NEWSLETTER Summer term 2018 MESSAGE FROM THE HEADTEACHER
GFS IS ON A JOURNEY TO BECOME THE BEST SCHOOL IN LONDON BY 2020
D
ear Parents, Staff, Governors and Friends of the school.
What a year it’s been at GFS!
It started with the school receiving commendations in the national press following our founding set of GCSE results where the Evening Standard described the school as “amongst the highest performing in the country”. The year is expected to finish with GFS pupils exceeding the strong academic results that were achieved by our founding cohort.
Thank you to the nearly 300 parents who took the time to complete the annual parent survey earlier this term. The results have been incredibly encouraging and helpful as we put preparations in place for next year. The proportion of parents reporting positively on areas such as pupil happiness, safety, extra-curricular opportunities, aspirations, bullying, behaviour and academic progress has increased significantly on last year. The number of parents who say that GFS has a strong reputation in the local community has risen by nearly 20%. This has coincided with the number of first and second choice pupil
GROWTH GFS Newsletter summer
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applications to GFS more than doubling since 2017. As a result, to obtain a place for your child at GFS you must now live within approximately 1500m of the school.
This year, we are proud to have successfully established our school Parent Staff Association (PSA) and to have launched a number of new community based initiatives including, but not exclusive to, Prize Evening, the Christmas Concert, Parent Bulletin and Newsletter, Pupil Rewards Scheme and the Enrichment Baccalaureate where pupils have benefitted from a wide range of school trips and activities.
We have also invested heavily in the development of our staff through weekly training and frequent observations resulting in further improvements to teaching and learning. A renewed focus on literacy at the beginning of each day and at the start of every lesson is already paying dividends for pupil progress.
A personal highlight of mine this year was watching our very own Alexi Louizu win the regional Jack Petchey Speak out Challenge and progress to the national final. Alexi delivered a powerful and captivating speech on ‘the importance of home’ and demonstrated yet again just how much our pupils are capable of achieving.
FELLOWSHIP
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the GFS staff for their hard work and professionalism over the course of the academic year. Our dedicated teachers and support staff have achieved so much and their determination to ensure every pupil succeeds is what really drives the school forward year on year.
Whilst we should all be very proud of how well the school and its pupils are doing, GFS is not yet the finished article. Much carefully planned hard work is still required if the school is to achieve its full potential. Having said that, I am more convinced now than ever before, that our journey to becoming the best school in London by 2020 in well underway.
As we enter a new and exciting phase as part of the Ark network of schools, GFS pupils have much to look forward to next year and in the future.
I wish you a safe and relaxing summer and look forward to seeing you again in September when we hope and expect to be celebrating another stellar set of academic outcomes.
Rhys Spiers Headteacher
SCHOLARSHIP 06/07/2018 14:08:24
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