NOTES FROM THE BOARDROOM
AN AMBITIOUS VISION FOR MATRAVERS SCHOOL
Back in September the Board of Governors met on a Saturday morning for a planning and review session. One of the things we did was to reflect
afresh on our vision for the school. We agreed to update the wording of the Vision Statement so that it more accurately describes the kind of school we want Matravers to be. Here is an excerpt:
Achieving [world class] involves ensuring that every Matravers student exceeds expectations in all aspects of their education. We will enable our students to gain the highest possible qualifications and equip them with the knowledge, skills and values they need to face life with confidence. We will stretch our students’ ambitions for what they can accomplish on leaving school. (See
https://matravers.wilts.sch.uk/our-school/4575-vision- amp-values.html).
I think you will agree that the board has set out an ambitious vision for the school. We don’t simply want our students to do as well as expected, given their starting points on entry. We want them to do better than expected by the time they leave us. Fine sounding words, but are they being borne out by reality? I would argue that they are.
One of the roles of the Board of Governors is to compare our school’s outcomes with those of other schools nationally and locally. Only then can we gauge how well the school has performed. To that end the Department for Education recommends that governors familiarise themselves with data reports such as the Fischer Family Trust’s (FFT) Dashboard. The National Governance Association stresses the importance of understanding a school’s context when it comes to interpreting pupil outcomes. The FFT ‘Contextual Value Added’ Dashboard placed the Matravers 2017 Key Stage 4 results in the top 5% when compared with similar pupils nationally. It is likely that our 2018 results will match that figure when all the numbers are crunched.
Moving closer to home, how do Matravers’ results stand up when compared with other local secondary schools? Five years ago when Dr. Riding was appointed as Headteacher and me as Chair of Governors, Matravers’
GCSE results were some 20% below those of Kingdown School. That was on the old 5A*-C including English and Maths measure. We were determined to change that. We did not believe that there was anything ‘in the water’ that made Warminster children perform better than Westbury young people. The table below, which features a breakdown of the 2018 Key Stage 4 results tells its own story. (See the Report to Stakeholders 2017/18 in this issue for updated figures including remarks).
School
Matravers Kingdown
John of Gaunt Clarendon
Attainment 8 44.8
46.8 41.7 38.7
Grade 5+ Eng & Math
40% 42% 33% 32%
* See
https://www.compare-school-performance.service.
gov.uk/
Kingdown, Clarendon and John of Gaunt were all judged Good in their most recent Ofsted inspections. Deservedly so, no doubt. The fact that Matravers has virtually caught up with Kingdown over the last five years is testament to the ambition of school leaders, governors, staff and students.
Back to the Vision Statement. We really do mean ‘every student exceeds expectations’, whatever their background or needs. In Wiltshire as a whole there is a wide gap in outcomes between disadvantaged ‘Pupil Premium’ students and others. Especially when it comes to exam results. We have bucked that trend. Our ‘Pupil Premium’ Attainment 8 figure for the Class of 2018 was 43.2, only 1.6 below whole school performance of 44.8. We do not regard the context of our community as an excuse for failure, but as a reason why we need to succeed so that every child gets the best possible start in life.
Parents can make up their own minds whether they think the recent Ofsted inspection report is a fair reflection of the school and its academic outcomes. Be assured that the Board of Governors will ensure that areas of weakness are addressed and that Matravers continues to go from strength to strength.
Mr. Guy Davies Co-Chair of Governors
www.matravers.wilts.sch.uk
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