15 September 2023
Dear Parent / Carer
I would like to take this opportunity, with the publication of the first newsletter for The John Warner School of academic year 2023 to 2024, to introduce myself to you personally.
As Director of Education: Secondary for Danes Educational Trust, a multi-academy trust working across Hertfordshire, I was asked to work with colleagues at The John Warner School from the end of March 2023. As part of this work, I spent a considerable amount of time talking with colleagues and students from all year groups and across subject areas, which enabled me to start to understand their perceptions of both the strengths of the school and where areas for development and opportunities exist. Encouraged to be honest, the students I have spoken with are articulate, thoughtful, generous in their praise and sharply critical where they believe the provision they receive has been unacceptable. I trust that they will continue to provide constructive feedback, carefully, thoughtfully and compassionately, through the channels we will introduce over the course of the coming academic term.
At the end of June I was invited to become the Interim Headteacher of The John Warner School, a position I feel both privileged and humbled to undertake. I am fully aware of the challenges we face but, already, much strategic planning is in place and on the 5 September our students returned to a school site - one of the best in the county, if not the country - refreshed, repainted, renewed. My particular thanks go to those support colleagues and sixth formers who were willing to clean, paint and move furniture, all the while cheerful and smiling. As one of our colleagues said so aptly, ‘It’s just a joy to see the school being cared for.’.
At the start of the academic year, I spoke to all students in all Year Groups in an introductory assembly. During each of these assemblies I promised the following:
I will always make choices in your best interest (although you may not see this at the time)
I will always believe you are good (unless your actions over time suggest otherwise)
I will always stand up for you (irrespective of what others think)
In return, I trust that your children and our students will be respectful, kind, resilient and tenacious, aspiring always to achieve the very best of which they are capable.
I very much look forward to working with you over the course of the coming academic year.
Kind Regards
Rachel Brindley
Interim Headteacher, The John Warner school
Key examination successes
The John Warner School is delighted to share key examination successes from the 2023 Year 13 and Year 11 cohorts. The accomplishments of this cohort of students - both in light of the national picture and the school’s recent past - are remarkable and we are proud of them all.
As the media has presented so widely, there was a notable drop nationally in terms of top grades at both A Level and GCSE this year that saw a return to a ‘pre-pandemic’ national grade profile. Despite this, the following students from our school attained superb results across their chosen subjects enabling them to pursue both higher and further education and service to the community.
To read some of the wonderful achievements at our school click the button below.
A very special mention
It is always a pleasure to report the success of our students, and we could not let this one go past without doing so.
Martin joined The John Warner School on 15 October 2018 as a Year 9 student, coming from Italy. Martin spoke little English, just a few basic words and the obvious answers to ‘What’s your name?’ and ‘How old are you?’ etc.
Martin was incredibly quiet and shy but there was something that stood out during our EAL lessons and that was that he was prepared to go that extra mile in order to grasp what he was being taught. Over the next 2 years Martin worked extremely hard to learn both the spoken and written English Language and, even though we went into lockdown, he did not disappoint when it came to his GCSEs, gaining grades 6 to 9.
Having stayed on to attend our 6th Form and having completed his exams this summer, Martin gained the following grades: Maths A*, Economics A and two Bs in Business and Further Maths. Martin has now accepted a place at Queen Mary, University London to study Economics.
As Martin’s EAL teacher I am immensely proud of what he has achieved and the hurdles that he faced, the biggest one of all being that English was not his first language.
Jill Bertolone, EAL Teacher
Staff INSET Day
During the afternoon of our first Autumn Term INSET day, colleagues from our new Quality First Teaching Team offered snapshot practicals of excellent practice in relation to ‘Explicit Instruction’ - our Teaching and Learning focus point for this half term. Gwyn Browning (Chemistry), Stuart Higham (Engineering), Gill Dane (Textiles), Tara Haddock (Sport and PE) and Claudia Wotton (Food and Nutrition) had colleagues throwing balls (gently), sewing and constructing swans, all intelligently underpinned by an outline of the research underpinning practice, showcased by Assistant Headteachers, Alex Barnes and Clare Price.
September 2023 Prize Giving
The very best of our school was seen last night during our main school Prize Giving, an annual event where students from our examination years are invited to return to the school to receive, rightly, recognition for their achievements and endeavours over the course of their time with us. Awards were presented in the fields of academic achievement, extra-curricular excellence, and commitment to embodying the school values of aspiration, creativity, endeavour, participation and respect.
Special thanks is given to Dr Josephine Valentine OBE, CEO of Danes Educational Trust, for delivering the formal address at the start of the evening.
Particular mentions should be given to Elijah Acquet and Curtis Harvey-Lee, who collected awards for making the most academic progress across Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5, and Rhianna Drew and Emma Carey who were recognised for achieving the highest grades at GCSE and A-Level respectively.
Steve Cove, Assistant Headteacher Post-16
‘Elevate’
On Tuesday 12 of September, Years 10 and 11 were visited by ‘Elevate’ who delivered sessions to support them in their studies at Key Stage 4.
Year 10 were given an introduction to studying at GCSE level, including how to utilise a subject syllabus to frame study and how to structure and review organised notes. An introduction to conceptual learning in order to develop deep understanding was also provided plus guidance regarding how to utilise practice exam papers.
Year 11 engaged in a session to support them with ongoing revision and study skills as they navigate the final year of their GCSEs. The sessions covered guidance as to the highest value exam preparation tasks, how to fix mistakes to ensure constant improvement, advice about time allocation during exam preparation and suggested techniques for managing stress and time pressure in exams.
The sessions were lively and engaging and the students’ contributions were excellent. Year 11 parents were also invited to attend a parent session, which covered the key points from the seminars their children attended, suggested strategies as to how the skills can be reinforced at home and provided time for parents to ask questions. Parents will receive ongoing opportunities to attend webinars and access further resources throughout the year.
Music at The John Warner School
Wow, what a start to the year! As a new teacher to The John Warner School, the start of the Autumn term has been full of surprises. I was unaware of just how many different musical instruments the school has available to students. It seems that I am still discovering cupboards in the music block every day, each of these being like an Aladdin’s cave of musical instruments -new and old! Some have clearly seen better days (It is likely I will offer the art department the opportunity to make an art installation out of the dozens of string-less guitars we have) but many others are just begging to be taken out of their cases and played by students.
I have met so many talented students in a very short time and can honestly say I am thrilled to have the opportunity to put The John Warner School back on the ‘musical map’. Click the buttton below to read more from Jon Starling.
Girls’ Cricket
Our wonderful girls’ cricketers and cricket leaders have been lucky enough to be part of Herts Cricket & the ‘Chance 2 Shine’ cricket programme for three years. This programme is fully funded, supporting our delivery of and leadership in girls’ cricket and getting more girls into the game.
The girls have gone from strength to strength over the years and now have a thriving girls’ cricket team. Our girls were Awards 'runners up' in the ‘Secondary school of the year’ category at the ‘Chance 2 Shine’ awards last year. We are hoping to go all the way in 2023 to 2024 (so long as we are nominated!) as our girls have been even more impressive across the last academic year.
Please see below for a link to a short film about our girls delivering cricket games to IG employees in London on their rooftop in the summer. They were brilliant and filled us with pride. They are a very real credit to our school and speak so eloquently about their experiences in the film.
Hayley Wood-Thompson, Head of Year 13
Behaviour and Dress
We would like to thank the significant majority of our students who have quickly adjusted to our new expectations for behaviour, dress and attendance. It has been lovely to hear so many comments from colleagues and students regarding just how calm the site is and to hear from our lovely new Year 7s just how much they have been enjoying coming to school. Drama seems to be a particular ‘hit’!
Please click the button below to see the new C1 to C6 Consequences Chart for The John Warner School. This has been explained to our students and we hope it is helpful to you in understanding the reset of expectations that is underway at the school.
Hot off the press: Team GB Skateboarder
Frankie Minton-Lee from Year 10 has been selected for the Team GB Skateboard talent pipeline which offers a pathway for UK talented skateboarders.
This is a fantastic achievement for Frankie and will help develop his skills to the next level.
Frankie is certainly one to watch for the future!
Parent / Carer Thank yous
In each newsletter our final item will be a short extract from one of the many ‘Thank yous’ staff have received over the previous two weeks.
‘Dear Mrs Price
…I thought I would email you to let you know how Jack is after attending…for a year with 100% attendance. He did extremely well and achieved BTEC LEVEL 2 FIRST AWARD IN APPLICATION OF SCIENCE. I just felt it was so important to let you know because everyone at John Warner, especially you and Mrs Maughan played a massive part in helping Jack grow and achieve so much. He has been so lucky to have such caring people in his life that spent so much time supporting him.’
…I thought I would email you to let you know how Jack is after attending…for a year with 100% attendance. He did extremely well and achieved BTEC LEVEL 2 FIRST AWARD IN APPLICATION OF SCIENCE. I just felt it was so important to let you know because everyone at John Warner, especially you and Mrs Maughan played a massive part in helping Jack grow and achieve so much. He has been so lucky to have such caring people in his life that spent so much time supporting him.’