Gomersal C.E. Middle School

Archive for the ‘Newsletters’ Category

SUMMER NEWS

Just where has this year gone to! Reflecting over the past 12 months I was astounded by how much we seem to fit into the year. Each half term seems to have been filled with a multitude of trips, visits, guests into school and a raft of sporting fixtures and events for our pupils.

This year also saw the launch of the new KS3 curriculum, which gave us the perfect opportunity to enrich our wide and varied curriculum even further by organising ‟themed‟ study days. I‟m sure your children will remember the ‟rocket in the car park‟ for many years to come!

As always it has been with great pride that the achieve and succeed culture in school has continued to grow and flourish. Throughout the year pupils have worked hard to collect house points for their houses and this is rewarded with special awards, certificates and badges. Our Friday celebratory assemblies have been packed full each week as pupils‟ outstanding contribution to school life and superb academic achievement is recognised, rewarded and celebrated.

Of course the school‟s overriding success this year comes through the Ofsted inspection just before the Easter holiday. The overall „Good‟ judgement, peppered with several areas of school life deemed to be „outstanding‟, was in my mind a fitting tribute to the hard work, dedication and particular attention to achievement and standards, consistently applied by everyone associated with GMS. Pupils, staff, parents and Governors have supported our wonderful school brilliantly over the last few years and this has been fully recognised and celebrated in the Ofsted report. More recently our SATs results show how well pupils achieve. Science and L5 English scores show very good progress.

As the Whitcliiffe Federation of schools comes to an end with much success, we now look forward to building on this further through closer links with other middle schools who like us are facing a period of change and uncertainty through the Building Schools for the Future programme. I want to reassure you that our priority remains the educational achievement and continued outstanding care, guidance and support which the school provides for the young people of Gomersal Middle School.

May I take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support, we really appreciate it. On behalf of the school, thank you! I wish you a restful, peaceful and sunny holiday.

Jeanette Tate

July 2009

This has been a very short term of only 10 weeks, however it has been incredibly busy and productive.

The term began with the important decision taken by the Authority to reorganise the education system into a two tier model, effectively ending the middle school years. Whilst this will clearly impact upon all pupils in the Whitcliffe Pyramid, Gomersal Middle’s first priority is the continued education and academic progress of all our pupils.

We are very proud of the school’s increasing levels of improvement and achievements and want to reassure you that pupils, staff, governors and other members of the school community are continuing to plan for a bright and successful future.  An example of this has been the remarkable success of our Under 11 footballers who have recently become Spen Valley Champions Following a nail biting semi final against Whitechapel Middle they had a resounding victory over Crossley Fields to secure the trophy During the same week, many of us went along to Spenborough baths to cheer along the team competing in this years Middle Schools Swimming gala. As always our pupils were keenly competitive and showed excellent ‘sportsmanship’ Several swimmers gained Gold, Silver and Bronze places and many more achieved personal best timings. The staff have begun to prepare for a new KS3 curriculum and are in the process of developing exciting cross curricular schemes of work in conjunction with other middle schools in the Whitcliffe Pyramid. These initial planning and liaison meetings are a forerunner to the joint training day (May 23rd ) where hopefully our ideas and ltiemes will shape the new and improved curriculum for Year 7 in September. Its an exciting and innovative opportunity for all the staff to develop and enhance their subject areas whilst promoting additional learning experiences for our KS3 pupils.

At long last I am please to announce building work will finally be starting on our new Learning Resource Centre. I am really looking forward to the tremendous opportunities this new facility will bring for all our pupils Finally I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy Easter and look forward to a busy Summer Term.

As another busy half term comes to an end I would like to share with you some of the many interesting and exciting activities that have taken place in school recently.

The school has been a hive of activity with many visitors and visits taking place in all year groups. It has been a pleasure to see pupils enjoying their studies so much and leaming from such a wide variety of experiences and situations. Year 6 pupils enjoyed a geography field trip to the Yorkshire Dales in their study unit ‘contrasting localities’ and Year 5 were enthralled by a most informative and exciting visit by Cleckheaton Fire Station. This week on a more festive theme, Year 5 & 6 will be watching a pantomime performance of Sleeping Beauty at Cleckheaton Town Hall and all year groups have a super Christmas Party planned courtesy of ‘Rockin’ Ronnie’. The staff have also been working hard to improve their professional practices and have undertaken many courses and INSET opportunities. Mrs Briggs and myself will be assessed in the new year for the National Professional Oualification for Headship (NPOH). We both feel passionately about Gomersal Middle School and we are sure this professional qualification for school leaders will help us to build on our existing skills and assist us in our drive to move the school forward. Miss Wood and Mrs Peatfield have been busy gathering evidence to gain an ‘Artsmark’ award for the school. We have such talented artists, musicians and thespians I really hope their efforts are rewarded. I hope you enjoy reading this newsletter and that it gives you an insight into school life.

On behalf of the staff and the school I would like to wish you a Happy Christmas and thank you for your continued support.