News

Entrance Assessment Day

As a non-selective school, Sidcot does not test children to qualify for entry. However, we are passionate about progress and in demonstrating individual success which we do through continuous monitoring and evaluation. On entering the senior school, every child is required to sit our assessment papers in English and Maths to identify a baseline from which we can measure development. If you are interested in Sidcot school or have already applied for September 2010 entry, you are invited to attend our Entrance Assessment Day on Saturday 30th January 2010 at 9.30am in the Trevelyan Centre (Main Library). Please notify Valerie Kennedy in admissions ifyou would like to know more about this day or would like your child to attend particularly if you have not yet applied.

Sidcot Mathematicians Emerge Victorious

Sidcot School mathematicians emerged victorious from the regional heats of the Senior Team Mathematics Challenge which was held in November at Taunton School. The Sidcot team beat off stiff competition from ten other teams from the South West of England, and will now go on to represent the region in the national finals which are being held in London in February. The students (pictured in Sidcot's Old Library) are eagerly preparing for the challenge, where they will face fifty teams from across the UK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They are hoping to be amongst those to be presented with a prize from top mathematician, and presenter of BBC 4's "The Story of Maths", Professor Marcus du Sautoy.

The Challenge is organised by the Further Maths Network and the UK Mathematics Trust, and is a team competition for students in Years 11, 12 and 13 testing mathematical, communication and teamwork skills. Each team must consist of four Year 11, 12 or 13 (or equivalent) students with no more than two from Year 13.
The Winscombe school has an excellent reputation for Mathematics, with this success coming hot on the heels of them being awarded the Good Schools Guide A Level Award 2009 for the best results at A Level achieved by boys taking Further Mathematics at an English Independent School.

Sidcot brings a smile to disadvantaged children this Christmas

Staff and children at Sidcot school have been getting into the Christmas spirit by wrapping, packing and sending an extra gift overseas in a shoebox as part of the Operation Christmas Child appeal. Operation Christmas Child is the UK's largest children's Christmas appeal. They have been running for 19 years, and deliver gift filled shoeboxes to disadvantaged children in Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Year 11 Sidcot students, Kloe Cooper and Alice Pickles, organised the collection along with Head of Year 7, Julie Green. They began by holding Year 7 workshops, however the initiative soon spread to the whole school with staff and children showing their generosity by bringing gifts in to donate to the appeal. On Monday, Operation Christmas Child representatives Roger and Georgina Knightingale were at the school to collect the filled shoeboxes. In total, 101 filled shoeboxes were donated to the appeal and required a van to collect them!

Can you help a Sidcot student get her gift to Ecuador in time for Christmas?

6th form student Charlotte Gerling from Sidcot School made full use of her summer holidays by travelling to Equador and volunteering in "Campamento Efrata" - a camp which gives children between the ages of 12 to 18 the chance to attend school. Daily routine for the 17 students at the camp includes getting up early in the morning, cleaning the house, having home-grown breakfast, harvesting yucca for lunch, Mathematics and English classes, and further work in the camp in the afternoon. During her time at the camp, Charlotte helped with the daily chores, taught basic English, shared stories about life in Europe, listened to their accounts of life in an Ecuadorian rainforest village, and visited their parents and many siblings. In one child's case, home was a gruelling two hours walk along a river as there is no road, in the burning sun which is one of the reasons why the camp was created in the first place.

Speaking about her time at the camp, Charlotte says, "At the beginning, I thought it would just be a helpful way to spend my time during summer, but then I realised it was much more than that: the friendliness, openness and the wish to give, convinced me to help them further when back home: as it is a new and small camp the aid delivered by churches and other programmes, doesn't reach them."

On her return, Charlotte knew that she wanted to do more to help the children of the Campamento Efrata, and began collected items to send back to the camp. Fellow Sidcot students gave generously, and Charlotte now has a collection of toys and clothes worth £500 for both the children in the camp, and for their families.

"Donations in kind are the best way to help here," Charlotte adds, "Money is easily lost when sent to Ecuador, and there is no opportunity for them to purchase anything but necessities in the village".

Campamento Efrat has touched Charlotte's heart, and she wants to make sure that the donations that she has collected go directly to the camp, rather than lost within the administration of a large charity. To do this, she has to send her extraordinary gift via postage courier. The cost of doing this is high, and Charlotte is currently appealing for help in the form of donations or sponsorship to cover the £230 costs to ensure the children receive their gifts by Christmas. If you are able to help her cross her final hurdle and make this an extra special Christmas for the children of the Equadorian camp, please contact Sarah Ritchie at Sidcot School on 01934 845296, or by emailing sarah.ritchie@sidcot.org.uk.

Sidcot's Students 'Bolt' Past National GCSE Results

Sidcot's Students were obviously inspired by Usain Bolt's record breaker as their GCSE results left the National averages in their wake.

This year 96% of our students gained at least 5 A* to C grades at GCSE (including Maths and English) compared to the National average last year of 47% (including Maths and English)*. 50% of Sidcot's overall grades were an A* or A, compared to the National average of 21.6% and 49% of Sidcot's students received 5 or more A or A* grades in their chosen subjects. English GCSE at Sidcot bucked the national trend with a 100% pass rate of grade A*-C compared to a fall in the National standards, with only 62.7% of pupils achieving the benchmark C grade or higher.

Local students who did exceptionally well include Bel Pye, who received 11 grade A*s, Will Cunningham who received 8 grade A*s and 2 grade As, Chris Redd who received 5 grade A*s and 6 grade As and Elsa Bromhall who received 6 grade A*s, 4 grade As and 2 grade Bs. A talented international student from Latvia who also did superbly well was Diz Gotham who gained 10 grade A*s and a grade A in GCSEs.

Head, John Walmsley congratulated his students and staff: "I am delighted at this year's outstanding results which once again demonstrate an amazing achievement for a school teaching children with wide ranging abilities. Sidcot is proud to provide the best non selective education for students living in Bristol and Somerset and still continues to outperform some of the strongest selective schools in the area. One thing we ask all our students to strive for is their personal best and they never fail to amaze me with their excellent work ethic and determination no matter what their academic ability. It is an honour to have such an influence in our student's future and so satisfying to see their hard work being rewarded. These fantastic results provide a strong foundation for our students going on to study the International Baccalaureate Diploma or A levels in our Sixth Form and I look forward to welcoming them back next week at the beginning of Term."
* (2009 National results including Maths and English not yet publicised).

(Sidcot A Level Students)

Fantastic Sixth Form Success for Sidcot's A Level & IB Students

Students at Sidcot are enjoying a double celebration this year as for the first time Upper Sixth students leave the school with either A levels or the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. The IB is marked out of 45 and has a University Admissions Score (UCAS score) that is used to compare to A levels. The UCAS points for Sidcot's A level and IB results equate to an average of 3 A grades at A level. This is the third year in a row that Sidcot students have achieved this fantastic score.

10 A level students gained 3 or more A grades to join the 11 IB students who gained the equivalent of at least 3 A grades in their IB Diploma when IB results were announced in early July. Outstanding results from Fred Reed who gained 4 A grades along with Pokman Yeung and Jackie Yu whilst Alex Hughes Games and Ben Pirongs gained 3 A grades. At IB, Antonia Gruber, Margareta Boege, James Walmsley, Stephen Gower and Maike Tetz gained the equivalent of 4 grade A's (36 points) and Jamie Hutchinson gained the equivalent of 5 grade A's (39 points).

The so called 'hard' subjects of Maths and Science continue to be Sidcot's strongest with 92% of our Maths A Level students gaining A or B grades; this is no mean feat as 38 students are included in this statistic. 20 of those Maths students also took Further Mathematics with 17 (85%) gaining an A or B grade. This fantastic news comes hot on the heels of being presented with the Good Schools Guide Award for the best Further Mathematics A-level results for boys in the country. Science students also enjoyed brilliant results with 79% of our Physics students gaining A or B grades.

Congratulating the students and staff at Sidcot, Head John Walmsley said: "Sidcot is a school that accepts students with wide ranging abilities; so these excellent results are a tribute to the dedication and commitment of everyone at the school in enabling students of all abilities to achieve their personal best. Sidcot is proud to continue its record of providing the best non selective education for students living in Bristol and Somerset and still continues to outperform some of the strongest selective schools in the area. I am delighted for our A Level and International Baccalaureate students who will now move out into the world as confident young adults ready to face the next challenge in their lives at University or in Gap Year placements."

"Sidcot is one of only 5 schools in Somerset and Bristol to offer the IB Diploma and the first round of results in July were impressive with an average grade of 32 points, 2 points above the national average and equivalent to 3 grade As and a B at A Level. 50% of our IB students gained the equivalent of 5 A-Levels, 4 at grade A and 1 at grade C or above. These brilliant results demonstrate the quality of teaching we provide as a school and how we all rose to the challenge of taking on an entirely new learning experience".

l (Sidcot's IB Students)

Easy as Pi for Sidcot's Maths Department:

Good Schools Guide Award for the best boys' A level resuts in Further Mathematics Presented for the 2nd Time

Tim Tur celebrates with the rest of the Sidcot Maths Dept over their fantastic success.

Sidcot has just received The Good Schools Guide A Level Award for the best results achieved by boys taking Further Mathematics in the country.

This has been awarded on Sidcot's post 16 performance for the three years 2006, 2007 and 2008 combined, in particular on the basis of the popularity of each subject relative to similar schools. The aim of these awards is to highlight excellent teaching in individual subjects. "Winners are calculated by The Good Schools Guide's own unique WOW factor for teaching excellence that, as well as considering absolute grades weighted in favour of A grades, takes into account relative popularity and relative success." - www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk.

This is the 2nd time that Sidcot has been presented with this award for Further Mathematics, having also received it in 2007.

Head of Mathematics, Tim Tur, who retired only this year said: "We are delighted to receive recognition in the form of the Good Schools' Award for our work in building Sidcot into a centre of excellence in Mathematics.

When I took over the department seven years ago we had just a small handful of students taking Further Mathematics A level. This has grown to around 30 taking this difficult subject each year on top of the huge numbers studying single subject mathematics in the sixth form; most of our post 16 students now take some form of mathematics and our success rate is extremely high. The majority of our students gain a grade A in Mathematics or Further mathematics.

I am fortunate in having a dedicated team of well qualified mathematicians who work tirelessly to help every student at Sidcot to achieve his or her best at all levels of the subject.

It is a real pleasure to see so many of our sixth form students move on to university to read mathematics or related subjects after the grounding we have given them."

Sidcot Arts Centre launches a new range of courses, workshops and events

Please click here to download our brand new brochure - please note it is a 10MB PDF file and it will take a long time to download if you are not on Broadband. You will need Adobe Reader to see this file- click here to download for free.

The stunning new Sidcot Arts Centre is now in use by the children at Sidcot and we are already taking bookings for exhibitions and arts classes for this year. The centre will not only be an extraordinary resource for the school but for our surrounding communities and local schools as well. It is our intention for the centre to become self sustaining by developing usage outside of school hours. The professional performance theatres and contemporary exhibition space will be used to provide a programme of events throughout the year for local residents, activities will include: film, theatre, art exhibitions, performances, art, dance and drama courses and will be available to any groups interested in using our workshops, studios or recording suite. We are also keen to support local festivals and events.

If you would like to learn more about Sidcot Arts Centre and our other campus facilities please click here to contact our Arts Centre & Lettings Manager Alexis Butt by email.

 

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