course, a

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number of students have also successfully moved onto follow Art Foundation courses and Architecture degree courses. The department has improved its facilities for printmaking this year with the addition of a printmaking press for one of its teaching bases. An interactive whiteboard has also been installed and has helped staff and students enjoy the benefits of improved ICT facilities within the teaching and learning of the subject. The department’s long-term aim remains to improve its facilities for A’ level students by creating a suitable study space for independent study to take place. We are hopeful plans for this can be developed during the next academic year. A number of visits have been organised over the year and involved students from KS3, KS4 and A’ level. Year 9 students enjoyed an excellent day at the Liverpool Tate Gallery, observing artwork first hand from a number of different exhibitions. As part of their GCSE course Year 10 students participated in a field trip to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens to produce studies from the plant life housed there. The A2 course started with a visit to the Saatchi Gallery and the BP Exhibition in the National Portrait Gallery. All of the visits have been linked to work created by students themselves in the classroom. We have been very fortunate to welcome a number of practicing artists into the department from a range of different backgrounds and with skills covering a variety of disciplines. A group of Y7 and Y9 students spent the morning with the Aboriginal artist Francis Firebrace and created a range of wonderful Aboriginal paintings. Y12 students enjoyed a printmaking workshop with the printmaker Sarah Kirkby and developed new skills to help them during their A2 course. With the help of Leading Edge funding we have also planned a residency with the artist Laura Bacon during the summer term. Laura will be working with many gifted and talented students from Year 9 who intend continuing their Art studies on the GCSE course in Year 10. Everyone involved is very excited at the prospect of creating the large-scale willow sculptures during the residency. To end the year and celebrate students’ successes in the art, craft and design at Ecclesbourne, the department will be holding its third annual art exhibition. Work from all Key Stages will be represented within the display during the summer term. Looking back to the end of the previous academic year, the DRAMA department was very pleased with the production of ‘South Pacific’ which involved well over 100 students between the Drama & Music departments. Sadly, it was the last Porteous/Jackson production but we look forward to Mr Jones’ production of ‘Vampire’ which is currently in rehearsal and will be performed in July. Our A level students all performed particularly well, especially when value added grades were taken into account illustrating that our Drama students gained a grade higher than in the other subjects they took. Unfortunately, our GCSE grades were not as wonderful and this has been a major area for improvement for us this year. We battle with the 97%

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needed for an A* grade, we think that we have students of this standard but 97% remains an elusive figure for us. The most exciting development for us has been gaining a second space. Science no longer needed F4 as a laboratory so it was gutted and transformed into an ‘empty space’ for us during the October half-term. It has made a significant difference to our working lives and allowed twice as many students to rehearse at lunchtimes as well as easing the congestion at exam performance times. There was a great deal of very exciting performance work during the year, most of which took place in the evenings. In November, the A2 group staged their own devised work which was highly creative and left the audience slightly stunned as well as impressed. March was our busiest month with exam performances, the AS group presented a double bill over 2 evenings with ‘The House of Bernarda Alba’ by Lorca and ‘The Good Person of Sichuan’ by Brecht. These were followed a week later by the A2 interpretations of ‘The Crucible’ by Arthur Miller. We were delighted by all this work and look forward to seeing how it was assessed when the results come out in August. Key stages 3 and 4 were not deserted. We purchased a wide range of new texts for KS3 all of which have been well received and at KS4 we have produced our own guide to support students with their written coursework. We have also entered one of the GCSE groups into the Shakespeare Schools Festival, funded by Gifted and Talented money. This group will perform a half hour version of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Assembly Rooms in Derby in October 2005, this is already planned to be part of a large National event. We remain convinced by the value of live theatre and have taken trips to see ‘Blood Brothers, ‘Shakespeare’s Other Anne’, ‘Vincent in Brixton, ‘The Crucible’, ‘Starlight Express’, ‘The Ghost Downstairs’, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and ‘Hedda Gabler’. Our London theatre trip in July sold out the day we launched it but for those fortunate enough to have queued for a place, we are going to see ‘The Producers’ and ‘Phantom of The Opera’. Overall, another busy and relatively successful year. The academic year started well for MUSIC with excellent results in all the public examinations. However, the main focus of the year has been in supporting 2 new members of staff into a very busy department. Work on the Department’s policy for assessment and new schemes of work for Year 7 and Year 8 has continued in line with the K.S.3 Foundation strategy, these took into account the strengths of new colleagues. The department has at last received 5 new PC’s all of which are running Sibelius Music Software to replace the ones that were stolen last year and new security containers have been installed. Students are incorporating their use into class work and coursework, though continued breakdowns of the system have made work very difficult this year. The Department has continued its commitment to extra curricular activities and has run rehearsals for 3 or 4 ensembles every day. This year’ ensembles have included:

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Swing Band Saxophone Group Choir Senior Clarinet Choir Recorder Ensembles Recorder Consort Wind Band Flute Ensemble String Quartet Concert Band Jazz Quartet Orchestra

Junior Clarinet Choir Guitar Orchestra Year 10 Jazz group Several rock bands

Music in the community has continued to be an important part of our work and ensembles have taken part in Prize Giving, the annual carol service and 4 school concerts. Performances have also been given at the Midas Ball, both induction evenings and the Governor’s evening reception as well as the Baptist Church in Duffield, several fundraisers for the Foundation and the Duffield Friendship group. Over 200 students also performed at Kedleston Hall in December with a selection of seasonal music. This event was very well supported by parents and the general public. Emma Ryde represented the local Rotary Districts in their Derbyshire Musicians Concert at the Assembly Rooms. Several musicians entered this year’s Derby Arts Festival and there were many successes which are highlighted at the end of this report. The Department has also held and administered 2 ABRSM Special visits on a Saturday. A group of sixth formers – named Five Eighths of Swing have also rehearsed on a regular basis and performed at several venues in the locality. The work they did for the St Georges Day Dinner for the Hazlewood W.I helped them raise a large amount of money of which £230 was given as a donation to the department. One of the biggest events for this year has also been the production of Vampire with the Drama department. No mean feat as the text was written by the drama department and all the music composed and directed by Thomas Elston in the sixth form – for the first time Music department staff were able to be involved by playing in the band Despite the long hours the rewards of producing such a show are huge, both for pupils and staff, though the lack of suitable space for rehearsals, either for the band or the cast continues to be a problem and has an inpact on the quality of work that can be produced. . The A/S and A level musicians had the opportunity to work with Glyndebourne Opera Company this year and took part in an educational workshop at Stoke-on-Trent of Pelleas et Melisande by Debussy. This was then followed up with a visit to the final performance of the opera. One of the most exciting tasks this year was the Concert Band Tour of the Italy. Rehearsals took place every week in order to be able to produce nearly 2 hours of music for the concerts. 44 pupils and 5 staff(including 2 ex pupils) went on the tour during the Easter holidays and they played at 3 different venues in various parts of Tuscany. Audience numbers were very good and the band also had some good photos taken. Time was available to take in some of the local scenery in Florence, Pisa and Sienna. Despite the ever-increasing amount of paperwork and risk assessments this trip continues to provide a very valuable experience for all players.

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Year 12 and 13 exam students travelled to London to see the West End production of the Woman in White. The Upper 6th A level group gave some superb recitals as part of their final examinations and had a souvenier CD made of their work. Several of them will be continuing their musical studies further as they have been awarded places to study either music or performing arts. This year’s House Music Competition provided much entertainment and was adjudicated by Mr Paul Hilliam. The lack of space and correct facilities continues to be a problem. This will be even more notable in September due to the even bigger increase in pupils studying music to GCSE, AS and A level. The PHYSICAL EDUCATION Department was delighted with the outstanding GCSE and AS results achieved by this previous year’s cohort. The GCSE students outperformed their predicted grades achieving an A-C pass rate of 85% .The AS students achieved outstanding results and featured in the PANDA report having been placed in the top 5% Nationally. Once again there have been a number of notable sporting successes at Area, County, Regional and National level and these are listed at the end of this report. However, there are several outstanding team achievements worthy of mention at this point. The Under 16 Hockey Team were County champions, Midlands champions and most impressively, National champions. As a result, they featured in an article in School Sport Magazine and went on Radio Derby. We are very grateful to Belper Hockey Club for the support offered in terms of pitch and coaching time. The Under 14 Netball team were County champions and went on to represent Derbyshire in the East Midlands Tournament. The Junior and Intermediate Girls Cross-Country Teams reached the second round of the School’s Cross Country Cup. The U14 Netball team were County Champions. The U16 Girls Football team reached the ¼ finals of the ESFA National Tournament. The Junior and Intermediate girls and the Intermediate boys athletics teams reached the Regional A finals of the ESA Cup. The Junior boys athletics team attended the Regional B finals. The Girls U13 Tennis team were Area winners of the Nestlé Tennis Tournament and will go on to represent Derbyshire in the next round. The U13 Rugby Team were the Area and regional winners of the 12-a-side Emerging Schools Competition and went on to represent the East Midlands in the National Finals. The U12 Ruby Team were Area winners and Regional runners up in the said competition. The U12 Football Team were the Derby City Schools Cup Winners. The annual ski trip to Verbier was a huge success with 45 students having a memorable Swiss experience. BUSINESS STUDIES AND ECONOMICS have continued to enjoy success this year. All our courses have proved popular amongst students resulting in group sizes remaining large. A large number of our sixth form students have opted to continue studying economics or business studies at university. The AVCE course has seen its last year 12 students this year as it is to be replaced as a qualification by a new vocational A level. This is to be welcomed as it will mean that the students can study an AS level before

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continuing to the A2, previously the level was at A level throughout the course. Year 13 economics and business studies students went on our annual trip to Europe to visit the European Parliament and European Commission in Brussels and various large European businesses this year including Volvo trucks which took place in October. It was a unique and enjoyable experience for our students as it provided an insight and enhanced understanding into the workings of the European Union , meeting local M.E.Ps and visiting behind the scenes. We have further developed our links with Derby University Business School to enhance our students knowledge of marketing practices. Young Enterprise ran 2 groups this year. They produced a variety of items including, LP clocks, posters, calendars, hand-made Christmas and Valentine cards trading in the Eagle Centre in Derby at the Young Enterprise Trade Fair in March. Many of the group entered the examination and they all competed in the local YE competition. Our business advisers this year were from Rolls Royce and the Inland Revenue and we are very appreciative of their support in giving up their time each week to help the groups. Young Enterprise continues to provide a valuable opportunity for students to gain useful links with local business. The AS Business Studies course has also maintained its success both in terms of its popularity and its results and students participated in a conference at Staffordshire University. Our GCSE courses, also very popular amongst students, have enjoyed excellent results. We study many businesses and have also taken them out on visits to Peugeot and Toyota. The past year has once again been successful for the INFORMATION TECH-NOLOGY Faculty. Our exam results were good and reflected the hard work undertaken by the staff and students. The ICT Department has now embedded the Key Stage 3 National Strategy into its schemes of work. The benefits of this are starting to become evident in the increased ICT capability of the students at Key Stage 3 and beyond. Key Stage 4 continues to show improvements in the complexity and sophistication of students’ project solutions and this was reflected in the examination results. At Key Stage 5 the successful introduction of the AVCE ICT has allowed us to offer a different experience for our students in addition to A Level Computing. Once again Technology College Status and NGFL funding has enabled us to expand the ICT infrastructure of the school. This year has seen 22 Interactive whiteboard installations across the school giving all faculties capacity in this area. New installations include Ergo computer desks into Maths and Humanities faculties allowing classrooms to be used as computer rooms. Other new installations include Technology in B9, the Study rooms in the new Sixth Form Centre and an interactive installation in the Concert Hall. Our ongoing replacement programme continues with new PC’s in ICT, Science and Technology as well as staff laptops. The schools main Administration and Student network servers have been replaced and relocated. We have introduced Video editing facilities into the AVA department and carried out an upgrade to the school phone system to include Voice over IP technology. ICT services continue to support the whole school. We have provided the next level training for the schools Assessment and Reporting

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system. We have also continued to develop and maintain the schools’ management information system, including Sims. Net, Modelling and Construction, Exams Organiser, Assessment Manager and Attendance. The ENHANCED LEARNING Faculty has been fortunate to have had several building improvements, giving us the chance to have a resource audit enabling us to review and replace any out-of-date materials and also to share any ideas of good practice within the Faculty. The new space is welcomed as it provides a wonderful teaching area and a better venue for the daily Lunch Club. The extra space means we can support more activities as well as providing a quiet space for those who wish to do homework. Standardised tests for Reading and Spelling have also been reviewed. We felt this necessary not only because our current tests are a little dated but also to help with the access arrangements for external examinations. Tracking and monitoring the progress of Enhanced Learning students is an area we are currently developing. There are many ways we could use SIMS to our benefit. Discussions have taken place with the ICT Faculty in order to implement some of these ideas. Our contribution to the School Web Site is now in place. We will evaluate this next year and look at ways to improve/update the current information. Administration of our Annual Reviews for Statemented pupils has worked very well but some fine-tuning is still required. After much discussion with various personnel, the Head of Faculty has decided not to continue working towards the Inclusion Mark. The Basic Skills Quality Mark is better suited to our situation and the LEA, who is on hand to give help and advice when needed, has also adopted it. The Head of Faculty hopes to have the award early in the next academic year. Lucid, the dyslexia screening software package bought with Leading Edge money, has provided the Faculty with some interesting results. Twilight sessions have been used for training and discussion and we feel this will, in time, become a very useful tool for the Faculty in terms of identifying pupils’ needs. Setting user friendly targets for our statemented pupils has worked reasonably well but further thought is needed so that we can best support our pupils in setting meaningful targets for the future. Many of our pupils, for whom support has been essential, achieved very good GCSE, AS and A level results. These pupils continue to grow in confidence and it is extremely rewarding to all of us to monitor their progress. The Faculty has a dedicated team of Enhanced Learning Officers (ELOs) who provide invaluable support in all areas of the curriculum as well as supporting a social skills programme within the Faculty. In line with the LEA the school has undertaken a review of the role of the support staff within the Faculty.

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The Special Sports sessions continue to be very popular and several of our pupils have gained enormous benefit from these days. Book Buzz too was a success providing our pupils with another worthwhile and enjoyable day. This year two of our pupils have completed courses on the Learn for Work Programme at South East Derbyshire College. This has been rewarding and has provided the pupils with a wealth of experience. The HUMANITIES FACULTY consists of History, Religious Studies and Geography at Key Stage 3 and broadens out to include Health and Social Care and Leisure and Tourism at G.C.S.E. level. Broadening out even further for AS and A2 study, the Faculty also offers Sociology, Law, Government and Politics and an ‘in-house’ devised IDEAS course for our more able students! The Government and Politics Course is a new venture for us and has proved to be a popular alternative for some of our sixth form students. We have been fortunate to have had additional monies at our disposal this year and the difficulties we experienced with the wireless laptops we hope to have solved by converting A10 to a Geography ICT suite (whilst still remaining a mainstream classroom) with new desks with computers attached. In particular this should enable our Geographers to have much better access to the resources they need. With Mr James taking over the role of Leading Edge co-ordinator for the school, it was good to see some Humanities staff bidding to do projects that will enhance the learning of our pupils. In particular Mr Gunn has become an expert in the field of the interactive whiteboard, and Miss Tordoff continues to develop many new resources and teaching strategies under the banner of ‘Wired for Learning’. It has been an extremely busy time for the GEOGRAPHY Department as we have come to terms with a significant number of resource developments, whilst welcoming the opportunities provided by new initiatives and building upon our strong team ethos. The year started well with some outstanding examination results. GCSE grades were some of the best on record, particularly for the boys, which made a welcome change from our previous concerns over gender disparities, with the students gaining 85% A*-C grades overall. We also trialled entering the year 10 students for an external module in June and they didn’t disappoint! 98% of them were awarded A*-C grades, convincing us that staggering their entries over the course can have its benefits. AS results surpassed previous years, with 93% of the students gaining A/B grades (national average = 41%). Meanwhile, A2 results were also a new record, with 68% of the students being awarded A/B grades (national average = 51%). Clearly the staff are getting something right when it comes to preparing the students for their modules, but the pressures to perform in the examinations are balanced with our aim to provide students with the best possible geographical experiences throughout their courses.

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KS3 courses continue to develop, although pressures of time mean that we find it a challenge to meet the requirements of the National Curriculum in full, whilst giving the students the chance to explore the subject in more detail, using different teaching and learning styles. Work on implementing the Foundation Subjects Strategy, has seen an increasing number of starters and plenaries in class, with regular use being made of the interactive whiteboard. Indeed, departmental staff have become quite competitive in their use of ICT, with the number of shared Smart and Powerpoint presentations growing daily! ICT has been a major area for development throughout the year. All staff have taken the opportunity to further develop their skills through courses and we have eagerly taken advantage of new hard and software that has become available, incorporating them into our teaching. A considerable amount of software has been purchased and it is presently being reviewed for inclusion into the schemes of work. In particular, the department is involved in a project, alongside two other secondary schools, to introduce the Geographical Information System (GIS) into the classroom. This will allow the students to manipulate digital maps, aerial photos and data to enhance their understanding of geographical concepts and improve their spatial awareness. There is also a project to support local primary schools in using GIS software with students at KS1 and KS2, although any form of collaboration with colleagues in other schools can be very problematical in terms of combining diaries! The department is now beginning to make more active use of the departmental sub-site on the school’s website in order to improve student access to resources and information outside of the classroom and we intend to encourage this with students at all levels in the coming year. The most recent ICT advance has been the most exciting, with computer desks now installed in A10 awaiting connection to the network. It is hoped that the department will be able to confidently plan more hands-on use of ICT for the pupils in lessons with this improved access. One common theme throughout this year has been a strong sense of working together as a team in the department, sharing our ideas, supporting the use of ICT both as individuals and with the students, developing a revised KS4 scheme of work with a common set of resources. It is hoped that, with each other’s support, we will continue to be successful in encouraging our students to appreciate the vital role that geographical understanding plays in every day life throughout the coming academic year. The HISTORY Department has maintained a high level of success at both GCSE and GCE. For the second year running the A2 groups achieved a 100% success and GCSE students taking both the full and the short courses enjoyed great success too. Numbers of students opting to continue History at GCE and GCSE level continue to swell – next year there will be five large groups for GCSE and three groups at AS and A2. The department has made good use of IT facilities. There are two interactive whiteboards within the department and Mr Gunn has been active in the Leading Edge initiative in developing resources. A large amount of resources have been developed which can be

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shared within the department and the school and it is intended to make these available to teachers outside Ecclesbourne. The department is particularly pleased with the development of the departmental website. Though still very much a work in progress pupils are able to access revision materials and help on homework. The department also provided A level students with an email link enabling them to submit essays they had written in preparation for the examinations in the summer. This seemed to work well and will be continued in the future. The RELIGIOUS STUDIES Department is very excited to welcome Miss Owen back (or should I say Mrs Moore!) to the department after a ten-year absence! Many of you reading this will no doubt remember what an excellent teacher she was and how sorry we were to lose her to take up a post in the ministry and eventually move to America. Miss Owen will be a great addition again to the department and her experience with teaching at A level should give us greater flexibility with our timetabling organisation. Results for the last academic year were again very pleasing. There have been enough cohorts going through the new specification now to adjudge that our decision to choose options without the coursework element has considerably benefited our pupils in a number of ways. An 87% higher grades pass rate giving a positive ‘value added’ is testimony to the hard work of staff and pupils alike in the Religious Studies Department. Exactly 50% of our G.C.S.E entry achieved an A or A*.AS results were good although there is clearly a pattern emerging now indicating that students know they can probably achieve a higher number of points if they re-sit in the January session in the Upper Sixth! At A2 level students again gained 100% pass rate with a positive coefficient showing again the ‘value added’ that the department gives, with two thirds of the cohort achieving the top two grades. As per the Humanities Faculty improvement plan, the Religious Studies handbook for ourselves has been updated with the new module 2 for G.C.S.E being completed as we have moved through this new course this year. Leading Edge initiatives have allowed the department to be at the forefront of SEDSSIP (South East Derbyshire Secondary Schools Improvement Plan) development and we have hosted group meetings here at Ecclesbourne and our INSET was warmly received by other schools. Thanks go to Mr Brown for his work in this direction. Mr James continues to foster links within SEDSSIP and further afield with schools in Leicestershire and Warwickshire as part of the innovation and collaboration between schools as a Government initiative. We hope to report our progress in this area next year. On the horizon next February Mr James is running a visit for Year 10 and above pupils to visit the Jewish ghettoes at Krakow in Poland and also Auschwitz – Birkenau. This will no doubt be an interesting and moving experience for all. An exciting development for the department has been the acquisition of interactive whiteboards in both A7 and A8.A few teething problems at the time of writing but full use of these wonderful resources will be made in the next academic year. As regards visits this year, the department was able to collaborate with a local Primary School and

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assist 90 year 3 and 4 pupils to the Hindu Mandir in Leicester (a sight to behold!) and we welcomed some staff and pupils from Kirk Hallam school on our usual Beth Shalom visits with year 9 in February. LAW continues to be a popular option at both AS and A level. Students continue to attain high grades with most students gaining at least one grade higher than projected. The January examinations continued to be a success allowing the students the opportunity to maximise their final grades both in the Upper and Lower Sixth. Resources continue to be developed. There have been new textbooks for both AS and A level and now the School is sharing good practice and resources with Emmanuel School in Nottingham as they embark upon their first year of teaching the subject. The Association of Law Teachers continues to provide valuable support and it is hoped that further links will be developed in the coming year. Overall this has again been another successful year for the SOCIOLOGY Department both, generally and in terms of academic performance. The department has moved to a new base, this time not in a temporary building, although whether this will remain its base is still uncertain. Resources have continued to expand with new text books and various IT packages to provide greater flexibility in teaching and learning. Numerically, too, the subject remains popular and the retention rate into A2 is gratifyingly high, whilst projected numbers for the upcoming year are again very good. Academically all aspects were very pleasing with the year group who took their final examinations in 2004, but who fall within this reporting period, achieving an excellent set of grades as 75% attained grades A-C, whilst on average both males and females achieved approximately one grade higher than might have been expected. This year’s upper sixth cohort, too, is also on track to achieve a good set of grades. As a result of the January exams it is possible to see how well students have done so far with only one exam, plus possible retakes, to go. Overall the picture looks good as over 66% have already achieved grade D or better, with two students already very close to Grade A. For the first time in recent years the lower sixth have not taken any examinations in January but took all their AS examinations in May. The rationale for this change was to allow more time for teaching the ever expanding syllabus but it does mean that the students don’t get any real experience of the AS examinations, a factor which will be reviewed when the results are analysed. The GOVERNMENT & POLITICS course ran for the first time this year. The focus at AS Level has been Politics in the UK. The group of 11 students has completed all three modules. One of the modules was examined in January. The module produced results that covered the whole spectrum of grades. On feedback, time management appeared to be a key issue for many students to explain any under-performance. All three modules require the students to complete the paper in 1 hour which, in my judgement, is a very tall order. I have been pleased with the enthusiasm and commitment of the group and this was helped by the fact that there was a general election during the course of the year! The

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group have had the opportunity to work on group projects and produce presentations to their peers. Increasing use of ICT within the course has been a feature. The presence of an interactive whiteboard has increased the range of possibilities. Given the nature of the subject it has been vital that students have kept abreast of political developments through the media, especially the printed press. HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE is very much in its infancy as we await the results of the first small cohort to complete the course. It is pleasing to note the fast growing interest for the course as numbers of students who have opted for the vocational course have more than doubled in Year 9 preparing to start in September 2005. A variety of resources are gradually being built up and we now have a teaching base that is a vast improvement on the previous temporary classroom. Links are being forged with care settings such as Babbington Hospital, local G.P. practices, Early Years settings and care homes for the elderly. Students are introduced to work related learning through work placements and plans are being put in place to invite care professionals in to school which would further enrich the delivery of this course. The past year has once again been successful for the INFORMATION TECH-NOLOGY Faculty. Our exam results were good and reflected the hard work undertaken by the staff and students. The ICT Department has now embedded the Key Stage 3 National Strategy into its schemes of work. The benefits of this are starting to become evident in the increased ICT capability of the students at Key Stage 3 and beyond. Key Stage 4 continues to show improvements in the complexity and sophistication of students project solutions and this was reflected in the examination results. At Key Stage 5 the successful introduction of the AVCE ICT has allowed us to offer a different experience for our students in addition to A Level Computing. Once again Technology College Status and NGFL funding has enabled us to expand the ICT infrastructure of the school. This year has seen 22 Interactive whiteboard installations across the school giving all faculties capacity in this area. New installations include Ergo computer desks into Maths and Humanities faculties allowing classrooms to also be used as computer rooms. Other new installations include Technology in B9, the Study rooms in the new Sixth Form Centre and an interactive installation in the Concert Hall. Our ongoing replacement programme continues with new PCs in ICT, Science and Technology as well as staff laptops. The School’s main Administration and Student network servers have been replaced and relocated. We have introduced Video editing facilities into the AVA department and carried out an upgrade to the school phone system to include Voice over IP technology. ICT services continue to support the whole school. We have provided the next level training for the School’s Assessment and Reporting system. We have also continued to develop and maintain the School’s management information system, including Sims. Net, Modelling and Construction, Exams Organiser, Assessment Manager and Attendance. IDEAS has continued to revisit and refine the best of the existing menu and added a few new delicacies. These include “Socratic Just A Minute” where the regular radio sins are

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replaced with the need to spot rhetorical devices, conclusions, analogies and sarcasm. We suspect that Plato would approve. We would argue with him if he did not. Careful savings in the IDEAS budget over the last two years will allow us to complete the surround sound cinema system being fitted in the classroom in the Sixth Form Centre and invite some serious use of film for the next year as another addition to the smorgasbord. That really would amuse and challenge the ancient thinkers. For the LANGUAGES Faculty the year 2004 – 2005 followed a familiar pattern, significant dedication, valuable development and frustrating disappointments. Colleagues continued to go beyond the mere accomplishment of their professional duties to offer enriching experiences for pupils in all three languages. Year 9 pupils enjoyed a new French Drama in October, performed for them by the visiting Onatti Group. In January they benefited from the advice and thoughts of a number of visiting professionals, brought in to outline the application of foreign language skills in the world of work. In February, a large group of pupils in years 12 and 13 visited Paris as part of the preparation for their May Orals and their Coursework. A further 45 pupils from years 7 and 8 added a touch of reality to their studies by taking part in the July ‘ Taste of France ‘ venture. The new French link with Montpellier provided a large number of year 10 pupils with pen-friend contacts. Some of these have flourished. However the anticipated exchange in April failed to achieve sufficient support and is now on hold. The German exchange similarly lacked interest this year and foundered, although at the time of compiling this report about a dozen pupils have enrolled to take part in 2006 and a small group of Year 8 pupils have agreed to host a visiting Austrian Group in July. The Deutsche post Letternet Organisation provided an opportunity for a useful number of pupils to exchange correspondence over the past year. A German film club ran each Thursday lunchtime. Numbers were sometimes small but there was a strong nucleus of interest from Year 8 to Year 12. A parallel experience was offered in Spanish with similar support and success. Pupils in Years 10 and 12 were also involved in a class link with a school in Valencia which will develop further in 2006 when, during the February half-term break, some pupils meet their counterparts in Spain. Development within the Faculty covered examination of new methodologies and further definition of curriculum content. Feedback forms from pupils in Years 8,9,10,12 and 13 emphasised, not surprisingly, the wide range of tastes to please in every classroom, but also, usefully, an agenda for future development plans. These feedback questionnaires informed the Faculty’s self-evaluation to a great degree permitting one also to report on pupils in a more enlightened manner. There was a strong focus within the Faculty on redesigning some lesson materials to exploit the interactive whiteboard facilities in 3 of the Language classrooms. Attendance at inset from outside agencies, as well as in-house, is accelerating development in this domain. A leading edge mini project produced teaching and individual reinforcement activities for a whole unit of work in year 7 French, for home consumption. Work is currently underway on a second unit, slightly less ambitious in its scope, so as to be more manageable for pupils. A start was made to

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provide materials for interest and consolidation on the language arm of the school web-site. A grammar guide was piloted by one colleague for pupils in year 7. A revision handbook for G.C.S.E. German and a preparation guide for AS French received rewardingly positive comment. The existing French G.C.S.E. guide was upgraded in the light of pupils’ observations. Refinements were made to assessment materials in all three languages and a number of policies reviewed to bring them closer to current thinking and practice. The policies on target language use and on marking will be revisited in the next academic year. Towards the end of the year ‘ gained time ‘ was absorbed preparing individual teacher course packs for French ready for issue to colleagues for September 2005. The detailed description of courses, and differentiation by grouping whenever possible, enable colleagues to come close to meeting the learning needs of a very high proportion of pupils. This is in line with the school’s policy on challenging all children and the government’s emphasis on the importance of every child. The development of particular quality materials to meet varying needs will continue to be an agenda focus for years to come. The developments described above are a tribute to the resilient efforts of colleagues to maintain positive attitudes to foreign language learning despite their cerebral nature and the intellectual rigour needed for success. It is a disappointment that 40% of our pupils elect to cease study now at the end of Key Stage 3 but a delight that many of the 60% who currently continue their study frequently do so to a gratifyingly high level. In 2004 G.C.S.E. results in Spanish were quite outstanding. In G.C.S.E. French one pupil received special mention by the board for being one of the top 5 performers out of 163,000 nationwide. In A2 French all 5 pupils achieved grade A. The most radical development in the LIBRARY has been the redecoration and refurbishment project. The room has been transformed by the purchase of a new carpet and brand new wall shelving and mobile island units. The mobile furniture will allow us to alter the topography of the room, making the Library a more adaptable space which may be used for certain lessons and special events, such as author visits and book promotion activities.We will be able to put this into practice this term with a visit from writer, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Frank has written the screenplay and the book entitled ‘Millions’ and he will be talking to all Year 9 pupils about his experience as a writer. His book has also been included on the shortlist of titles nominated for the Carnegie Medal. In July, Ecclesbourne plays host to ten other local secondary schools when we hold a Carnegie Medal afternoon. The pupils gain an opportunity to talk to other students about the books listed. They then place a vote for their own favourite title. We are also partnering Fernwood School in Nottingham who have not had a Shadowing team before. Our other July event, Book Buzz is in the advanced planning stages. This year we have booked Martin King, a local storyteller to lead one of the sessions. Other activities will be swimming, craft and clay, non-book reading and puzzle games. Continuing with book promotion we piloted a Year 7 club this year during Wednesday lunchtimes. Pupils were involved in puzzles, games, book treasure hunts and other bookish activities. This went very well and will be carried on into the next academic year. There are plans to introduce a Puzzle Club too using equipment which is being purchased to support Book Buzz Day.

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The intention is that the site should act as a portal into the World Wide Web giving children access to useful hot lists of sites relevant for their work. As part of the development we began ‘Booklesbourne’ our own online book review site. Pupils can post reviews of the books they have been reading and once they have been checked by staff the reviews are placed ‘live’ onto the Internet. The reviews give students ideas of titles they may like to read for themselves and they can also be used by the staff as an exercise in English. We have invited the local children’s librarian to be a guest reviewer. In March, together with colleagues from the English department we were again invited to take a small group of Year 10 pupils to Matlock for the Young Persons Reading Debate. In May we co-operated with staff from the local public library service who wanted to survey branch library usage and reading habits of the younger pupils. All Key Stage 3 pupils took part and the results are still being analysed. We have also agreed to survey Year 10 students and a random group of younger pupils for a national survey which is being organised by Reading Connects (a DfES National Reading Campaign Initiative). Library staff have been involved in Continuing Professional Development throughout the year. Mrs Holmes has continued to co-ordinate the SEDSSIP Librarians group, whilst developing her role as Examinations Officer. Similarly, under the ‘Leading Edge umbrella’ Mrs Smith has been organising a self-help group for school librarians who use the Heritage Library Management system. Mrs Smith has been asked to contribute to the Derbyshire Event ‘Hooked on Reading’ by taking part in the Best Books Panel. She will also be giving a short presentation to the Nottingham Education Library Service, Internet User Group on a small scheme of work designed to improve students’ recognition and evaluation of web sites. The most exciting and long anticipated event of the year was the handover of the new MATHEMATICS classrooms, which were occupied from February onwards. Pupils have certainly benefited from the calm ambience of the well-equipped rooms and it has been wonderful to have all the Maths staff in close proximity to one another and to be able to use the excellent working facilities. This has meant that there has been a sharing of good practice on an informal, but daily basis. The new interactive whiteboards have added a new dimension to the teaching of Mathematics and although we must regard their use as one tool among many in the teaching of the subject, we are certainly finding it an exciting experience. So far two members of the faculty have attended courses on the use of the whiteboards and have disseminated their knowledge to the other members of staff. We all still have a great deal to learn but we have a team of teachers here who all relish the challenge. The Leading Edge funding has contributed to our progress in this area and we have Mrs Rafferty working on the improvement of A level teaching through the use of ICT. Through this funding and the E learning credit system we have been able to purchase some suitable software which has already been of real use to our students.

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Mrs Arnott has overseen the smooth transition to the new ‘A’ level and ‘A/S’ level courses by rewriting the schemes of work in line with the new specification and very efficiently ensuring the availability of a variety of past papers. We have also begun to prepare suitable, regular assessments for our students throughout the course. The aim of this is that students will constantly be aware of their progress and given advice on how to improve. The cohort of students studying Maths during this academic year has contained a significant number for whom we feel the subject has proved too demanding. Extra lunchtime lessons were put on by the Maths staff and those students who attended these lessons regularly really appreciated this provision. Mrs Boyd has continued to work with students in our current year 9 to try to improve the level attained in the SAT examinations by those students who have found the subject difficult. We have worked with the local advisory service and have been given and developed some excellent materials for the improvement of routine techniques. Parents of the students participating in this programme were invited to attend an evening where we explained some of the techniques we were using and supplied them with materials they could use with their children at home. Unfortunately only four sets of parents attended but those who did found the evening very rewarding. As a consequence of this work we hope to extend some of the methods used in year 9 to years 7 and 8. The UK Maths Challenges have again formed an integral part of our departmental calendar. A group from year 8 took part in the team challenge held at Nottingham University where they were in competition with teams from other schools. This proved to be an enjoyable afternoon during which they were able to use the mathematics they had learned in school in a problem –solving context. We await the results of the year 8 written challenge and we were delighted to have three students awarded the gold certificate in the Intermediate Challenge in year 10. Zak Morritt got through to the next stage, The Olympiad, in which he was awarded a distinction; this was a great achievement. We are intending to continue with these challenges as they really do stretch the more able. We have been delighted this academic year to have had the opportunity to extend even more of our bright pupils in year 11. Thanks to a more generous staffing allowance this year we were able to run an extra group in year 11. As a result a further 19 students took their GCSE Mathematics qualification at the November sitting –all gaining at least an A grade. These students were then joined by those from the top set who had already obtained a GCSE the previous summer and who now wanted the opportunity to study for GCSE Statistics instead of following the A level course. This staffing enhancement has been a real boon to our pupils –long may it continue. Our success as a department in the external examinations of the summer of 2004 gave the members of the faculty a well deserved pat on the back. At A level all our students studying Further Mathematics obtained double A grades and 53% of those studying A level as a single subject also obtained an A grade. In the GCSE examination 86% of our students obtained the A* to C grades and the year 10 students who were entered for the examination a year early did exceptionally well in obtaining seventeen A*s and 18 A

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grades. None of these successes would be achievable without the dedication and commitment of the staff who have given tirelessly of their time. We have all been delighted to hear that the ‘Good Schools Guide’ has nominated the faculty as the best in the country of non selective schools in the A level Mathematics results. Perhaps even more prestigious was the findings of the Panda report which put the A Level Mathematics results in the top 5 % of all schools in the country. Since this statistic includes all selective schools and all private/ public schools in the country, we feel very proud to have achieved this standard. We have welcomed into the department this academic year Miss Nicholls who is embarking on a new career in the teaching profession and Mr Stapley who brings with him the experience of teaching elsewhere. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND CITIZENSHIP now includes sex and relationships education (SRE), careers education and guidance, drugs education and citizenship. This is provided at Key Stage 3 through tutors and on specially developed days. This year Year 8 took part in a Health Day that was supported by several external agencies including the school nurse, Connexions and the Smoking Cessation group. As part of the SRE/drugs programmes we have had Buzz - an interactive play on the subject and Strings a play which looks specifically at the issues around sexual relationships. This play was seen by Year 10 pupils. The Real Game is the basis of careers education in Year 8. To this end pupils experience the Careers in Science module, Enterprise day and options launch. Parents/carers are invited to an options choice evening. All Year 10 pupils took part in the work experience process. Year 11 pupils were made aware of post-16 option choices in the PDC (Personal Development and Citizenship) lessons by a variety of external agencies including Connexions. A post-16 options evening was held for parents/carers as well as pupils. The Rotary Club of Derby gave mock interviews to Year 12 students, an event which the young people found very valuable. Most of Year 13 students were involved in UCAS applications or reviewing the advantages of a gap year. The SCIENCE FACULTY has had a much more settled year with staffing: Mr Green was appointed Head of Subject for Chemistry and we welcomed Mr Smillie into the Chemistry department. We were also able to extend two temporary appointments into this year - Mrs Winwood and Mrs Kemp have continued to develop some of the strands identified in the KS3 Strategy and integrate them into our schemes of work. Mrs Gray was promoted to be team leader technician for the school gaining formal recognition for the role she has undertaken over the last few years and lastly but certainly not least we bade Dr Houlding, a fond farewell at the end of the year for a well-deserved retirement after 33 years of teaching at Ecclesbourne. We were delighted to take over our new laboratories at the beginning of November after months of disruption. This has increased the number of laboratories and enabled us to rationalise science provision into two areas of the school. The new labs are equipped with modern equipment and provide an excellent up to date learning environment for the

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students. In addition, minor alterations to preparation rooms, refenestration of the B block labs, a dedicated workroom for some of the science teachers and improved computer facilities have improved the working conditions for staff. Five laboratories are now fitted with interactive whiteboards and all the Science pupil computers have been either replaced or upgraded. We have purchased or developed suitable software for use both interactively and by individual students in the computer suites. At KS 3 the major projects continued. Mrs Winwood has led a pilot study into integrating the principles from the Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education Project into our schemes of work. She has worked with other science teachers to substitute parts of our scheme of work with the purchased materials to gauge the response of staff and students with the aim of starting a complete review and rewrite of our scheme of work next year. In the meantime she is identifying areas of our existing course where the materials are useful to enable all teaching staff to get familiar with it prior to a final decision being made. She has also organised and delivered CASE INSET for teachers/support staff as necessary and supported teachers/support staff in their delivery of the CASE project. Mrs Kemp has continued to work closely with the science consultants and our feeder primary schools to complete the delivery of the transition unit: Y6 teachers have visited Ecclesbourne to observe Y7 lessons and Ecclesbourne teachers have visited the primary schools during their delivery of the Y6 part of the unit; she has organised the second phase of the transition unit (necessary because some of the primaries have mixed year classes) and guided Y7 teachers through the final part of the unit during the few weeks of September. She has also organised booster lessons for selected Y9 students approaching their SATs, teaching some of the lessons herself and worked closely with Enhanced Learning to deliver the rest. She has encouraged staff to start developing three part lessons, providing ideas and materials as appropriate. We made a major contribution towards Y8 Technology Day organising and staffing four activities and all of Y7 enjoyed their day at Derby University’s SciTech festival. At KS4, we are very pleased with our GCSE and Entry Level results again but have refrained from any major development because of the change in specification due for implementation in September 2006. The Heads of Subject for Science have attended two courses to look at the drafts of the specifications that will be on offer and hope to start making final decisions on the form of KS4 Science curriculum early in the academic year 2005-6 to give us plenty of preparation time. Mr Holberton organised the ordering of revision guides for Y10 and Y11 to assist the students during their preparation for exams. The success of Science at post 16 continues with 16 groups in total. We continue to analyse our results in depth and survey the opinion of students and staff as part of self-evaluation and have taken the relevant action to eliminate weaknesses. The physics department have started producing a centralised bank of resources on the School network starting with A level but hope to extend this down through the year groups and the Biology Department have reviewed their coursework assignments and produced workbooks for all the modules. The Chemistry Department have reorganised the ‘A’ level coursework and published a guidance handbook. The chemists, physicists and moles enjoyed ‘The last of the Mermaids’ field trip to Wales organised by Dr Houlding

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and Biology have run two field trips – the upper sixth spent two days in the Peak District and the lower sixth attended a very successful residential field trip at Malham Tarn. Physicists had the opportunity to attend a very interesting lecture on nanotechnology and four students also competed in the Physics Olympics. Training has been varied to attempt to meet the needs of the individual as well as the requirements of the School and the curriculum. Mr Smillie has attended courses for NQTs, Dr Houlding has ‘prepared for retirement’, Mr Brown spent three days on the use of SIMS ‘examination organiser’ and ‘performance analysis’ modules and Mrs Wood was invited to be a team leader at the Salters’ Chemistry A level technicians forum. Representatives from the Science Department have also taken part in KS3 strategy meetings, Examination Board feedback meetings, hands on courses on interactive whiteboard use in Science and Specialist School Status meetings. We are excited about the ideas for further development of ICT in science discussed with the ICT consultant. A small team of staff co-ordinated by Mr Holberton are working with the ICT support team to develop the Science Faculty internet sub site and are also setting up a system for the sharing of computer produced resources and Mr Small has started investigating how Duffield Millennium Meadow can be used by us as a resource, particularly with our younger students. As part of Leading Edge Initiatives, we hosted the SEDSSIP Technicians group in April and were able to discuss the laboratory build/refurbishment with an interested sub group before the meeting started. We have also welcomed a number of prospective PGCE students to observe our lessons to enable them to be well prepared for applying for a relevant course and helped technicians from other schools with specific problems. We have worked with the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) and the ICT support team to develop systems for monitoring progress, tracking pupils and reporting which was complicated by the fact that years 9 – 11 have three science teachers and developed Science specific procedures for the induction of new teachers. We further developed and amended an administrative year planner for science – necessary because of the changes in both teaching personnel and responsibilities and the fact that the introduction of the workload agreement has resulted in us having more administrative support ably provided by our technicians, in particular, Mrs Allsobrook. We have updated the Faculty Handbook incorporating the changes in personnel and responsibilities, new Health and Safety guidance and amended policies to be in line with whole School developments. The TECHNOLOGY Faculty has now completed the fourth year of Technology College status and has endeavoured to reach the targets set. The CDT and Textiles areas have again supported our feeder schools with more schools joining the scheme. This gives the opportunity for pupils starting their secondary education in September to enrich their understanding and working knowledge of Technology. We have targeted this enrichment for all, throughout the key stages, with another Technology Day for KS3 Year 8 students enjoying an even more ambitious programme and with more faculties joining the programme. We acknowledge with sincere thanks the

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local industries that unstintingly give their time and effort to ensure the pupils gain a worthwhile experience. The Derbyshire Education Business Partnership has again sponsored the event. Our development of Technology enrichment days has created much interest from other schools with staff visiting the school to gain advice on how to run this type of event; this in turn has supported our leading edge status activities. In Year 9 students at the end of the academic year have been able to start their chosen GCSE Technology course, giving them an opportunity to be well prepared for the courses in September. This year students in Y10 have been given three periods compared with two previously. This has had a profound effect on the majority of students with the quality of work produced and the increased knowledge base improving considerably compared with previous years. Colleagues are confident that next year these students will exceed their predicted grades significantly. Our current year 11 students have had the opportunity to visit events and businesses to find suitable employment for those who wish to take this route into meaningful employment. Rolls Royce apprentices have also been to the CDT department to talk to students about engineering careers. All Departments within the Faculty have benefited from increased ICT equipment provision. In January 2005 Textiles staff organised a Leading Edge Project training to use the digital printer. This is the latest technology available to schools and has proved very popular with Textiles and Graphics students. Lindsay Fidler, of EDCON (educational consultants) in Mansfield, has helped us considerably with our development of ICT during this year. Despite a few software hiccups, Speed-Step is up and running and both Textile teachers are now accredited teachers of Speed-Step. The development of Smart Board technology across the Faculty is gathering pace with Smart Boards fitted in a number of rooms and is used extensively. Staff are now in the process of developing lessons using Smart Board and PowerPoint software. In Textiles the textbook they have developed for GCSE and A Level is now being updated in electronic format so that they can be used with the Smart Board to provide Power Point lessons. All Faculty staff have been introduced to Web page development as a major way to support the teaching and learning initiative. Mr Croxall has provided all Departments with a website. It is already being used by Textiles to develop an online resource for our pupils and all Departments within the Faculty should be on stream by the New Year. All Departments are using the opportunity that the new technologies bring to upgrade all syllabuses. In CDT the CNC router is now being used by Year 7 and 8 pupils and in Textiles some changes have been made to the syllabus inYear8 and 9 to reflect technological changes, covering smart and technical textiles and greater use of the digital printer. With healthy eating now a National priority the Food Department have played a leading role in reviewing current eating provision at School and supported new developments and initiatives including the Healthy Lifestyles Day for Year 8 supported by Derby College.

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This year at the Induction Evenings the Faculty mounted an impressive display of work that had been produced during the year and for the first time the event took place in the new Ecclesbourne Centre. This year has also seen a range of joint displays between Food and Textiles in the reception area. We have also had the opportunity to welcome numerous visitors from other schools to show them the work we do. During this year B5 and B9 have been refurbished. This is an ongoing programme to bring both classrooms up to standard. The year has seen major staffing changes, Mr Sale our CDT technician retired at Christmas after 18 years service and we welcomed Mr Chandler as his replacement. Miss Foulkes and Mrs Morris joined the Textiles Department and Mr Allen joined the CDT Department. Mrs Coxon, our former Head of Textiles has also returned to cover for staff illness, which has been much appreciated. Mr Minton retires from his post as Head of Faculty at the end of the year and Mr Dalby will take over this position in September. Some teething problems have occurred with Assessment Manager which still need to be dealt with in order to make this system manageable, especially for part time staff within the FOOD TECHNOLOGY FACULTY. It has been a successful year for AS Food with a very high standard achieved by the students with their coursework. All students are carrying through to A2. An evaluation of the year is taking place with improvements put in place. The A2 scheme of work is at the planning stage for implementation Sept 2005. Healthy Eating Curriculum.

• Regular meetings have taken place with parents, governors, students, teachers, Catering Manager and Bursar. These meetings have reviewed the present situation of the vending machines and school lunches.

• Questionnaires have been carried with parents and students and the results have been recorded and analysed.

• Some recommendations have been implemented. A very successful and interesting display was produced this year for the Induction Evening. Much hard work was carried out by our Technician, who photographed work throughout the year which has made it possible to record the high quality of work which students in the department have produced. Throughout the Healthy Lifestyles week K.S. 3 students carried out work on healthy desserts. This work has formed part of the display in the library. On Technology Day Year 8 students worked with Derby College as a production team, producing healthy pizzas which would be suitable to be sold in a delicatessen. They were presented with a certificate to acknowledge their work. Year 10 students designed and made a variety of cakes and the profit was given to the MIDAS fund.

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Mr James took over the role of Coordinator of the LEADING EDGE programme at Ecclesbourne. With finance available to support teaching and learning innovations alongside collaboration with other schools in SEDSSIP, we were able to invite staff to propose interesting and innovative projects to complete this academic year. All major project initiatives were approved and the school has been able to benefit from this additional expertise in a wide variety of areas. Mr Gunn has been developing skills using the interactive whiteboard in History. Having initially set up some INSET with Lees Brook School and liaising with Bennerley School, a demonstration of teaching and learning styles and strategies was given to the Humanities Faculty. Mrs Rafferty produced Sixth Form interactive materials for Maths and Physics teaching, purchasing a package that assisted the delivery of this particular project, further enhancing the learning experience of our students in these two popular A level options. Mrs Knight collaborated with Mr Illingworth who is Head of English at Woodlands School to develop and extend innovation and excellence in English for some Year 8 pupils. They have met after school every other week and as a result of that experience, it is perhaps worth quoting one of our own Year 8 pupils after getting part way through this new venture: -“These special English meetings give students who are advanced at English a chance to come together and do a range of activities, from analysing text to reading first rate stories. Another good aspect is that we have students from other schools joining us. They may have been taught things differently so it makes the sessions more interesting and enjoyable. The people chosen from different schools have quite different characters, so this makes it particularly enjoyable when looking at a section of text from someone else’s viewpoint.” Mrs Borrington and Miss Porteous have been looking at two distinctly different areas of work. Firstly, Mrs Borrington has been planning for the introduction of Enterprise Education in school and Miss Porteous has been researching the possibility of introducing second specialism bringing the Arts into this arena. In addition to major project work some ‘mini’ projects were undertaken which included Mr Purves developing the use of multimedia applications in Modern Foreign Languages, Mrs Swan introducing Digital Printing Technology to not just her own Faculty colleagues but colleagues from other schools in South East Derbyshire and Mr Davies organising an ‘Artist in Residence’ for both the gifted and talented in Year 9 alongside our more challenging pupils in Year 8 to work on renovating Fountain Court between the staff room and the Main Hall. Projects that have been ongoing over successive academic years are the ‘Wired for Learning ‘work in Geography which has involved much collaboration between Ecclesbourne and local Primary Schools as well as those further afield under the direction of Miss Tordoff as well as Mrs Smith continuing to be at the ‘leading edge ‘ of Library developments and the Heritage workshop venture for the area. There is much here for the school to be proud of as a valued ‘leader’ in particular aspects of education nationally.

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LOWER SCHOOL welcomed a large 8-form entry of 240 pupils this year which brought our total number of students in Lower School to 690. Once again Lower School students have been involved in a whole raft of activities and many individuals and teams have had good reason for celebration. The details of their successes will be outlined in other sections of this report but it goes without saying that we are all incredibly proud of their achievements. Lower School Office has been heavily involved in the pilot schemes for the new school reports both interim and annual. Following a period of consultation the pilot scheme began with year 8 students initially. Feedback from our Year 8 parents helped us to plan improvements and amendments. By the end of the academic year all Lower School parents will have received their child’s annual report in the new computerised format and will have been involved in the target setting process at home. Feedback, so far, has been very positive indeed and we are grateful for the support of all staff in ensuring that this new initiative has been successful. Citizenship is a statutory element of the key stage 3 strategy. This year the Head of Personal Development and Citizenship (PDC), Mrs Scothern, has mapped its delivery through the fortnightly PDC lessons and through Religious Studies, Geography and English. Detailed lesson plans and resource materials have been developed enabling tutors to deliver quality lessons within the citizenship programme. Once again we have considered the role of Year 9 students since they are the senior members of this part of the School. They have taken more responsibility within the Student Council and have run their own meetings with minimal staff input. Year 9 have also been heavily involved in representing the student body in consultations linked to the Healthy Eating initiative. A number of Year 9 students have been appointed library supervisors and undertake regular duties associated with this. As senior members of Lower School we will look towards further development of their role in supporting younger students. It is essential to record details of day-to-day incidents, note the action taken, note parent contact if relevant and any follow-up. Heads of Year in Lower School all now use the same format which provides a clear picture for individual pupils showing a pattern of behaviour and its effects on their progress. Records are organised in tutor groups for ease of access. The electronic system of registration has allowed Heads of Year to use the information the system generates to study behaviour patterns and to act accordingly with the support of the education welfare service. Lower School tutors are now interpreting pupil data in order to have a more active role in monitoring the progress of their tutees. They are able to use prior data to support children to achieve their potential. The new student planner has been well received by students, staff and parents. It has proved sturdy enough to last the year and it contains information which both students and their parents find useful. Only minor modifications are planned for next year .

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We have continued to work very closely with our feeder primary schools. The science bridging unit, which was planned and implemented last year, has been extended and amended this year and we look forward to seeing the results of this work when the unit is completed in September. At Christmas we said a fond farewell to Mr Bob Smyth who retired after many years working as Head of Year in Lower School Office and welcomed Mrs Sue Millard onto the team. UPPER SCHOOL has operated through the year on two fronts, dealing with the traditional but meeting change with equal aplomb! Year 11 followed the path well-trodden. Their reports were written in the usual style and were an integral part of their post 16 interviews, which took place at Christmas. Mocks soon followed and the students rapidly realised that time was running out and the next few months would see a build up to the main exams. The year group has always contained an “interesting” blend of personalities and they kept the office on their toes until the very last moment. A decision was taken to move back their leaving day for study leave because there was a substantial gap between the original date and the first exams. That move allowed more revision to take place in school but it placed a strain on the staff in the office maintaining the work ethos and holding students to required standards for another week. Year 10, however, ventured down entirely new routes. The curriculum they followed was new, reflecting the increased flexibility and greater access to vocational experience that the Government had signalled in the previous year. The assessment programme for the year was altered to provide more information for parents, at greater frequency but without increasing the workload. The reports were written using ICT in a way that had been trialled by Lower School. Effort and attainment grades were sent home before Easter in an Interim report. It was a relief that at least one constant in the life of the year group remained and they all left for a week of work experience towards the end of June. Meanwhile decisions were afoot about Upper School office itself. Again these reflected both continuity and change. The first was that Upper School should remain a part of the Ecclesbourne landscape and there would not be a re-organisation of the offices on 14-19 lines. Then Mr Hall announced that he had decided to take early retirement from the end of the academic year. Subsequently, Mr Skinner the Head of Year 10 was appointed as Head of Upper School and Mrs Roe, one of the Upper School tutors, became the new Year Head. These appointments are to begin at the start of the new academic year. However both the staff soon entered into the hurly burly of planning and the retiring Head of School wishes them every success in the future. Against this background, life for our students has rolled on without any concern that what they experienced has changed from previous years, because for them, everything is new, which is exactly how it should be.

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Life within the SIXTH FORM has again been characterised by a healthy mixture of hard work and fun for all concerned. Extra curricular activities continue to flourish and are many and varied. Major events which are such an important part of the wider life of the Sixth Form and the School as a whole, like the Debating Competition continue to produce superb finals as well as being a significant learning experience for all involved. The many hours of hard work that lie behind the annual Leavers’ Ball resulted once again in a fantastic final evening for all our students and the many staff who attended. The Ball’s successful organisation continues to show our students off at their very best under, of course, the ever supportive and caring eye of Mrs Dawes. The School remains wholly committed to the extra curricular activities in all their glory that we offer. Ranging from the massive event that is House Plays week to the evening football matches between staff and students. We believe that within this programme lies the true breadth of experience that sixth form life should be all about. The Tomlinson Report on Education and Skills was published this year and promised a radical overhaul of the sixth form curriculum centred around a new ‘Baccalaureate’ style diploma designed to broaden subject choice, to increase participation in vocational courses and to reduce the assessment burden. The new Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, has retreated somewhat from the sweeping changes envisioned in Tomlinson. In particular, her recent White Paper has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the A Level and GCSE system. Some kind of diploma is still likely, although it is not imminent and will be based on the existing exam system. Other possible changes of note include plans to decrease the number of AS/A2 exams from 6 to 4 and to increase the challenge of existing A Levels by including optional Advanced Extension questions on A Level papers. It is also likely that universities will be given access to more information on A Level performance, certainly including individual module grades and even, possibly, total aggregated numerical marks. This is a response to the relentless improvement in A Level grades that is making it increasingly difficult for universities to sort out prospective candidates, especially for the most demanding and popular courses. Saving the best until last, we are now in possession of our wonderful new sixth form centre. Students on the Sixth Form Committee are beside themselves with glee at the opportunities the new building presents. The teaching room is equipped with cinema surround sound and interactive whiteboard technology. The two Internet café style study rooms are set up with 20 workstations and are already being heavily used. Major sixth form office inputs, such as the launch of the Higher Education programme have been transformed by the wonderful presentation facilities at our disposal. We are all very excited by the launch of the ‘Beech Tree’ bistro facility in the centre. It is planned to make high quality bistro-style catering available throughout the school day and students have helped us create a ‘Healthy Eating’ menu that reflects their tastes. An exciting year lies ahead.

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NOTABLE TEAM SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS 2005 Athletics: Amber Valley Championships: Year 7 girls were second. Year 8 girls were first. Year 9 girls were second. Year 10 girls were first. Year 7 boys were first. Year 8 boys were first. Year 7 boys were second. Year 7 boys were second. Cross Country The Junior Girls’ and Boys’ teams were winners of the Derby Schools 4x1 mile relay. The Intermediate teams were 2nd and 5th respectively. In the Amber Valley Championships, the Year 7 team and 10/11 combined team for both Girls and Boys were first. The 8/9 Girls were second and the 8/9 boys were third. These results placed Ecclesbourne first overall. Football The U13 Girls’ A and B teams reached the semi-final and quarter final respectively of the Adidas Community Cup. Hockey The U12,13,14,15 and 16 Girls’ Hockey teams and the U16 Boys’ Hockey Team were Amber Valley Champions. Netball The U13 team were County runners up. The U15 and U16 were County semi finalists. Tennis ( Nestle Tennis tournament) U15 girls were semi finalists for the area. Swimming (National Swimming Gala) Junior Girls were 6th

All other teams finished in the top 12. Squash The U19 Boys reached the play-offs and narrowly missed out on securing a place in the Final.

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NOTABLE INDIVIDUAL SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS Hockey Susie Edmondson, Emma Sharp, Gill Boddy and Jess Sheppard represented Derbyshire. Emma also represented the Midlands and Gill Boddy represented England. Stephen Tee, Sarah Stanley-Smith, Rachel Sharp and Freya Donaldson represented Derbyshire U15’s. Hollie Webb was selected to play for England at under 16 level whilst still in year 9. She has competed in Barcelona, Durham, and Manchester in the last year. She Balances playing hockey for her club, school, county, region and nation with her school work and keeps on top of it all. Louisa Boddy, Anna Boyd also represented Derbyshire and the Midlands. Judy Wrigley, Carlotte Roe, Alice Sharp and Jo Lane represented Derbyshire. Jo Lane and Alice Sharp also represented the Midlands. Anna Toman, Latasha Webb, Rhiannon Rogers, Amber Carnell , Charlotte Hobbs, Alison Kenning and Mollie Garratt represented Derbyshire. Anna, Tash, Rhiannon and Charlotte also represented the Midlands Netball Charlotte Moritt and Leanne Vasko represented Derbyshire U16’s Squash Jack Blythe has represented Derbyshire at Squash throughout the year 2004/5 and is the under 15 number 1 seed. Millie Tomlinson is the U13 British Champion and represents Derbyshire at U15 level. Badminton David Britland has represented Derbyshire. Golf Danny Tomlinson Won the Derbyshire Schools Championship for Golf (Will Shepherd Memorial Trophy) at under 18 level. He also missed out on a place in the England Under 16 squad for golf by 1 shot this year. Sailing Katy Jones is one of 12 sailors selected for the 2004/5 National Squad. She was placed 4th in the Southern Area Championships this year. Craig Williamson: Craig began his sailing career crewing for his father, competing at National and International level in the European Championships in Holland. Craig also sails solo and in May he will be asked to compete in the Eric Twiname competition, and invitation only National event. A highlight of this year was when, competing in the John Merricks Memorial Tiger Trophy, he came third twice out of a field of 250. He finished seventh overall, finishing ahead of the silver medallists from the 2004 Olympics!

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Shooting Harriet Wilde is on the Derbyshire army cadet shooting team. Came 2nd in the Whistler and 3rd in The Bell at Bisley at county level. Kayaking David Bainbridge was selected to represent the Great Britain kayaking team this year. Canoe Polo George Murfin represented Great Britain in the International Canoe Polo Championships in Essen, Germany in May of this year.

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS: MUSIC Royal Acadamy of Music Jazz School David Hamblet Derbyshire County Youth Orchestra: Isabel Balmer, Hannah Jackson, Sarah

Burton, Megan Howard, Rachel Scothern Nottingham County Youth Orchestra Megan Howard Derbyshire County WindBand: Catherine Hall, Emily Rawcliffe, Jennifer

Rawcliffe, Eleanor Potter, Alyssa Young, Laura Mountford.

Derbyshire County Jazz Orchestra: David Hamblett Cathedral Choristers: Jane Knight, Charlotte Dalby, Catherine

Hall, Lucy Gazzard, Katherine Ferrer. East Midlands Youth Jazz Orchestra David Hamblett, Max Johnson, Emma Ryde,

Tim Gorman, Matt Hill, Tom Gough, Sophie Laura Halls, James McLocklin.

HOUSE MUSIC COMPETITION Trophies were awarded for: House trophy Chantrey Outstanding Sixth Form Soloist Emma Ryde Outstanding Upper School Soloist George O’Donnell Outstanding Lower School Soloist Sam Lenord Sixth Form Ensemble David Clough, Jimi Jibodu, Jason Semeraro,

Sam Lenord

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David Hamblett, Max Johnson, Richard Bernans, David Bainbridge, Emma Ryde

Lower and Upper School Ensemble Hannah Jackson and Isabel Balmer Vocal Ensemble Laura Mountford, Alyssa Young, Catherine Hall,

Emma Ryde Sarah Brown

DERBY ARTS FESTIVAL

Sam Whittingham Winner of Under 12 Brass Solo Laura Parkman Winner of Under 16 Woodwind Solo Eleanor Potter, Sam Lenord Winners of Under 15 Recorder Consort Louise Griffith, George O’ Donnell Beth Neal Rachel Clark 3rd Place Under 12 Woodwind Solo. ASSOCIATED BOARD RESULTS FOR THE SPECIAL VISITS Marie Lam Piano Grade 1 Pass Katie Rogers Piano Grade 5 Pass Jessica Nolan Piano Grade1 Merit Katherine Ferrer Piano Grade 3 Pass Chris Ruggins Piano Grade 3 Pass Jenny Greenaway Piano Grade 3 Pass Charlotte Ruggins Piano Grade 6 Pass Charlotte Coleman Oboe Grade 3 Distinction Katherine Ferrer Flute Grade 3 Pass Elizabeth Jordan Clarinet Grade 8 Pass Emma Butler Flute Grade 4 Pass Jodie Hayes Recorder Grade 1 Pass Amy Whiteside Recorder Grade 1 Distinction Beth Neal Recorder Grade 4 Merit Megan Hirst Recorder Grade 1 Merit Sarah Henshaw Recorder Grade 4 Merit Josh Heathcote Piano Grade 1 Merit Gemma Heathcote Piano Grade 3 Merit Chris Martin Piano Grade 4 Merit Judy Wrigley Clarinet Grade 4 Merit Joel Hawkins Sax Grade 2 Merit Lucianna Neville Violin Grade 4 Pass Mary Reynolds Piano Grade 5 Pass Alex Martin Piano Grade 2 Pass Katie o’Brien Piano Grade 2 Pass

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Lea Garner Piano Grade 1 Pass Henry Walker Flute Grade 3 Pass Anna Boyd Flute Grade 3 Merit Eleanor Potter Oboe Grade 7 Merit Eleanor Williams Flute Grade 1 Merit Sam Lenord Sax Grade 5 Pass Sarah Holmes Violin Grade 2 Pass Helena Rochford Violin Grade 2 Pass Marianne Neville Violin Grade 2 Pass Gemma Heathcote Violin Grade 3 Pass Vicky Brock Flute Grade 4 Pass Helena Groom Sax Grade 4 Pass Alyssa Young Flute Grade 8 Merit

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