Message from the Head Teacher

On behalf of the students, staff and governors I would like to welcome you to Haydon School’s website. We have designed this website to meet the needs of current, prospective and past parents and students. The site will continue to be developed and we would be happy to hear any feedback you may have as we move forward.

For those new to the school, Haydon is an Academy for students aged 11 – 18 years. We welcome students of all abilities and we seek the best from every student irrespective of ability. As it says in our Mission Statement and Aims, we are firmly committed to individual excellence, ensuring that all students have every opportunity to fulfil their potential.

In June 2007 Haydon was inspected by Ofsted and we are delighted to be declared ‘Outstanding’ in every category. However, this was a long time ago so, as part of our continuing self review process we employ Ofsted inspectors to review different areas of the school each year and, in the last two inspections the Humanities and Social Science Faculties have both been pronounced Outstanding. This is obviously excellent for students’ learning and progress and helps to ensure that we are maintaining the very high standards identified in 2007.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind you of the success of the students in the summer 2011 examinations where we excelled once again.

Congratulations go to all the students and staff for their continuing success. Also, of course, thanks to parents for their hard work and support.

GCSE/BTEC

91% of our students gained five GCSE (including BTEC equivalent exams) at grades A*- C and this was a new record. 73% of students gained this qualification including both English and maths. The local authority and national figures were both about 58%. 21% of students achieved success in the new English Bacc above the national figure of 17%. 27 students achieved at least five A* grades at GCSE/BTEC. A special mention must be made of the English Language results; a staggering 21% were at grade A*.

AS LEVEL

ALPS, an independent organisation that compares schools ranked us as ‘very good’ Ten individual subjects were rated “outstanding” and a record 14% of grades were at grade A. Five students achieved five grade As, an astonishing achievement as most students nationally normally take only four subjects.

A LEVEL

The school was ranked ‘excellent’ by ALPs for the sixth year running. 13 individual subjects were rated as ‘outstanding’. 24 students gained at least one A* at this level, a grade reserved for only the very best students. Nine students gained at least three grade As.

Once again, well done to all our students for their wonderful achievements.

I would also like to take this opportunity to tell you of some other successes this academic year. We have been awarded the ‘Pan London Quality Mark’ for staff training and very recently achieved the ‘Investors in People Gold’, the highest standard available. It is very pleasing for the school’s high quality professional development programme to be ratified by external bodies and underlines our determination to provide our students with the best possible experience.

We have also recently had our Annual School Review carried out by one of the Local Authority’s School Improvement Advisors and you will be pleased to know that we achieved ‘outstanding’ in all Ofsted categories. So overall a very successful academic year for 2010/11 and a very strong start to 2011/12.

We are proud of our school and were delighted when inspectors declared that ‘student achievement is outstanding at all key stages’. This is after all what we are here for and it is reassuring to have such a complete endorsement of our excellence from Ofsted. Part of the reason for this success is that Haydon is a happy school where staff and students respect each other.

I will finish on my favourite quote from Ofsted……

‘ Students leave the school as mature and confident young people, who are exceptionally well prepared for their future lives in education and the world of work ’

As a student or parent, what more could you want?

Please take time to read the ‘Newslink’ articles on this site to give you a full picture of life at Haydon.

Steve Robson MA NPQH

Headteacher