News

IT'S OFFICIAL - 'Pupils make out...

Pupils make outstanding progress overall because teaching is consistently good and the pupils have exemplary attitudes towards learning. The good curriculum underpins pupils’ good personal development and sense of well-being; pupils are well cared for. The school has made good progress since its last inspection, and the leaders are always seeking ways to improve.

For the full Ofsted report please go to the Inspection Report section of the LCS website.

WHOLE SCHOOL PHOTO

The Tempest whole school photo has now arrived back.  The photo can be viewed by pupils/staff and parents in the main school reception area (just outside the office).  Order forms will be sent home with pupils today, Tuesday 18 May 2010. Cut off for the return of orders will be Friday 11 June - any orders received after this date will need to be sent directly to Tempest via their 'late order' facility. 

YEAR 11 STUDY LEAVE

Year 11 Study Leave

From Friday 21st May the Year 11 students will be on study leave.  This means that they have to report into the School Office whenever they enter or leave the school.  Lessons will continue on an optional basis throughout the term until they have finished their GCSE in that particular subject.  If they want the lessons to continue they must inform the member of staff on the day before the lesson, so that the teacher can then prepare for it.

On the day of the exams, it is recommended that the student arrives well before the exam is due to start (08:15).  Most morning exams start at 09:00 and are over by 11:00.  The students are then free to go home to revise for the next exam.  Afternoon exams start no later than 14:00.  The student can either arrive at the start of the academic day (08:40) or choose to do some revision at home and then arrive at school by 13:00 by the latest.

On the days where there are no exams, the student can either stay at home to revise, or turn up to revision lessons at the school.  Once a student has completed his GCSE in a particular subject, lessons in that subject will terminate.

The last GCSE is on Thursday 17^th June (unless your child is taking his ICT GCSE on Monday 21^st June).  From this date your child is no longer required to come to school and is officially on holiday.  They will be invited to the Reward trip at the end of the term and for the Head Teacher’s final meal.

All text books must be returned to your child’s teacher by Thursday 17^th June.  If any text book has not been handed in by this date you will be charged for it and the cost will be added to your final bill at the end of term.

We would like to draw your attention to the attached notice regarding unauthorised items in the examination room.

Yours faithfully Mr D McCarthy, Deputy Head

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Year 11 Study Leave

If your child is going home to study at any time can you please sign the permission slip below:

I give my child ………………………………………. permission to make his/her own arrangements when travelling to school or back home throughout the Summer Term 2010.

……………………………………..   (Signature of parent/guardian)

FOOD SAFETY AWARDS ON THE MENU

**4 STAR PERFORMANCE** FOOD SAFETY AWARDS ON THE MENU

Congratulations to Gill (Chef Manager) for winning a 4 Star Award at the recent Slough Borough Council ‘Catering for Health’ Awards Ceremony.    This is quite an achievement as Long Close is now the only school in the area to have received the 4 Star award.  Many congratulations to Gill and her team for ‘going the extra mile’ - this award is also in recognition for caterers that offer healthier options and ensure safety and hygiene of the food they provide.

WHOLE SCHOOL PHOTO - FRIDAY 30 A...

**Important Date** - we have Tempest Photographers in on Friday 30 April for the next whole school photo.  Please can all children ensure they arrive in school on time and in full school summer uniform (including blazers for all year 1-11 pupils).  Thank you.

G&T Conference Video

LCS is pleased to announce the availability of a recently recorded video from the GT Conference!

Please click here to view the video >

Cognita Parental Survey 2009

I would like to express my gratitude to all those parents who took the time to complete our recent online survey. It has proved to be an extremely worthwhile undertaking providing us with much valuable information to help us better plan the future development of the school. It has confirmed our belief that Long Close School meets, and often exceeds, your expectations in many areas.

I have summarised the main findings of the survey - see below.  I hope you find that they reflect your experiences of the school.

As we had hoped, the survey has also identified areas of school life which concern some parents or which could be further improved. We will look at these carefully in detail and, where possible, improvements will be implemented as soon as possible. I will keep you informed regularly about progress.

Once again, many thanks to all of you who participated in this research. It is an invaluable tool towards achieving our ambition that Long Close School should be recognised as the premier school in the locality.

Finally can I please alert Parents of pupils in Years 3-5 of the Future Schooling Evening on Wednesday 25^th March at 6.00pm which will take place in the main School Hall. This is an information evening for your benefit and will help you start to think through the educational issues (11+, etc) for your child’s future learning journey.

With all best wishes.

Yours sincerely

David Brazier, Head Teacher

THE RESEARCH

During the Autumn of 2009 Long Close School and Cognita commissioned MTM Consulting to undertake research into the attitudes and opinions of parents. The views of parents are considered vital to inform planning and future decision making.

Details of the online questionnaire were sent to all parents, and in total 48 responses were received.

Survey Findings:

1.   Parents believed the school performs well against all of the measures you identified as important. Its great strengths appeared to be the leadership of the Head Teacher, the atmosphere and ethos of the school and the quality of teaching and learning.  For many respondents these were the main reasons for choosing the school

2.   Parents rated all areas of the admissions process as either good or very good

3.   Respondents mainly described the school in positive terms, the most used adjectives being “friendly”, “academic” and “caring”. Virtually no negative adjectives were used to describe the school

4.   Communication at the school is generally regarded as good, especially the staff availability and accessibility which was considered to be very good. However the school website and email communication are clearly in need of some improvement. Parent communication was also highlighted as an important area for improvement within the school, reflecting the importance parents place on this aspect of school life

5.   Whilst most parents regarded many aspects of pastoral care at the school as good, an aspect which was rated less favourably was the advice offered on next placement school

6.   I am pleased to say that the standard of teaching was generally regarded as good in all subject areas. Some subjects were rated higher than others and as our goal is to deliver excellent teaching in all areas, we shall look closely at what needs to be done in order to achieve this. Whilst the majority of respondents considered that pupils received the right amount of homework, a significant minority felt that more should be set.  Parents agreed that generally marking and feedback were very good

7.   Extra curricular activities were thought to be reasonably good by most parents

8.   Most aspects of the school’s premises and facilities were thought to be either good or satisfactory

9.   Management and leadership of the school were thought to be good by the majority of parents

10. The IT development most parents wanted to see was to be able to access school timetables and email accounts from home

11. 93% of parents would or do recommend the school, value for money was considered to be reasonable and parents were generally satisfied with the school overall

Our priorities for attention, as a result of this survey, include:

1.   Improvement in some areas of communication – for example we hope to have Parentmail in place for the next academic year – more details to follow… and, since the Survey was issued we have launched the new Long Close School website

2.   Improvements to catering arrangements with greater choice for the Senior Pupils

3.   A qualitative improvements of school facilities – happily I can report that the tennis courts are being up-graded over Easter and other improvements are being made!

Year 5 Trip to Shakespeare’s Glo...

Year 5 Trip to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre

The annual Year 5 trip to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on Bankside is just part of the ‘Shakespeare Strand’ at Long Close. Each year we have a visit by the English Shakespeare Company in the Autumn Term for Years 5-7: a visit to The Globe for Year 5 and the study of the Bard’s plays in the senior part of the school and for GCSE we study ‘MacBeth’. It’s no secret I love Shakespeare, and particularly ‘The Globe’, it is a magical place. Shakespeare is a study for life and it seems to me that there is a play for every part of a person’s life; in my youth I loved the tragedies, I remember shortly after my father died watching Adrian Lester (now in ‘Hustle’) play Hamlet in Peter Brook’s production with not a dry eye in the Old Vic, now it is the comedies I love, but perhaps my favourite of all is ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream! Every time I see a play more is revealed and deeper the appreciation grows.

It is usually February when we organise the trip to the reconstructed Globe and this year was no exception. Year 5 pupils were naturally excited; clutching their lunch bags and full of enthusiasm for a day out in London. Trips are an enhanced learning experience; they bring to life a topic and communicate much more than a classroom experience ever can. It was particularly fun this year as I always enjoy any time I spend with Year 5, invariably they are a imaginative, engaging and chock full of character. On the bus drive there I was pleased to see that ‘Top Trump’ cards and card tricks in general had made a renaissance; anything that isn’t virtual pleases me.

On arrival at Bankside we all clambered off the bus and made our way down the steps to walk along the Thames. It really was bitterly cold; the wind cut the face and made the teeth ache! Thank goodness we had warm coats! The Globe reconstruction was the brainchild of the American actor Sam Wanamaker, a lover of Shakespeare, who visited London on holiday and was astonished to find that no memorial to The Globe Theatre (or to Shakespeare) existed in London. He then began his project to reconstruct the Globe – and the rest is history!

We stopped for a few photos on the way, but eventually ended up at the exhibition centre; this gives you an insight into Elizabethan times, the theatre and costumes. We were also fortunate as a sword fighting display was taking place and we were able to handle a sword and ask questions –I learnt that Henry the Eighth was 6ft 4 in height!

We left after twenty minutes to cross the Millennium Bridge over to St Paul’s; although icy cold the sky was clear and blue, visibility good and the river its usual hive of activity. The original Globe sat on the far side of the river because theatres were forbidden to exist inside the original city walls by the puritans who wielded power at the time. The Globe then originally sat amongst bear gardens, houses of ill-repute and the seamier side of town; I took Year 5 on a literal and imaginative journey through some of these streets, past the old jail ‘The Clink’ and to the facsimile of the Golden Hind.

It was then time for the Gift Shop (‘No fake blood, please.’) and then lunch time. Finally, our guide and drama practitioner Margo came to meet us. She gave us an excellent introduction to The Globe and then took us into the theatre itself. We learnt that the original theatre had been burnt down when a charge fired by the theatrical cannon had been, by accident, discharged into the roof! I will not attempt to describe the inside of the theatre; it really must be experienced directly, although the pictures I have posted give some insight. I would encourage you to attend; it is particularly resonant on a balmy summer’s evening with the moon in the centre of the open roof and the magic of Shakespeare’s words in the air ‘O for a Muse of Fire…’ There is no need of scenery for productions in The Globe because Shakespeare’s words create the pictures in the audience’s minds.

Next our ‘Romeo & Juliet’ drama workshop that began with warm-ups for body, voice and mind and was followed by a brief re-working of the play. This was great fun! Our little abridged reworking of the play was a fitting end to a lovely day. Finally, I must say I was very proud of Year 5, their behavior was exemplary and I hope they gained a little insight into Shakespeare and why his plays are so very special!

David Brazier

Head Teacher