On Thursday 16 May, 90 Year 8 students went roller-skating to Madison Heights in Maldon. It was established quite quickly that the students in Year 8 have no fear, with student whizzing and flying around. Charlotte Gill and Tia Francis showed off their expertise and experience, whilst Jamie Bennett struggled to stay on his feet! The students had a great time. Thank you to all of the staff for accompanying. Miss Smith.

After 5 years of trials, tribulations and (for the most part) the best years of their lives Year 11 have now officially left Notley. 

Following their final assembly they decamped to the canteen for shirt signing, photos, hugs and tears. Apparently the girls were quite upset too. They then took their last steps off the premises. Eventually. This yeargroup I think now holds the record for slowest to leave. Maybe they might actually have realised how much they will miss the place. Again, eventually.

Pictures will follow once they have been thoroughly checked for anything written on shirts that might (however wrongly) be misconstrued as slightly inappropriate. Heaven forbid ;-) 

Good luck with your exams folks - see you at the prom in July.

On Tuesday 14 May, 30 Year 9 students attended a workshop at The Guardian News and Media Education Centre. Whilst there, they were able to see the daily working lives of reporters and see how a newspaper really works. Students discussed and explored the day's news and completed a workshop where they created their own newspapers, selecting interesting and current stories, creating headlines and choosing suitable pictures, whilst acting as their own editors. The students were exceptionally well behaved and all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Thank you to Miss Ford and Mrs Ross for accompanying.

As you may be aware, the National Curriculum is currently going through a process of review by the Government. Greater emphasis will be on knowledge that students should acquire. With this in mind, as well as the Humanities teaching staff, identifying a need for students to become better prepared for GCSE examinations earlier on at Key Stage 3, we would like to re-introduce end of year examinations for Years 7 and 8. This belief was also echoed by a recent Humanities review student forum in which students at Key Stage 4 felt that they would have benefitted from formal examinations in Key Stage 3 to better assist in their GCSE preparation.  Please click here for further information.

On May 2nd 2013, the inaugural meeting of the Marking and Assessment Parent/Carer Forum  was held in Braintree Sixth Form.  A select group of invited volunteer parents and carers from across the school, representing students in all year groups from 7 to 12, got together to discuss marking and assessment at Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form and to offer a home perspective of that topic to the staff at the meeting.  Nick Vosper and Tom Baster, Assistant Headteachers who have been leading on this whole-school project this year, outlined the reasons for needing to improve this aspect of our practice stemming from recommendations made by Ofsted at previous inspections.  They shared the journey that the school has undertaken this year in Marking and Assessment, moving from redrafting the whole-school Marking and Assessment policy to working with Faculties to ensure that each has a workable Policy which is being rigorously implemented.  Parents and Carers at the meeting were able to give a valuable insight into what matters to students and parents with respect to marking and assessment compared to how teachers view the subject and any statutory requirements which also may be brought to bear; subjects such as grades and levels and how easy these are to understand as well as the frequency with which books are marked were robustly discussed.  The Forum will meet again in June when it will form a component of the Whole-School Marking and Assessment Review which is aimed to monitor the effectiveness of our new strategies in this area.  The Review will include support from outside experts as well as monitoring from within the school and will provide a snapshot of the health of Marking and Assessment at Notley High School and Braintree Sixth Form.  The School wishes to thank all the parents/carers who gave up their time to attend and helped to drive this important project forwards.

For more details please contact nick.vosper@notleyhigh.com or tom.baster@notleyhigh.com