School Results - 2004

Where are we now and where are we going?

1. What are the school’s results?

In 2004, after just one year of operation, the Academy achieved:-

• Key Stage Four
  • 29% of students in Year 11 gained 5 or more good GCSE’s (A*-C Grades). This compares with 13% the previous year and exceeded our target of 27%. OFSTED rated this as A* performance as we were in the top 5% of schools in England for student progress between Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4.

   

• Key Stage Three
  • 35% of students gained level 5 or better in Maths, 28% in English and 23% in Science. This was an improvement on 2003 and exceeded our targets of 27% in English and Maths.

2. Why is the school low in the league tables?

Most of our students in the year groups who took GCSE or SATs in 2004, were previously at Willesden High School. Many joined from overseas and started late (as late as year 10) and with little or no English.

Many of these are outstanding students and have made excellent progress. Understandably they may not reach the expected level in SATs or GCSE in their first few years. But, when they learn English, they make excellent progress. This is why OFSTED rated our student progress (or “added value”) so highly at GCSE in 2004 and awarded us A*.

3. When will results change?

• This year, we have similar groups of students in Year 11 and Year 9. Their results should be similar for GCSE and SATs as in 2005.
   
• Our first students who joined the Academy in Year 7 are now in Year 8. They will take Key Stage 3 SATs in 2006 and our targets are 55% level 5 or better in Maths, 54% in English and 50% in Science. We expect, at least, to reach these targets.
   
• When this year group reaches Year 11 in 2008, we expect them to have made further progress and to achieve good GCSE results. Our 2008 GCSE targets will be set in 2006 but we will be aiming for at least 45% of students to achieve five or more good GCSE’s (A*-C grades).

4. What proof do we have that we will reach good standards?

• Already, we are seeing encouraging progress. For example, our 6th Form is already 150 and our first AS module results (in Maths, Chemistry and Biology) were 33% Grade A, 37% Grade B and 11% Grade C. This is an excellent standard and compares well with other 6th Forms and Further Education Colleges.
   
• We have been working with independent inspectors and DfES to monitor the quality of teaching and learning throughout the school. Our monitoring has shown steady improvement and a high proportion of good and very good teaching (60-70%).
   
• Attendance rates are also improving. We are confident that we can reach or exceed our targets for 2004/05 of 89.8%. Then we expect to improve further in 2005/06.
   
• Our popularity with families continues to grow, we had 618 applications for Year 7 in 2005, up from 400 the previous year. We are full in all year groups and have a long waiting list.
   
• In Sport – which is one of our specialisms – we are participating in a wide range of competitions and supporting our talented athletes. Sporting highlights include:-
   
  • Year 8 football – Brent Champions.
     
  • Year 12/13 football – Brent Finalists [Finals this month].
     
  • London Penathlon (multi-sports from chess to athletics) – Champions.
     
  • Year 7 – Brent Netball Finalist.
     
  • National Basketball League (Under 20’s) – Champions of England.
     
  • 3 x 6th form students ranked in Basketball in Europe.
     
  • Judo: two Year 8 girls selected for British Squad.
     
  • Tennis: three Year 8 students are currently competing in Challenge Tennis to National Standard.
     
  • Inter-House Competitions: Over 150 students in Years 7 to 9 took park in our football and basketball events in Spring 2005 and a further 150 will do so this term.
     
  • More than 200 students each week take part in out of hours learning in our clubs and classes programme made up of a wide range of opportunities.
     
  • We are the hub of the Sports Co-ordinators Partnership which assists in the teaching of 26 Primary Schools within the South of Brent.
     
  • 50 of our Year 10 and 11 students assist in the coaching of P.E. in Primary Schools.
     
  • There are multi sports activity evenings each Monday evening from 4:00pm – 5:30pm for all Primary Partner Schools.

   

• In the Arts – which is our second specialism – we are developing exciting opportunities ranging across art, sculpture, photography, ceramics, dance, drama and music. Artistic highlights include:-
   
• Art
  • Asian Arts Project - Year 12 AS Art Group worked in collaboration with SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies University of London) on four banners (currently displayed in the front reception). The artist Cas Holmes worked with the group in school and at the Brunei Gallery where the work was exhibited to the public.
     
  • Thames Festival – September 2005 – Art and Humanities students will be working with two artists creating art works for this year’s festival.

   

• Dance
  • Transitions Dance Company – Laban. GCSE and Gifted and Talented Dance students participated in a compositional workshop led by professional dancers. The group then visited Laban to view the performance.
     
  • AS Dance students performed at the Brent Dance Festival.
     
  • We held our Second Primary Dance Festival in April 2005, involved 160 pupils from 6 Primary Schools.

   

• Drama
  • Autumn 2005 – The Academy will be participating in a project called ‘Sculpted Stories’. This is a cross-disciplinary project involving 3 schools across London. A contemporary sculptor’s work will be the stimulus for exploring storytelling and developing drama.
     
  • School production of ‘The Wiz’ will take place in November.

   

• Music
  • 40 students are now having regular timetabled music lessons in brass, flute, guitar, cello, violin, piano and percussion.
     
  • Our Music department have helped three bands to participate in ‘Clash of Sounds’, a Brent competition/festival.

5. What further developments are planned?

• Stronger links with Parents
   
  • We are working with our new parent governor (Philomena Bouzemada, a Y8 parent) and other governors from the local community to set-up a home-school association to give parents a strong voice in the school.
     
  • A drop in, Principal’s Parents’ Time will be held 4:30-6:00pm every Thursday from May 5th to allow parents to see the Principal, without appointment, to deal with any issue or concern.
     
  • We will soon be publishing a guide for parents on how to work with school to support our students. This will be translated into the main languages spoke by our families and will be prepared with key information for the 2005-06 school year and issued to parents in July 2005.
     
  • We are redeveloping our website to make it more useful for parents and students. It will include details of the Curriculum and lesson and homework resources as well as news and information such as holiday dates.

   

• Even Better Teaching, Behaviour, Attendance, and Punctuality.
   
  • We have appointed our own attendance officer, Beverley Reid. She will work with parents, Heads of Year and the Education Welfare Officer to ensure all our students attend school regularly and on time.
     
  • We monitor classrooms regularly and all staff have an individual teaching improvement plan alongside an improvement plan for their subject/curriculum area. These plans will help us reach our target for at least 70% of our teaching to be good or excellent in 2004/05 with further improvements in 2005/06.
     
  • We are continuing our work to improve behaviour, around school and in lessons. We are setting clear targets and providing special support for a small number of students who require this. We are continuing to strengthen our system of rewards and sanctions and will be conducting a series of awards events in the Summer Term.
     
  • Our Curriculum planning for 2005/06 will strengthen the challenge and support we offer for our more able and gifted and talented students by providing specialised teaching for these students in Key Stage 3. In Key Stage 4 we will introduce learning pathways including a wider range of academic and vocational courses. In all years, support for those who find learning difficult will also be strengthened. And, in the 6th form we will introduce a wide range of A2 courses.
     
  • All these developments will ensure our students are given the learning opportunities they need. This will, in turn, improve their progress and achievement.

   

• Making the most of our computers to support learning
   
  • We have state of the art ICT (Computer) facilities in the Academy. Our Staff Training Day on April 29th will showcase the work of some staff who make the best use of these facilities and provide workshops for all to learn from the best practice.
     
  • We have developed our Learning Resources Centre (Library) to provide a wide range of computer, books and other resources, extended hours and better 6th Form study facilities. We are planning to develop a new open learning area at the front of the school, possibly as soon as Summer 2005.
     
  • We are developing an extensive Connexions library to provide career opportunities. In addition, we are developing careers education from year 7 maximising a wide range of resources including new software.
     
  • We have invested in new computers for our ICT rooms and for the Design Technology area. This will include a bank of tablet pc’s for use in Technology lessons. If this is successful, we will extend access to tablets/laptops in other curriculum areas.
     
  • Across all curriculum areas we provide out of hours learning opportunities especially for Key stage 4/5 students utilising in house and external expertise.
     
  • We provide film-making opportunities supported by the BBC. This has led to participation in a BBC-led project to train and support young film-makers leading up to a film festival to be held at the BBC White City on the 12th May 2005 to celebrate films made by our students and those from Academies in Peckham and Middlesbrough. This film-making workshop provides training on all aspects of film production from using DV cameras to editing using professional software.
     
  • Students are able to access all their own files and folders at anytime through the internet providing anytime any place learning.

6. How High Are Our Aims?

• We have one main aim at Capital City Academy – the learning of our students and the community. All of our planning focuses on that aim through four priorities.

- Teaching for Learning
- Culture for Learning
- Resources for Learning
- Leading for Learning

• We are setting very ambitious targets for achievement and for all aspects of the plans we are making for each of our priorities. Each year, we expect to show improvements and we will not be satisfied until we have become one of the best schools in the country for student progress.

Philip O’Hear, Principal
28th April 2005