Prison Me No Way was created by the No Way Trust, a national educational charity whose main aim is to raise awareness among young people about the causes, consequences and penalties of crime.  On Tuesday 3rd October all students in Years 8 and 9 attended a series of workshops aimed at helping them to make the right choices in life, including listening and taking part in activities run by volunteers from the fire and ambulance services, the prison service, magistrates and the police.  In addition, they took part in a “street scene” to raise awareness of anti-social behaviour, listened to an ex-offender about his experiences and found themselves in a mock-up prison cell.

This biennial event was kindly sponsored by the Stour Valley Lions and DASH Shipston, whose support we very much appreciate.

Our annual Open Evening was held on Thursday 28th September and was exceptionally well attended.  Parents and Year 6 pupils took tours around the school and heard about our current successes, our plans for the future and the incredible “Shipston Spirit” as well as taking part in some of the many and varied activities available.
The pupils were, as always, out in force during the evening (including our team of roving reporters who scoured the school looking for stories and conducting interviews for the Open Evening Newsletter written and prepared during the evening) and filled the school with energy as they shared their pride in the school with prospective parents. Visitors were full of praise for the atmosphere of the school, the mature demeanour of our pupils, and our reputation for excellence.

With just under one month left before Year 6 parents have to make their final choices for admission to secondary school in September 2018 we hope that the evening will have provided a good flavour of what Shipston High School has to offer.

Shipston High School has achieved some excellent GCSE results this year. Pupils should be very proud of their exam results, Year 11 worked extremely hard studying for their exams, and work has been rewarded with strong individual performances and impressive results across the school. Pupils have made excellent progress at the school and we are delighted that the pupils can now go on to fulfil their ambitions.

Shipston’s results include subjects achieving notable success with A* to C grades. For example, Business Studies secured 94%, Geography 91% and Graphics 94 %. Drama secured 100% A* to C grades.

2017 is the first year of new grading for English and Maths, and Shipston pupils performed well with these new and challenging exams. Shipston continues its tradition of strong results in Maths, with 30% of the year group achieving a grade 7, 8 or 9 – equivalent to A & A* – a fantastic result. Overall in Maths, 80% of pupils secured grades between 4 and 9. In English, every pupil achieved a GCSE in both Language and Literature. 91% of pupils gained a grade 4 to 9 in an English GCSE, significantly ahead of the national average.

Notable individual performances included a wide range of top grades, including pupils with multiple A & A* grades or equivalents. Progress has been really positive, with some pupils exceeding their expected outcomes by two or even three GCSE grades.

The school has a strong and consistent record of achievement. This year’s results will enable pupils to succeed with further study, training and employment. 2017 provides additional evidence of the strong academic grounding pupils receive at Shipston High School. All the pupils should be congratulated. Shipston High School’s work is pupil centred, and we are delighted to see so many strong results; they are a testimony to the ethos of the school and the dedication of our pupils.

Shipston High School has had a wonderful year, with students and staff involved in a range of activities. As the school pauses for the summer break, it is worth reviewing the year.

In September 2016 we celebrated our best ever examination results, with 82 % of pupils achieving at least five GCSEs at grades A* to C. A fantastic result by any standards, and in excess of the national average. This success was confirmed with our impressive ‘Progress 8’ score of +0.46, one of the highest in Warwickshire.

In November, we celebrated these impressive results at our annual awards ceremony. The young people looked justifiably proud as they received their awards, and guests enjoyed an address by Olympic gold medallist Matt Gottrel.

November is also a time of reflection, and the whole school joined with the British Legion to commemorate Remembrance Day in the school and the community. Remembrance was also a focus for year 9 students on our history department’s trip to the battlefields of World War I, where students laid a wreath at the Menin Gate. Again, we thank the local British Legion for their involvement in these events.

We recently confirmed the start of building work on our next phase of development. Work will progress across the summer and the next few months. This will provide space for us to offer more school places and further improve our environment.

Students continue in their incredible commitment to the extracurricular opportunities in the school. We enjoyed a production of The Jungle Book, featuring a huge cast of actors, singers and dancers. The year also concluded with creative arts, taking part in the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company ‘playmaking’ festival in July.

The Shipston Proms concert at the school was massively well attended. It was lovely to welcome visitors from across the community. Pupils of all ages played a variety of music in what was a thoroughly entertaining evening. So impressive were the performances it was often easy to forget the young age of the performers.

The year in sport has been equally active, with pupils participating in an impressive range of teams and activities. Pupils have had real success in national and regional competitions. For a school with under five hundred pupils, everyone involved should be proud of what they achieve in cricket, netball, rugby, football, hockey and so much more.

The school also excelled in the Rotary Youth Speaks public speaking contest, with strong performances from all involved. We were especially proud of our three national finalists; an outstanding achievement.

We closed the year with our Shipston Award ceremony in July. This programme enables pupils to demonstrate their independence, maturity and resilience across a range of criteria. I am delighted with the work of the whole school community this year, and am proud of what the school is achieving. I wish everyone a relaxing and refreshing summer.

We are pleased to announce that our new Head and Deputy Senior prefects have been appointed for the next academic year.

Head and Deputy posts are appointed following applications from current school prefects. Students have to apply with a formal letter of application, with the selected applicants undergoing an interview by a panel comprising the Deputy Headteacher, a Governor, a member of staff and an ex-Senior prefect. Not for the faint-hearted.

Congratulations go to Luke Parker and Milly Bryan (Head Boy and Head Girl) and Oliver Simpkins and Georgia Cook (Deputy Head Boy and Head Girl).

As part of our STEM work, the Technology department held a competition for students to design a new memory stick, with the 10 winners being given the opportunity to take part in a visit to the Prodrive Factory near Banbury to see for themselves the advances being made in motorsport design and technology.

Our students had an amazing morning at the factory, visiting the exhibition area and specialist workshops used for saloon construction and racing. At the end of the visit they were presented with a piece of the carbon fibre front wing of the Aston Martin Vantage GTE which won the 2017 Le Mons Championship and which now takes pride of place in the school reception area.

Thanks go to Prodrive for a fantastic visit, much talked about by staff and students on their return to school.

An important part of giving our students an insight into the world of work is our Work Experience week for all Year 10 students which this year took place from 3rd – 7th July.

Each student is encouraged to arrange their own placement, with advice and support from Louise Moorman our Careers and Work Related Learning co-ordinator and it never ceases to amaze us the arrangements some of the students manage to make. Once again this year the students have attended a variety of placements ranging from schools, nurseries, retail, administration and architects through to local radio, the RSC, Formula 1 and even a placement in China! As always, we are extremely grateful to a large number of local businesses who will readily take our students and give them a fantastic opportunity to get involved in so many different activities.

Next year’s Year 10 are already busy planning and seeking their own work experience and we await with interest to see where their interests take them!

It seems hard to believe that with our Year 7 intake for this September not having started yet, we are already looking to September 2018.

On 5th July we held an Open Morning for current Year 5 students and their parents to hear a short talk from Mr Saunders and two of our current Year 7s and have a Year 8 led guided tour around the school. We were delighted to welcome over 70 families, including many ex-students now parents themselves, who are already looking at us as a potential school for their children in 2018 – indeed a significant number of them have already applied! We believe the morning proved to be a very positive step forward for most parents as they prepare to make the important decision of their child’s next school destination, with many being surprised and delighted at the amount and range of facilities on offer at Shipston High School.

We hope to see these parents, and many more, at our Open Evening which takes place on Thursday 28th September from 6.00 p.m. – 8.00 p.m. Any queries regarding Admissions may be directed to the Headteacher’s Secretary in school (apunt@shipstonhigh.co.uk) or the admissions department of the Warwickshire Local Authority (www.warwickshire.gov.uk/admissions).

Shipston High School Drama Department was delighted to celebrate its interpretation of Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ by performing at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Playmaking Festival held at ‘The Other Place’ in Stratford upon Avon on 6th July 2017. Actors from Years 8 and 9 at the school re-imagined the play for the festival with a contemporary interpretation that explored the politics and rhetoric of the play – posing the question as to who is most fit to rule the island after Prospero’s departure – Caliban, Miranda or Ariel.

With each of the ‘candidates’ having the chance to deliver their manifesto pledges and exploring each character’s back story, the audience had the opportunity to vote (live) and the cast responded to the vote accordingly – meaning that the cast had to rehearse three possible endings!

Playing to a full house, the cast explored through text, rap, chant and song, the text of the play against the current political landscape.

We are very grateful to the Royal Shakespeare Company for extending us an invitation to perform at this prestigious event and for giving our students this amazing opportunity.

Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th June saw two very successful Induction days for our new starters in September. Throughout the course of the two days, students engaged in a variety of lessons and activities all designed to give them a taste of what life at Shipston High School is like. This year the school is admitting students from no less than 20 different primary schools. Our Parents’ Evening at the end of the two days was a great opportunity for parents to learn more about the school way of life, its curriculum, its aspirations for its students and to hear first hand accounts of life at Shipston by Year 7 students Cameron Collie and Jemima Brown and Year 10 student Maddie Thomas. Parents were also given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the school uniform and let their children try on the new PE kit – which caused much excitement!

At the end of the two days both parents and students felt a lot happier about the transition to secondary school with a lot of fears and concerns being allayed. Students will now eagerly await coming back in September to find out who their form tutor will be and which school House they will be in and we are very much looking forward to them making a successful start at Shipston High School.

It is really exciting to learn what our students are achieving after leaving Shipston High School. Recently we were notified that ex-student Cyrus Barghchi has been offered a place at the London School of Musical Theatre, a fantastic achievement! As Cyrus is not eligible for any grant assistance, he is undertaking a range of fundraising activities to help pay for his tuition fees, one of which was a sponsored cycle ride from London back to Shipston High School, to signify the journey he has made in his acting and stage career so far. At 3.00 p.m. on Friday 23rd June Cyrus cycled up the school driveway to a welcome committee of staff and students all eager to congratulate him on his achievement. He was astounded how the school has changed since he left here in 2009!

With all the GCSEs finished we have now said Goodbye to all our Year 11s.

Whilst wondering where the last five years went, it is with some pride that we watch the mature group of young people leaving our school to pursue their chosen career path and admire how far they have come both academically and personally since they joined us in 2012. Year 11 have been a fantastic group of students and embody the kind of values that we try to instil in all our students – learning, respect, ambition and achievement. As they leave we all wish them every luck for their futures and express the hope that they all get the results they deserve on results day in August. Before that, however, is the serious business of the Leavers’ Prom taking place next Friday – have a great time everyone!

Our Public Speaking team of Holly Osborne, Georgia Cooke and Millie Bryan competed in the National Finals of the Rotary International “Youth Speaks” competition on Sunday 7th May at Telford.

Holly, Georgia and Millie, all in Year 10, represented the school in the senior round of the competition, competing against sixth formers from schools all over the country, some of them almost 3 years older than themselves.  Although not being placed with their topic “To Read or Not to Read: The Role of Fiction in the Development of Young People” they can be proud of the fact that they are one of the top seven public speaking teams in the whole country!  No mean feat.   We are extremely proud of these three students who proved to be excellent ambassadors for the school.  Their dedication in putting in so much of their own time in preparing for and attending the Local, District, Regional and National finals does them much credit.  We are also indebted to the very supportive parents and staff who gave up their free time to support the students.

Our thanks also go to the Rotary Club of Shipston on Stour for their support and for providing our students with such a great opportunity.

Debi Howell, Relationship Manager for Wales and the West region of the London Institute of Banking and Finance visited us on Tuesday 16th May .

Her aim was to have a look at our delivery of the Year 9 Lessons in Financial Education course.  She talked to staff and students about this and their recent participation in the annual Shares Competition, including members of the two leading teams (both in Year 10) and met with Mr White’s Year 9 Personal Finance students group.  Following this she spent some time discussing with students their experiences and learning with the intention of using their quotes and images on publicity material.

As part of our new GCSE course we will be studying Surgery and Medical developments on the Western Front during World War One.  

In preparation for the course, at the beginning of June we took 42 year 9 students on a three day visit to Ypres in Belgium.  We visited a variety of places including Tyne Cott, the largest British Military cemetery and Langemarck which is a Germany cemetery.  Many students were able to visit relatives’ graves along the way, including Samuel Begley’s grave.  Not only did he fight for Warwickshire  but he was from Shipston and his great great Grandson was one of the students on the trip, making this stop particularly moving for staff and students alike.  On our final day we travelled to France and visited the Somme. The first stop here was the Lochnagar Crater, one of the largest man made holes on earth caused by a mine. We were also able to see the Thiephval memorial which is the largest British memorial in the world.  We followed the route that casualties would have taken either on stretcher or on foot, allowing students to understand the movement of casualties during the war.  As part of the tour four students were selected to lay two wreaths, one on behalf of the school and the other on behalf of Shipston British Legion, at the Menin Gate during the ceremony that takes place every evening.