Although our college motto is ‘Learning to Succeed’ which reflects our aim to develop well rounded young people, who are able to cope with the challenges that life has to hold, throughout the year we also constantly ‘strive for success.’

We aim to help every one of our students achieve their fullest potential and to provide them with qualifications that will open the doors to their future once they finish at Guthlaxton. To that effect we have developed a range of measures which helps each student to strive for personal success.

Increasing the challenge

Even before the students arrive we are working with the High Schools to set challenging target grades in GCSE English and Maths. These grades are achievable and reflect the progress that they have made at High School but they also challenge the student to strive for new goals and levels of achievement.

Once at Guthlaxton, all students are given challenging targets in all other subjects, which they should be striving to achieve by the end of Year 11 and 13. These targets are shared with you, as parents, through the reports each half term; classroom teachers will discuss them with each student during their lesson.

Engaging with you

Throughout the year we send you an update on your child’s progress, each half term. Teachers provide a prediction for what each student will achieve at the end of the course in their subjects. These are followed up by the written report, the annual target setting session, each November, and subject consultation evenings.

In Year 10 we provide support for you, as parents, by inviting you to a talk in September on how to help your child with coursework. This is followed up in the Summer Term of Year 10 with an intervention evening for the parents of students not making the expected levels of progress. In Year 11 we run our annual Family Revision Evening where you can gain support and guidance on how to help your child plan their revision programme.

Assertive Mentoring

Assertive Mentoring means that we have an unrelenting focus on underachievement throughout both Key Stages. In our view, no student should underachieve against the targets that have been set.

As Year 10 and 13 progresses, we identify a group of students who begin to show signs that they may not achieve their potential. As a result, we put in place a range of measures to support the students in making the necessary progress. For example with the current Year 11 we have:

  • identified whole college and individual subject target groups of students who need to enhance their rates of progress.
  • selected over 100 students who are clearly capable of securing 5A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths and supported them with a mentor who will challenge them to achieve this level.
  • set up after school Extended Support where students receive additional lessons to complete coursework or access revision sessions. These are compulsory for students who are behind with their work and they are reminded of the sessions that they need to attend each Monday morning.
  • identified 50 Year 11 students to be personally tutored by an A Level mathematician to ensure that they achieve at least a grade C in their final exams.
  • selected potential A and A* GCSE English students to be tutored by A Level English students
  • throughout Year 11 provide targeted revision support.

We have also ensured that top A Level students are being challenged in one to one meetings to set targets which will help them to achieve the A and B grades required to secure them places at some of the top universities in the country.

At Guthlaxton we don’t sit back; we don’t expect our students to do so either. If you have concerns about the progress that your child is making then please do not hesitate to contact the Head of House responsible for your son or daughter.

Rob Coles
Deputy Principal

Published on Monday 25th January 2010 at 09:00