THE DOWNS SCHOOL
Compton, West Berkshire
Call 01635 270000
Email contact@thedownsschool.org
www.thedownsschool.org
Learning together, learning for life
HEADTEACHER’S
NEWSLETTER
OCTOBER 2014
We strive for excellence in learning through
Responsibility 
Respect  Resilience
Dear Parent and Carers
Once again it has been a busy and exciting start to a new academic year at The Downs School. It’s been
such a pleasure to see the students return with such positive attitudes and an eagerness to learn. Our
year 7s and year 12s have settled in well and are already displaying the qualities that we expect of a
Downs Student. Through widespread consultation we have now set our priorities for this year and we
have already been working hard to achieve these. They include:
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Embedding strategies to raise the achievement of different groups of students
Students responding to feedback to make notable improvements in progress
Quality of students’ writing will improve in all subjects
The Downs Diamond is used consistently across the school
The curriculum is reviewed to ensure that it supports the achievement of all students
We have an impressive group of new staff that have joined us:
Mrs Rebecca Berger – Library Manager
Miss Leona Bermingham - English Teacher
Mrs Jo Coombes - Maths Teacher
Ms Rachael Dowle – Maths Teacher
Mrs Niamh Duffy – MFL Teacher
Mrs Liz Giles – Maths Teacher
Mrs Julie Marriott – Website/IT Engineer-Media
Mr Leo Prince – Science Teacher
Mr Tim Saunders – Maths Teacher
Mrs Tracy Silverthorne – PA to J Preston
Mrs Faye Slater- Teaching Assistant
Mrs Felicity Smith – Central Office Manager
Mr Paul Smith – Art Teacher (maternity cover)
New Roles at The Downs School
Mrs Laura Clark - SENCO
Mrs Eileen Sarris – Head of Science
Welcome Back
Mr Mike Doran - D&T Teacher (cover)
Mrs L Edwards – MFL Teacher
Miss Sarah Kiernan – English Teacher
Exam Results – A2
As you are probably aware by now we had an extremely successful set of exam results in both GSCE and
A Level which has built upon our strong tradition of academic success.
126 students sat A2 examinations at The Downs School this year. Over 99% of entries gained a pass and
70% of entries achieved A*- B grades, 36% of grades were A*- A and 10% of the grades were A*. These
results are the best the school has achieved for 5 years and at a time of national variations these results
are particularly impressive. We believe they are amongst the best results of all non selective schools
across England and Wales. They are certainly the highest A*-B pass rate of any school in Berkshire,
Oxfordshire or Hampshire.
Students with excellent individual performances include:
Charlie Braxton
(AAAA)
to read Engineering at Southampton University
Ellie Burfoot (A*AA)
to read Chemistry at Bristol University
Harriet Christie
(A*A*A*A) to read Veterinary Medicine at the Royal Veterinary College
Matt Cox
(A*A* AB)
to read Medicine at Queen Mary’s University, London
Melanie Desert
(A*AA
to read Law at University of Nottingham
Chloe Flynn
(A*A)
to read Economics at Bath University
Mary Healy
(AAA)
to read Law at Exeter
Imogen Langford
(AAA)
to read Psychology at Birmingham University
Josh Long
(A*A*A*A) to read Physics at Oxford University
Sarah Odling
(A*A*AB)
Gap year in Africa
Joe Passau
(A*A*AB)
to read Economics at Durham University
Aiden Richardson
(AAAB)
to read Mathematics at Bath University
Tom Ruddell
(A*AAA)
to read Mechanical Engineering at Bath University
Jack Sayers
(AAA)
to read Chemistry at Edinburgh University
Natasha Smellie
(AAA)
to read Geology at Edinburgh University
Sam Van Huysteen (A*A*A)
to read Psychology at the University of Sheffield
Patrick Visser
(A*A*AA)
to read War Studies at King’s College, London
Adam Willis
(AAAB)
to read Ancient History at Durham University
Sasha Wilson
(A*A*A*)
to read Chemistry at Oxford University
BTEC
Joe Cook achieved a Level 3 Diploma in Production Arts
4 students achieved a Level 3 Certificate in Performing Arts
5 students achieved a Level 2 Diploma in Performing Arts (Production)
4 students achieved a Level 2 Diploma in IT
D*D
(P,P,M,D*)
(M,M,M,D,D)
(P,P,M,M)
The successes at both GCSE and A level are the result of a huge team effort and I am so grateful to the
teaching staff, tutors and parents who have all pulled together, endured the stress and provided the
support and encouragement necessary to make these fabulous results a reality. The challenge now is
for our present Yr11 and 13 students to emulate these successes, something that I have every
confidence that they can achieve.
Exam Results – GCSE
At GCSE for each of the past 9 years we have been designated a high performing school, and this year
we have achieved excellent results for students of all abilities. 84% of students achieved 5 A* - C grades
and above at GCSE (74% including English & Mathematics). One of our on-going priorities is to raise
achievement of our boys and so I was particularly pleased to see them do so well with 71% achieving
5A*-C including Eng/Maths. The achievement gap between students in year 11 for whom the school
receives the Pupil Premium and those students not in receipt of the Pupil Premium was also reduced
significantly to 9%. All of our results are an improvement on last year and once again the school is one
of the top performing schools in West Berkshire. There have been many superb individual
performances, underlining the importance of giving support and challenge to all pupils. These included:
Tara Banahan - 11 A*
Grace Hanrahan - 9 A* & 1 A
Max Flynn - 9A* & 2 A
Molly Blake - 5 A* & 5 A
Eleanor Vincent - 10 A* & 1A
Carolyn Visser - 9 A* & 1 A
Laura Kendick - 7 A* & 3 A
Roisin O’Donohue - 6 A* & 5 A
School Trips/Events
In keeping with the Downs tradition a number of exciting trips and events have already taken place.
These have included the Spanish Exchange, Yr7 Adventure Dolphin team building trip, Yr8 trip to
Boulogne and several Countryside and Environment trips.
The Downs School held its fifth annual sponsored walk recently as over 1200 students and 100
members of staff walked six miles to raise money for school funds. The route took the students out of
Compton and up on the Ridgeway before an undulating return back to the school. Year 13 marshals
played music, offered sweets and sang songs to encourage the students on their way around the rural
course. The atmosphere was aided by the students turning out in house colours and competing to
complete the route in good time. The ‘walk’ was headed by Nathan Gillis of Year 13 and Harry Rose of
Year 11 who both completed the hilly off road route in an incredible 38 minutes.
The task of collecting the money towards student projects is now in hand and the school has already
met it’s £15,000 target. In terms of generating a sense of community and fun this event is difficult to
beat. The weather was glorious and the students behaved impeccably. Each and every student had a
role to play. It is a real highlight of the school calendar and embodies what The Downs School stands
for.
Compton CE Primary School – Teaching School
As you may know Compton CE Primary School along with The Downs School has been designated by the DFE as a
“Teaching School”. This is a government initiative in order to create a school lead system of education
development. We are very proud to have been recognised as schools which have the capacity to contribute to
the system – although we will always ensure that our two schools continue to thrive as they do at the moment.
This means that we receive extra funding in order to work in six key areas:
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Play a greater role in training new entrants to the profession.
Provide opportunities for professional development.
Identify and develop leadership potential, succession planning and talent management in our current
workforce
Build relationships in order to work with other schools to improve the education of children across the local
area and beyond Provide support for other schools
Designate and broker Specialist Leaders of Education (SLEs). SLEs are outstanding middle and senior leaders
who have the skills to support individuals or teams in similar positions in other schools. They support
professional learning and school improvement.
Engage in research and development to develop a culture of professional learning and school based
educational research.
In order to do this we have initiated The Downland Alliance. This is a group of 4 local secondary schools and 6
local primaries – with other schools wishing to join. We will also be working closely with other strategic partners
such as the Local Authority, Oxford Brookes University and the West Berkshire School Centred Initial Teacher
Training Organisation.
Work has begun on all six areas and we will update you all as work begins on this very exciting development.
Gateway
The Downs has continued to develop its use of Gateway, an electronic system for reporting positive and
negative student behaviour. Using Gateway enables the staff to follow up behaviour issues quickly and
effectively, as well as being the method for staff to reward students with House Points and Gold Slips.
Another one of the benefits of Gateway is that it enables parents (once they have their individual logins, which are continuing to be issued at parents’ evenings and other events) to view a range of
information on their child, including positive and negative behaviour and attendance.
Reporting
You should have recently received a letter detailing the changes we have made to progress reports.
These changes, which are the result of widespread consultation will now provide more meaningful and
understandable information. To help support you further I plan to hold workshops before each of the
parents evenings this year to allow you to support your children with their learning.
Parents Forum
Both schools are very special places with a strong sense of community and a caring ethos. The
partnership between home and school is a real strength and I firmly believe that the way we work
together has a huge influence on the success of our students. Therefore, to ensure that we continue
this tradition and to make the partnership even more effective, I have continued to hold parent forums
this year. These provide the opportunity to voice what you feel is going well in the school and what
could be improved, there will also be a key question to discuss, such as ‘How can we improve the
quality of progress reports?’ I have sent out personal invites to ensure that the forums are
representative of the student population. However, I would also like to invite any parent who would
wish to have a say in shaping the future of the school, so please contact me through my PA Mrs
Debra Anderson at danderson@thedownsschool.org.
Future Events
Wednesday, 5 November
Champions of Enterprise Day Yr12
Thursday, 13 November
Yr8 Girls HPV Vaccination
Friday, 14 November
Children in Need Day – non-uniform
Thursday, 27 November
6th Form Open Evening
Thursday, 18 December
Presentation Evening
Sponsored Walk 2014