Open Evening Invitation 2016

All of us at Stratton Upper School recognise the enormous value of the air ambulance service and the impact it makes in its vital work across our region. We have been in contact with the regional headquarters of the air ambulance who have assured us that Sunday’s event was a success.

I think the issues are best summed up as follows:

The Weatherly Centre and the school are entirely separate organisations. The booking of the school field is therefore a completely separate matter to booking the Weatherly Centre and vice versa. We would urge any organisation interested in using our school field to make direct contact with the school to avoid confusion and disappointment.

There are legitimate costs associated with any school based event to ensure the site is safe and secure. In late July the school was made aware of what was being planned and how integral our field would be. Ensuring these costs were covered meant we could allow the event to proceed. The fee was kept to a bare minimum and agreed with the East Anglian Air Ambulance in the middle of August.

Our relationship with the East Anglian Air Ambulance remains strong and we have been discussing about how we could work closely together in the future.

Rob Watson
Headteacher

As you will have noticed we are undertaking significant works to the entrance and car park at Stratton Upper School.

I’m afraid these works are not as advanced as we had anticipated.  Although we will be introducing a number of measures to try and avoid traffic difficulties it is likely that there will be increased congestion between 8am and 9am, then again between 3pm and 4pm.

We apologise for the inconvenience this will cause during the initial few weeks of term, which starts tomorrow Tuesday 6th September 2016. We are confident that matters will quickly settle as staff, students and parents/carers get used to the temporary changes we will be making.

We would be grateful if students and parents/carers will note the temporary access arrangements below:

• Our bus bays are not affected by the work.
• Pedestrian access remains via either Orchard Close or Eagle Farm Road.
  Eagle Farm Road pedestrian access to the campus is currently via the Farm gates (right at the end of the road).
• All cyclists should use the Eagle Farm entrance.  They should dismount on entering Eagle Farm Road and walk their bikes to the bicycle sheds located near the Farm. We encourage all students to walk or cycle.  If students must arrive by car, please use the Town Council parking provision located off Sorrell Way as a drop off point. This is located at the end of the vehicle access to the Sorrell Way playing field.  We are grateful to the Town Council for facilitating this by ensuring the gates are unlocked.
• Please do not attempt to drive down Eagle Farm Road at peak periods.  The road is currently narrower due to the ongoing works and space will be needed for buses.
• For tomorrow, Tuesday 6th September, Year 9 students will be met at either entrance and guided to the central playground.  Staff will be on duty from 8:35am.

All works at the front of school are estimated to be completed by the October half term.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Rob Watson
Headteacher

GCSE students enjoyed excellent results at Stratton Upper School on Thursday. “GCSE qualifications are in a period of transition” said Headteacher Rob Watson, “The Government is on a mission to greatly raise the bar, and these results show students and staff embracing the challenge.”

“Later this year the government will publish a new measure showing how well students performed across 8 academic subjects” explained Head of Year Alun Evans. “We believe this is a fair way of judging schools allowing parents to see what schools have achieved with individual cohorts. We are confident that our 55% % A*-C with English and Maths will translate well into the new measure, known as progress 8, to confirm Stratton students performed between 15 and 25% better than similar students nationally”

“We are proud to be a fully comprehensive school. It is important that students from all abilities do well, as is the case this year!”

Stratton Upper School A level students celebrated their strongest performance in the school’s history. 

“In a year where outcomes nationally have broadly stood still it is fantastic to see our students leap forward in this way” said Headteacher Rob Watson.

“These results are a real testament to the hard work and dedication of a fantastic group of students and a dedicated team of staff” 

Nick Metcalf, who’ll be studying Physics at Warwick University became the first Stratton Student ever to achieve 3 A-levels at A* with an additional A* for the new Extended Project qualification, building on the 4 A grade AS qualifications he achieved last year. “It hasn’t sunk in yet” said Nick who was also a Head Student, “I’m so grateful to all the staff that supported me over the last 5 years”. Across all his A-level papers, Nick lost only 11 marks!