Students aiming high with exam success
Pupils at Kingswood College of Arts have got their hearts firmly set on aiming high this year.
All of the Year 11 pupils sat their Maths and English GCSE examinations early this year, in a bid to improve their results.
Early exams improve results Sitting the exams early means that students will not have to sit the exams again, if they achieve high grades the first time round. The school believes that this new approach will place them under less pressure and ensure they get two chances to get the results they deserve.
Teachers at the Wawne Road-based school will be able to focus on exactly what each pupil needs to do to improve their grades should the pupils not achieve the grades they were hoping for in the first set of exams.
As a result of the early examinations, 20 per cent of Year 11 pupils have already passed both exams. This
is another positive result for the school, which just last year saw 24 per cent of its pupils achieve the government benchmark of 5 A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and Maths.
The school is aiming high Loz Wilson, deputy headteacher at Kingswood College of the Arts, said: “Every six weeks we have a learning cycle and so every six weeks I know where every pupil is. It is set up automatically so each pupil has a green, amber or red by them so we can see who has not made progress. “Already 31 per cent of pupils have passed English, 27 per cent have passed Maths and 20 per cent of the year group, which comprises 173 pupils, have passed both, with grades A* to C.”
Pupils at Kingswood College are also still working hard to earn free cinema visits as part of the reward scheme in partnership with Cineworld, located just down the road at Kingswood Parks’ leisure development.
Vouchers for the cinema are awarded for positive behaviour and good effort, amongst other worthy attributes.
Action packed timetable It’s been a busy few months for the school, which has also been welcoming visitors from The Beijing Space Middle School in China.
Liu Xuexiu, the school’s principal, and her colleague from their English Department, enjoyed a tour of Kingswood College of Arts, during which they met students and observed various lessons in progress.
Year 8 pupils welcomed the Pyramid Theatre Company to perform an anti-smoking presentation as part of the school’s effort to tackle underage smoking and the school has also been involved in e-safety talks and workshops with local primary schools, to inform parents of the dangers of new technologies. Please find enclosed with this magazine your copy of a DVD all about Kingswood College of Arts.
