Principal's Blog:An Inspector Calls
As this will be an OFSTED year for Hampton Academy, it was both fitting and interesting to welcome former Chief Inspector Christine Gilbert CBE last week for a visit together with Kunskapsskolan UK MD Steve Bolingbroke. Christine was impressed by the enthusiasm and understanding of the learning model shown by her tour guides Henry Newton-Savage and Sophie Faggetter (Year 8) and interested to hear Shefali Pandhi‘s (Year 9) account of the transition from HCC to Hampton Academy.
Christine Gilbert, CBE
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It was a busy week for Shefali and her fellow Academy Councillor Thomas Chapman (Year 8) as they also had to do a presentation for the full council on the second ‘Big Idea´ college workshop which took place on 19th January. Unbeknown to me this enterprising pair had not only reported on but filmed the workshops in action and included two ‘vox pops´ with Year 7 students who gave their individual perspectives on how they had made use of the workshop opportunity(for a fuller picture please see the survey results LINK). Council members were full of praise for the quality of their presentations and ability to field the questions they evoked. 
Shefali and Tom with Ms. Taylor, Assistant Principal
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The new OFSTED framework for inspection shares many features with its predecessor but reduces its number of judgements to just four: on student achievement; quality of teaching; leadership and management; and behaviour and safety. The overall judgement on the school´s performance derives from these four findings. As a leadership team we welcome the renewed emphasis on teaching and learning, which means that OFSTED will be making more classroom based judgements where the core business of the school can be seen in action. Our own observations of over sixty lessons this year, together with comprehensive learning reviews of English, maths and science, indicate another upward trajectory in the proportion of teaching which can confidently be judged ‘Good´ or ‘Outstanding´ according to OFSTED criteria.
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Year 11: the Final CountdownScrutiny of exam performance remains a key role of the Academy Council, and last week´s meeting provided excellent evidence of this with a lively debate on the Year 11 mock exam results and predictions for the summer. We are aiming for the ambitious target of 61% students achieving 5 A*-Cs in English and maths, and though encouraged by the 42% of students who already have maths ‘in the bag´ there is still more work to do. Nearly 70% of parents attended last week´s Subject Consultation Meeting where some useful (and in some cases hard-headed) discussions took place. It is not too late for the handful of ‘coasting´ Year 11s to accelerate — but they need to get on with it with just nine weeks to go! Any parent who was unable to attend the meeting is welcome to contact their child´s teacher for information on their progress; all our email addresses are published on this website. Visit the staff contacts page here. 
The Completed rebuild that will include space for our Sixth Form
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Moving on up — here comes theSixth Form!The most momentous news of the past week has been the Secretary of State granting permission for ourselves and Twickenham Academy to open a sixth form from September 2012. Of course we would have welcomed this decision being made rather earlier (eg in time to discuss at the Parents Evening — see above)...but government and politicians move in mysterious ways! As stated in my letter to families  (pdf, 350 kB) considerable planning and preparation have already been undertaken to prepare for post 16. A review of accommodation has taken place to ensure that specialist teaching, study and social spaces will be available for our sixth form students from September. We urge our Year 11 students to consider carefully the benefits of moving into the next stage of their studies with teachers they already know and trust to deliver, together with all the other opportunities provided under the innovative LST curriculum as outlined in the November brochure. An application at this stage is not a commitment, but rather an additional choice.
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Sporting reporting!The somewhat overdue Year 7/8 girls football final, played in the stylish new Hampton Academy kit, finally took place this week. Ace sports reporters/ camera crew Jack Pannett and Sam Badgery (Year 9) accompanied the squad to Twickenham for the final against Grey Court and produced a splendid account of the action (See the report here). Sadly our gallant girls lost 3-1; no disgrace against a very good team especially given their excellent performances on the way to the final. 
The Year 8 Girls Team with Ms. Davidson and Ms. Nuttall.
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Literary AchievementsAnother pending Year 9 success — we hope — is Daniel Jonusas´ shortlisting for the ArtsRichmond Laureateship for his moving First World War sonnet. We wish him well as the judges take their decision at the end of this month. Meanwhile ‘Team Hanworth Road´ (ourselves together with LEH and Hampton) is gearing up for another literary tour de force. After their great success last year in winning the inter-borough Literary Quiz in Kingston against Tiffin School Boys, Coombe Girls and Tolworth Girls, LEH will be hosting this year´s final on 15th March featuring HA students from Years 7-10 inclusive. Watch this space for results! 
The Dance Showcase Cast in Rehearsals
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Strictly Brilliant Dancing!I complete this blog between dance shows, the glories of which will be shared with you all shortly on this website. Suffice it to say that even last year´s exceptional performances were trumped by the 160-strong Class of 2012, evoking the full range of emotional responses from laughter (the year 9 boys´ 60s´ wigs!) to tears (intensely moving solo and ensemble pieces from our older girls) to awe (the skill, technique and bravery of our soloists.) Photos, video and a full report will be featured next week.
Sue Demont |