Prize Giving 2007

Headmaster's Address

This was the year when the process of admissions into secondary state-schools wasn’t just like a lottery: in Brighton and Hove it actually was a lottery!  A new state-sector admissions code had already set out terms whereby schools were forbidden from interviewing prospective pupils and parents.  And state-school Heads were to be barred from observing teachers in their own schools teach! 

This was the year when, under the government’s new curriculum for nought- to five-year-olds, compulsory for all nurseries, babies were to be given marks for crying, gurgling and babbling, and when one school in Stockport banned knotted ties, insisting on clip-ons, for health and safety reasons. 

This was the year when, before the DfES became the DCSF, its updated guidance on school uniforms said that schools could ban full-face veils on grounds of security, safety or learning.  But the Law determined that wearing a veil in court was admissible, so long as it did not interfere with the course of justice. And 200 prisoners received out-of-court payments from the Home Office in settlement of the case they were planning to bring to court under Human Rights legislation because they’d been forced whilst in prison to break their drug dependency. 

Finally – and one might be excused for thinking this to be a news item from The Two Ronnies – this was the year when a man was taken to court for growling at a Labrador and making the animal agitated.  The Judge did, however, throw the case out, saying that public order offences didn’t apply to dogs and that the Law was not an ass!

However accurate or inaccurate, such reports show the kind of story that sells newspapers and therefore what the public as it were ‘buys’. These stories reflect the shifting scene of moral principles, social values and legal codes by which we have to bring up our young people. 

‘Education’, one other headline more encouragingly stated, ‘is supposed to make you rich, not wealthy’.  Being personally enriched, not in a pecuniary sense but in terms of pre-dispositions, qualities, knowledge and skills, is precisely what enables us to make sense of conflicting demands, hold fast to key principles, not get lost in a moral maze, and lead fulfilled and productive lives.  At Rishworth this is exactly the kind of enrichment that we believe we do provide - and we say as much in our statement of aims.  I quote:

We try to ensure that pupils develop

a love of learning, a thirst for excellence and the will to succeed

a sense of responsibility, self-discipline, purpose and fulfilment

a capacity for both self-reliance and co-operation

an appreciation of certain personal virtues and spiritual values, such as honesty, dependability, perseverance, commitment, humility and respect for others

How did we achieve all this last year?

The year had three defining moments. 

Firstly, the Inspection of Boarding at the start of the school year.  As expected, the final report from the government body which has been statutorily inspecting independent schools, testified to the excellence of Rishworth boarding.  The Report is quite outstanding, with the School receiving the highest rating overall (‘excellent’), and with all of the sections separately assessed receiving this highest rating, except one, which received the second highest. 

Secondly, the opening of our new Community Sport’s Club in the Michaelmas Term. There was a twin aim: to provide top-flight sporting facilities both for our own pupils, and, as encompassed by our charitable remit, for members of the wider community, at extremely favourable rates, when this amenity was not being used by our pupils.  The facilities include a revamped swimming-pool and squash courts, brand new cardio-vascular and resistance training suites and a personal fitness trainer.  Even before the opening weekend was over, the Club was fully subscribed. 

Now, having gradually expanded, it has1100 members.   The creation of this superb facility was but one of a whole range of major material improvements that marked the continuing development of the School.  In her Address, the Chairman mentioned a number of others.

And thirdly, the Royal Visit in February.  For the first time in the School’s history, Rishworth played host to a Royal Visitor.  We were honoured to welcome HRH Princess Anne, The Princess Royal, who came officially to inaugurate this new Sport’s Club and toured both Heathfield and Rishworth School themselves.  HRH was certainly impressed.  On her departure, she indicated to me that she had gleaned some very favourable impressions of the School, that this was a happy place where people, once they were here, liked to stay, and that she could well imagine that parents appreciated that there were still schools like Rishworth around!  

There were also three main strands to the School’s academic development:

1  The introduction of a new school day.  The shift to lessons of an hour’s duration over a two-week cycle has been a resounding success in terms of helping pupils to learn.  The time saved in fewer lesson-changeovers and the longer spells for unbroken study enable more to be accomplished.

2  The creation of a new post of Staff Mentor for Management, Assessment, Teaching and Learning.  This new position, held by Miss Bradberry, has allowed the School to enhance still further the key factors that most directly influence pupils’ ability to learn.  The year’s aim was ambitious, but was achieved none the less.  It included mutual lesson observations involving all Heads of Department and all other teaching staff, the sharing through carefully-structured and detailed feedback of professional ideas arising from those observations, a programme of in-depth departmental reviews and whole-staff training on advanced teaching techniques.  As a result, the links between teaching, learning and departmental development have already been strengthened, much to the benefit of the pupils’ studies.  This is a process of rigorous professional self-scrutiny that will continue.

3  The creation of a Lesson Observation and Teacher Training Unit

Based in the Modern Languages area but for use by any teacher with any class, this consists of a monitoring room with a viewing window into the adjacent classroom, whereby a teacher who agrees to be monitored, and classes who are aware that they may be being monitored, can receive the benefits of guidance from an external observer as the lesson unfolds.  (We of course remain aware of data protection matters and rights to privacy).

The equipment provides a direct, real-time link via video, ear-piece and microphone between the teacher teaching a class and a mentor who, remotely through the ear-piece, can give, as necessary, second-by-second advice as the teacher teaches.

The purpose of the project is to create a training centre for excellence in class management and pedagogical technique whereby

teachers can benefit from guidance without the ‘interfering presence’ of an in-class observer that can so easily alter the group dynamics

teachers can afterwards analyse the lesson taught, by viewing replays of the recording

teachers can learn to coach each other and, in so doing, fine-tune their observational, analytical and teaching skills

University Departments of Education may wish to use the facility to train teachers or even teacher-trainers - we have already trained teachers from Leeds and Huddersfield Universities.

We welcomed what proved to be a bumper crop of new staff last year: Miss Bradberry, Mr. Davidson, Miss Chatwin, Miss Timlin and Mr. Bullock.  Mrs Davidson was soon to begin her affiliation with Wheelwright House.  There were also changes in the support staff, including the arrival of Mr. Pickersgill, Mrs Keeble, Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs. Venables.  There have, in addition, been modifications to roles exercised by existing staff and these have served to facilitate the School’s developments and accommodate its changing needs. 

We said good bye to Miss Mellier and also to Mrs Taylor, our Catering Manager for 20 years and to Mrs Taylor, the Bursar’s Secretary.  After 31 years, Mrs Briggs retired – as did Mr Pitchforth after a life-time’s association with the School, though we are pleased that he is continuing this year in a part-time administrative capacity.

We wish all these members of staff, former and present, every happiness in their new ventures and we thank them for giving such fine service; we wish our new colleagues fulfilment and success with us in the future.

Finally, with staffing matters, and on a very sad note, we lost Mrs Palmer, who taught woodwind.  Tragically, Mrs Palmer was killed in a road accident; coincidentally, the inquest is today.  In her memory, a new prize has very generously been donated by her partner, Mr Mike Briggs.  This prize is called 'The Carol Palmer Prize' and is to be awarded each year at Prize Giving for the most improved woodwind player.  It is a handsome trophy and carries with it a significant monetary gift.   The trophy was inaugurated at this year’s Music Festival Concert, and will be presented this afternoon.

And that latter point, of course, is what we are primarily here for today: to celebrate our pupils’ successes.  These, as the awarding of the prizes will at least in some measure indicate, were many, and this very much includes examination results, with which we were again most pleased.

At GCSE the statistics came out as follows:

% of pupils with 5 or more A* - C Grades: 82.4

Nearly half the students gained 9 or 10 GCSEs at C Grade or above.

Nearly one student in eight gained 8 or more (and as many as 10) A*s or As.

Over one student in five gained 5 or more (and as many as 10) A*s or As.

One outstanding achievement was the pupil who received a special letter of commendation from the Examination Board for scoring one of the top five marks in the country out of the 19,601 candidates who sat the GCSE French Specification.  This is the third time in four years that one of our GCSE pupils has come in the top five in the country for French. 

At A level, too, the strongest candidates achieved their string of A grades, whilst the results of a number of students, who had from the outset found A level work a particularly tough challenge, exceeded all expectations.  At AS level, one student gained maximum marks in all three of her Art modules.

With all grades cashed in at A level,

the pass-rate (A-E) was 100%

the ‘top end’ was again very pleasing, for instance with one student, who achieved 4 A Grades, gaining a place at Cambridge University to read Geography

31% of all grades were As or Bs

64% of all grades were A-C

the average UCAS point-score per candidate was 242

For those who care about these things, we featured in The Daily Telegraph’s Top 500 Schools.

As I am at pains to emphasise whenever I get the chance, at Rishworth we have – and are committed to having - not only academically-gifted students but also a wide spectrum of aptitudes, including some pupils who are singularly disadvantaged – for example by not having English as their first, or even their second, language.  This makes our results all the more pleasing and the pupils and the staff all the more deserving of praise.  

Most importantly of all, we don’t care much about global statistics anyway, however good they are: what we really care about – and what we believe parents and pupils really care about - is how each pupil fares relative to his or her own potential.  And that is where Rishworth truly excels.

Coupled with all this, there continues to thrive an extraordinary range of out-of-class activities, far too numerous to do justice to here.  It is these which complete the foundations for that broader personal development this Address began with - the social sense and the moral stability which our young people need in order to live responsibly, productively and happily in their world.  Here are just some of those activities:

In the 2007 Summer Holidays alone there were the following:

A Music Tour to Italy, where our pupils, having submitted a CD beforehand, had been invited to sing Evening Mass in St. Mark’s Basilica, where they received rapturous applause from a capacity congregation, and were asked to sing an encore

A lower-school Trip to the South of France

A Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Gold Expedition

Pre-season Sports Training

A New Overseas Boarders’ Induction Course

The National SHMIS Senior Prefects’ Conference, which Rishworth again hosted

This, in addition to:

The February Half Term ski-trip to Austria

A three-day activity camp in the Christmas Holidays - run for fun and to help raise funds for the Sports Tour to Australia in 2008

A middle-school trip to Berlin

Extensive charity work, including the School Ball, ‘Children in Need Day’ and ‘Red Nose Day’, with a bun sale, a ‘Battle of the Years’ competition and an ‘I’m a teacher get me out of here!’ event

Superb musical performances in recitals, concerts and festivals by Rishworth’s talented musicians

Over 60 candidates gaining their Trinity College of Music Examination Awards, including 11 Distinctions and 18 Merits

Numerous fun and cultural trips for boarders as well as year-group and departmental excursions like the Year 7 visit to Bolton Abbey and Skipton Castle, the Year 8 trip to the Royal Armouries, the A level Biology and Geography Field Trips to Cranedale, a further Geography Field Trip to Castleton and the Lower Sixth Teambuilding and Leadership residential stay at Patterdale

Another fine set of sporting achievements both for teams and for individuals, with five pupils representing their country and twelve their county or region in sports as diverse as Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Cycling, Golf, Swimming, Hockey and Rugby

A Science and Maths Day, and a French Day, each for Year 6 pupils, run by our respective departments

Victory in the Calderdale Schools’ Science Quiz

Another residential course at Leeds Metropolitan University in partnership with Ryburn Valley High School

A programme of compelling theatrical performances, including Antigone, A Sister’s Love, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, In Camera, and The Wanted

A Sixth Form Study Skills Day

Guest speakers, including representatives from various religious faiths, talking about a range of topics.

Achieving so much requires stupendous effort, and the teaching staff and pupils are of course the most direct contributors. But without parental backing, both individually and corporately in the form of the PTA; without the untiring dedication of the whole support staff in the maintenance, IT, catering, cleaning, matronic, administration and accounts departments; without the willing, practical assistance and moral support of the School’s Prefects, and without the wise guidance of the Governing Body, we should not be able to operate anything like as well as we do, or we should not be able to operate at all.  On behalf of the School, I thank you all.  You have done a terrific job.

Chairman's Report

Professor Wild, Honoured Guests, Headmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen and students of Rishworth School,

Another year has passed in this school’s life and again we are here to celebrate achievements and successes.

Firstly I must report on the school’s material developments.

The new Sport’s Club pool and squash courts opened in October 2006 with the official opening performed in February by HRH Princess Anne the Princess Royal.  It was a wonderful day for the school and personally an occasion I shall never forget.  (However I did hear one complaint – one boy who missed his school dinner and had to have sandwiches in his form room – understandable, as I know the food provided here is superb.) I could have foreseen the front cover of the Rishworthian magazine, yet again a brilliant publication.

Since then, of course, the new gym has opened, the rooms real eye openers, and so different from their former selves.

Wheelwright boarding facilities were upgraded to include new heating, lighting, windows, flooring in all rooms and refurbished communal areas.

The sixth form centre has been transformed with a contemporary design with real wood floors leather furniture, and enhanced IT provision. It is now an effective Common Room for working, socialising and group activities.

Slitheroe looks 100% better. It has had major roof repairs, the ivy has been removed and there has been redecoration and new flooring.

At Heathfield, Nursery and Reception are now housed together in the Infant Block which has been converted for nursery use.

Here at Rishworth all classrooms now have a PC with access to the school’s network and Internet.  There has been significant investment in teaching software.  Satellite recording and playback system provided for the Language Department and an observation suite provided to enhance teaching capability.

Future plans include the refurbishment of the Assembly Hall, improvements to the communal areas in the Teaching Block and electronic registration.

This was again an ambitious programme of development much of which had to be completed during the summer break. The success has been largely due to the Bursar and the Site Manager and their team, and thanks must go to them.

The Governing Body has been pleased to approve and encourage all these improvements and changes.

There have been no changes of membership of the Board of Governors since the last Prize giving.

Heathfield continues to flourish under the headship of Mrs Temperley and strong links continue between both schools.

Thank you to all members of staff; we value your expertise, your enthusiasm and commitment to this school.

In particular we thank the Executive Team, ably led by the Headmaster. He leads this school with vision – he motivates and inspires others and this does include us, the Governors!

To the parents, and particularly the PTA, thank you for firstly choosing this school for your children and then for your continuing support.

To the students, make the most of you time here, it will pass very quickly.  Work hard and participate in all that we offer. This school aims to promote the success of the individual and gives so many opportunities to you. Congratulation to the prize winners you have worked hard to achieve these honours.

Finally we look forward to the next year of Rishworth School – no doubt there will be many more changes and improvements to report at next year’s Prize Giving.

Thank you.