Annual Report

The Governors are required to report annually to parents. This annual report, together with the opportunity for a meeting with parents, is the main formal way by which the governing body can demonstrate our accountability to parents. They provide an opportunity to engage with you on what has been happening in the school during the previous year, as well as an opportunity to share our plans for promoting high standards of educational achievement and actively seeking the views of parents for the future.

The school established in 2005 a renewed set of key educational goals which provide the focus for all that we do, particularly in terms of improvement planning. These consist of a banner headline followed by five succinct and memorable points, and hopefully therefore ones that will impact upon the school community.

KEY POINTS

1. The school had an Estyn Inspection in March 2009. Despite a lot of good and positive comments we were disappointed with the overall outcome of this procedure. We were particularly disappointed that this outcome disagreed with the self-evaluation procedures within the school. Nevertheless the school has always stated that we regard the inspection as a helpful and instructive process. Therefore, as required, we have completed a post-inspection action plan which we are determined will build upon the good features within the school and ensure further improvements in the areas that these have been identified. The school undertakes to continue working with pupils, parents, the local authority and other relevant bodies to ensure that on an ongoing basis improvement continues to be a feature of the school.

2. The school is entering times that are both exciting and challenging. They are exciting due to the developments that are taking place or being planned for the school. These include the opportunity to do the Welsh Baccalaureate in Years 12 and 13, plans for an amended Year 7 curriculum in 2010-11, hopes for substantial investment in the school buildings and increased partnership working with other institutions. They are challenging with the possibility of another local school applying for foundation status, something that we believe is incompatible with city-wide planning and the provision of community comprehensive schools, and with the task of integrating pupils into the school who have not come from the area hitherto regarded as our school catchment. If it takes place the new pupils will be very welcome. The governors will be looking to support the school on these and other changes.

3. The pupil roll is stable at around 1650 students; this includes another good intake into Year 7.

4. For the sixth year we have started the school year with a Sixth Form in excess of 300 in number. Despite increasing collaboration from some partners and competition from other quarters of the city we were delighted that 180 students returned to Year 12. These students are now also supported by a 6^th Form Administrator and a Welsh Baccalaureate Co-ordinator.

5. We have been pleased to support the expansion of the Pupil Support team, in order to provide better communication with parents from each year group, together with more support for both the pupils and Year Team Leaders in each respective year team. Alongside this we are providing a phased roll-out of parental access to E-Portal allowing parents protected on-line access to data about their sons and daughters.

6. We have continued to make significant improvements to the school environment which we believe are making a noticeable difference to the quality of the learning environment.

7. The school continues to make prudent and efficient use of its limited resources. The financial year of 2008-09 ended with an outturn of £69,959

8. The 2008 Key Stage 3 Teacher Assessment results sustained the improvements of 2007. The GCSE results were the best ever at A* - C, and the A level results were the best ever. AS results mirrored the national picture by going down.

10. The school continues to offer its pupils a wide range of activities beyond those in the classroom. These provide both opportunity and excellence. Barnum continued the tradition of outstanding school productions that involved a complete cross-section of the school community.

11. Since the time of the last Governors Report we have approved an updated Sickness Absence policy, Financial Regulations, Human Resource policy updates, a School Harassment policy, a renewed Anti-Bullying policy and a Leave of Absence policy.

THE GOVERNORS’ ROLE

The governors continue to fulfil their role of overseeing the direction and the development of the school on behalf of the local community and the local authority. During 2009-10 we are determined to be more even more proactive in our pursuit in supporting the school to achieve to the best level that it can. We have given careful consideration to post-inspection action plan and particularly careful thought to the section that aims to further our ability to act as “critical friends” of the school by improving our monitoring procedures. This post-inspection action plan is available to parents on our website and also upon request.

Governors are ultimately responsible for establishing a range of school policies, approving an Annual Budget and an annual School Improvement Plan. We are a “critical friend” to the Headteacher and the senior leadership team of the school, who run the school on a day-to-day basis. A list of governors together with attendance at meeting is included as part of this Annual Report.

Governors are also involved in many other aspects of school life, linking with different curriculum areas, considering school visits, the provision of Special Educational Needs, Health and Safety issues, the progress of Looked after Children, Child Protection Equal Opportunities and Race Equality issues. We are also regularly involved with the appointment of staff to the school.

It should be known that our Governors do not claim travel or subsistence expenses

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

It is one of the governors’ responsibilities to set a budget which reflects the school’s plans and which is then executed to best effect for the benefit of the pupils. This governing body continues to believe that by and large the annual revenue budget should be spent for the benefit of the pupils currently in the school, rather than large reserves being saved up for some future beneficiaries. Nevertheless on a budget £6 million it would be prudent to have an amount earmarked for unforeseen events and circumstances.

The Schools Outturn of Expenditure for 2008-2009 is included later in this report. We are pleased to report that the school has turned around a potential deficit situation caused by the slow local demographic decline. This was achieved by a combination of voluntary early severances slightly reducing staffing expenditure and having to be prudent in other areas of the budget.

PUPIL ACHIEVEMENTS AND SCHOOL STANDARDS

The outcomes in the end of Key Stage 3 Teacher Assessments sustained the improvements of 2008 with Mathematics achieving 87.3%, (86.7% in 2008), English 82%, (80.9% in 2008), and Science 87.7% at level 5 or above, (84.9% in 2008). The Core Subject Indicator was 75.7%, (76.1% in 2008).

This autumn, for the first time, Welsh Assembly Government has produced an “All Wales Core Data Set.” This will be used to support the new School Effectiveness Framework and the next cycle of Estyn Inspections. It provides comparative performance data from contextually similar schools. Consequently Llanishen High has been placed in a “family of schools”, of nine in number across Wales. In this “family” of nine we are the third “most challenged” meaning that on average we might be expected to come in 7^th place and below the family average. It also compares our achievements with Wales and Cardiff for which we would hope and expect we are above the average on every single criterion. Therefore the table below only shows our achievement compared to our family.

Criterion	Above, on or below family average	Position in the family of 9
English Level 5+	Above	2^nd
Mathematics Level 5+	Above	2^nd
Science Level 5+	Above	=2^nd
Core Subject Indicator	Above	3^rd
English Level 6+	Above	2^nd
Mathematics Level 6+	Above	2^nd
Science Level 6+	Above	4^th
Art Level 5+	Above	=3^rd
Design Technology	Above	2^nd
Geography	Above	1^st
History	Above	2^nd
Information Technology Level 5+	Above	2^nd
Modern Foreign Languages Level 5+	Above	=4^th
Music Level 5+	Above	1^st
Physical Education Level 5+	Above	1^st
Welsh 2^nd Language	Above	1^st

At GCSE level the percentage of Year 11 pupils achieving 5 or more grades A*- C or their equivalent was 73%, the sixth successive year that the school has attained over 60%. This is the best ever recorded. This becomes 68% if BTEC results are not included and 66% if account is taken of out of age students. Achievements at 5 or more grades A*- G was 94% in Year 11 which becomes 91% if the same factors as above are taken into account. We continue to review the curriculum in order to try and provide opportunities for all to succeed. Again there is a table below comparing our performance within our family of schools, (as above we are above Wales and Cardiff averages in all criterion), where again our place in the family would naturally place us 7^th and below the family average.

Criterion	Above, on or below family average	Position in the family of 9
Level 2 Threshold, including English and Mathematics	Above	2^nd
Level 2 Threshold	Above	3^rd
Core Subject Indicator	Above	2^nd
English Level 2 Threshold	Above	3^rd
Mathematics Level 2 Threshold	Above	2^nd
Science Level 2 Threshold	Above	=3^rd
Level 1 Threshold	On	=6^th
Average Wider Points score	On	5^th
Mathematics Level 1 Threshold	On	=3^rd
English Level 1 Threshold	Below	=7^th
Science Level 1 Threshold	Below	=5^th

Overall given these new tables and their challenges we believe that these show the school in a positive light, not a position that cannot be improved but nevertheless one with a lot of good features at both key stages 3 and 4.

The A level results were the best that the school has recorded with a pass rate of 98% and 37% being at grade A. These statistics surpassed every previous year. As a result of this there was again a highly successful take up rate of higher education places, including 4 pupils taking up Oxbridge places.

On behalf of parents, the Governors have passed on their thanks for the efforts of all staff in contributing to the various achievements by our pupils. We recognise that modern pressures to succeed seem to get greater on a yearly basis. We also recognise that although school inspections may be merely intended as brief observations of school life, they can create undue pressures and work for staff. We are therefore pleased in these circumstances to note the many good aspects of these results.

The improvement in the adherence to the published school uniform has continued and now incorporates new elements as discussed with pupils, parents and our whole school community, and as a result has seen further improvement. This has seen the introduction of a new school jumper to replace the existing sweatshirt. This has become compulsory from September 2008. We are grateful for the parental support on these issues. As Governors we are mindful of keeping the uniform as simple, affordable and practical as possible and would ask that parents support us on this. We have empowered the Headteacher to send home, (providing parents have been informed) any pupils who are not properly dressed for school.

The behaviour of the great majority of pupils continues to bring credit both to themselves and their parents, inside school, when representing the school and in the local community. Nevertheless as Governors we have taken careful note of the points made in inspection about behaviour and will be carefully monitoring progress made towards the action plan that is associated with this.

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

The school has as one of its goals the aspiration that everyone can succeed. This can be in a huge variety of ways and as such the school continues to value not just what is easy to measure but also many other aspects of what can contribute to a full and rounded education. This remains a very important part of the school’s goal at enabling pupils to succeed and one was again very positively recognised in the inspection.

One of the highlights of the year was the school production, this time of Barnum. This involved participation from the entire school community being supported by a wide cross-section of staff and students. It was not the only cultural event with others taking place such as Music Concerts, Battle of the Bands and excellent contributions to the School Library Associations, Children’s Literature Carnegie Shadow Prize drama. In addition the year 10 Drama groups took performances and workshops to all our feeder schools. This helped in developing there skills as well as reinforcing the strong links we have with our primary schools.

The wide range of educational visits continued and certainly pushed the frontiers further as this year included the school’s first World Challenge expedition to the Himalayas.

The school has continued to be very active on the sporting front, with an emphasis upon both competition and participation. The latter has been enhanced by the appointment of the school’s first 5 x 60 Officer; this took effect in effect September 2008. Her aim is to provide activities beyond the school day for which students have shown an interest in. This has further widened the breath of activities that are available within the school. The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme is another area which continues to enjoy outstanding participation and we are grateful to the PTA for supporting this activity area. In competitive terms there has been a lot of success by both boys and girls. The former were 1^st XI Welsh Schools Football finalists and the 1^st XV were semi-finalists in the Welsh Bowl Competition. Four football teams got through to Welsh Regional Finals and two rugby teams to Cardiff Schools finals. The Senior Cross-Country team were County champions and the junior team were third in the National Finals. The Year 8 boys reached the Welsh Schools Athletics Finals and the Year 11 and 12 team were the winners of the County Championships. For the girls, the senior teams were county winners in Netball and Baseball and finalists in Hockey, as were the Year 11 team in Netball. The Year 11 girls were County Champions in football, as were the Year 9 girls Tag Rugby team, while the Year 9 Gymnastics team were silver medallists in the County. Last but not least the junior girls were County Athletics Champions and third in Wales. The school has also just received a visit from Dame Kelly Holmes as part of the Sainsbury’s initiative where thanks to your parental support we were the leading voucher collectors in Wales. This has helped to enhance our provision of sports equipment.

We were pleased to note the continuation and further achievements of the Eco Schools Club and our recognition by Cardiff Healthy Schools. The Eco council is made up of a cross-section of pupils. After achieving the Bronze and Silver Awards we have now applied for the prestigious Green Flag Award for the school. It is hoped that this might be achieved before Christmas. In addition the Council have been involved in litter picks, assemblies and paper saving initiatives and are about to launch the 10:10 campaign throughout the school. Our participation in the Cardiff Healthy Schools network has led to raising the awareness of pupils about internet safety. Links have been forged with the North Cardiff Medical Centre who provided a very successful Health Forum day for a large group of pupils. The final of the three annual targets was to further develop the S.N.A.G group, (School Nutrition Action Group). The pupils have mentored over 90 junior school pupils at the Health Challenge Cardiff event and 270 pupils from partner primary schools during the transition day and won the Ready Steady Cook competition in July 2009. One of the winning recipes is currently being offered as Meal Deal in all Cardiff schools. We are also delighted to record another award that was received at a ceremony in London, namely the International Schools Award in respect of the provisions that are made in the school.

As is always the case we are grateful for the immense amount of time and energy that staff put into both the activities mentioned above and the many others which take place about the school.

PUPIL ROLL AND STAFFING

At the time of writing the pupil roll was 1657. Despite a fall in local demography the school role has stabilised at this level due to maintaining the intake at both Year 7 and Year 12 level.

We currently have 82 full-time teachers, 21 part-time teachers, (with a full-time equivalent of 97.36), and an overall Pupil: Teacher ratio of 16.94:1 which compares to the 17.2:1 of last year, 16.87:1 in 2006-07 and 17.1:1 in 2005-06. These are also supported by 21 Learning Support Assistants, (compared to 17 last year), who work in the mainstream Learning Support area, or in the Hearing Impaired Unit as well as alongside teachers across the curriculum. Six Classroom Learning Supervisors cover short-term absences from the teaching staff.

Governors have as always taken an active and responsible role in all appointments to the school. We would also like to commend the active, mature and perceptive role that is taken by the student body in these interview procedures. We value their contribution and we hope that the student body values being involved.

The school has continued to make active progress towards adhering to the new national requirements upon the Workload Agreement for teachers and the associated remodelling of the workforce. Just as in previous reports we can give more specific examples of this progress. The school has adapted the Pupil Data and First Aid team into a Pupil Support team of six staff. Five of these are now located in the new Pupil Support office, one linked to each year group from years 7 to 11. They are able to support the Heads of Year in many tasks, be available throughout the day to help pupils and receive parental inquiries. We hope that this will give several benefits; an improved dialogue with parents, a better service for the students and more support for each Head of Year.

CURRICULUM MATTERS

Under the Welsh Assembly Government’s Transforming agenda we have now entered a curriculum planning partnership with Cathays High School, Llanedeyrn High School and Whitchurch High School. This concentrates upon the 14-19 age range.

We are delighted that the school has now added the Welsh Baccalaureate as the vehicle to deliver all aspects of work in Years 12 and 13. This provides accreditation recognised by universities and welcomed by employers, in a whole range of things that are part of the school’s work. These include key skills, work experience and service, personal and social education and religious education.

In Key Stages 3 & 4, (Years 7-11), there have been some important curriculum developments. 2006-07 saw all Year 10 commence the new national GCSE in Core Science this is now fully embedded and proving to be successful. Most students sit this GCSE at the end of Year 10 and are move onto Additional Science in Year 11. Others are studying the Core Science as a two year qualification. 2008-09 also saw the successful introduction of a third pathway through Science with the new provision of Triple Science for those who might later want to specialise in this area. BTEC Sport is now operating very successfully at both Levels 2 and 3 from Years 10 to 13. In Key Stage 4 the broad range of other available GCSE courses continues. A number of Year 10 and 11 students continue to follow Extended Opportunities programmes. We are pleased that the Cardiff 14-19 Learning Partnership has been able to invest into the continuance of this provision. These are vocational opportunities organised by outside providers. These students spend one day a week out of the school.

As Governors we were very pleased to note that the transition process with partner primary schools remains a strong aspect of school life. Currently the school is working very closely with our partner schools in planning for a new Year 7 Project which will commence in September 2010. This will see student’s experience one and a half days a week with their Form Tutor who will use a skill based approach to deliver part of the curriculum. We anticipate that this will help to build stronger bridges with Key Stage 2.

ATTENDANCE

The school achieved an overall attendance of 92.4% throughout the academic year of 2008-2009.This was again broadly satisfactory and but slightly on last years figure of 92.8%.Unauthorised absence, showed a very slight fall from 1.1% to 1.0%. We again appeal to parents to both keep us informed as to reasons for absence and not to take holidays during term time. Both these factors impact upon our figures and, more particularly, on pupils opportunities to make progress in school.

We again have a slight improvement in our improved provision from the Educational Welfare Service. An EWO has now been based within the school, albeit one who serves a considerable number of school communities. The school feels it has received positive support in the past year from this service and continues to build solid relationships with the service.

The school uses a number of its own measures that target the improvement of attendance. These include a standard letter with accompanying proforma, which outlines what we can and cannot do, in terms of giving permission for holidays in term time, together with specific periods when for educational reasons, we advise against any holidays being taken. In addition we have been developing a system of texting some parents to indicate that their sons/daughters have not arrived in school. The system of electronic registration has now been in place for six years and allows us to trace attendance not only day-by-day but also lesson-by-lesson. The school will continue to consider what recognition should be given to pupils who maintain very good attendance. The schools Information management system is now incorporated under one provider allowing greater consistency. During 2009-10 the school will develop parental access where it will be possible to track individual progress on a secure server from home. Included in this provision will be attendance and punctuality. It will allow parents to see progress and behavioural information.

POLICY MATTERS

The Headteacher and his staff, in liaison with Governors, are constantly reviewing school policies to ensure that they are up to date and fit for purpose. During 2008-09 we have approved an updated Sickness Absence policy, Financial Regulations, Human Resources policy, a School Harassment policy, a renewed Anti-Bullying policy and a Leave of Absence policy.

BUILDINGS AND SCHOOL SITE

As governors we are pleased that we have been able to continue supporting improvements around the school. Taken together over the last few years the school now offers a much improved environment for learning, but one that we aim to continually improve. It is now a positive asset that we have a full time Estates Manager to lead not only the Caretaking staff but also the groundsman who under a renegotiated contract has passed from direct employment with the council to that of the school.

During 2008-09 we were able to complete the complete refurbishment of the East wing corridor as a student social space, to match the of the West wing which was done the previous year. Over the 2009 summer holiday a large amount of work was undertaken. This included the complete refurbishment of the Year 12 and 13 Private Study area, together with more access to IT and an office for the new 6^th Form Administrator. This is excellent preparation for the Welsh Baccalaureate. A lot of flooring has been renewed in corridors, the Science block corridors and foyers have been painted, the security of the Exams/Work Experience office improved, and in an effort to provide office space for the expanded Pupil Support team and Education Welfare Officers a lot of moving, remodelling and redecorating of other offices. Disabled handrails have been fitted around the building and an additional disabled ramp put in. We are confident that during 2009-10 we will be able to continue prioritising projects for improvement.

This section will be fully updated on an annual basis. Initially we would like to remind parents that we have provided a full and detailed post inspection action plan to follow up the points raised in the March 2009. You were notified about the availability of this in late September. It continues to be available on the school website. At the time of writing, we are just one month into the period after the submission of the Action Plan, but we are schedule with the initial actions that we have undertaken to carry out. We will be evaluating progress made towards this plan throughout 2009-10 and using it as a means of providing continuing improvement within the school.

LINKS WITH THE WIDER COMMUNITY

As indicated in a number of areas above the school continues to work very closely with its partner primary schools and greatly values these positive links. We try wherever invited to be represented upon the Governing bodies of these schools and we are delighted that our Governing body continues to have colleagues from the primary sector.

The Parent Teacher Association remains a much-valued body of support to the school. Their programme of activities raises funds that help to enrich the life of the school. We are equally grateful for the work that they often do behind the scenes, helping with productions and providing refreshments during concerts.

Our continued links with the Llanishen Rotary Club have gone from strength to strength. Since then they have both attended and sponsored awards at our School Awards Evening, helped in reviving the tradition of a Debating Society within the school and supported of our students in a variety of other ways.

We continue to work closely with the local police. They support and contribute to our PSE programme and have worked alongside us in dealing with issues that cross back and forth from the local community into school. We have also provided a base within the school with the Education Welfare Officers from which the Police Community Support Officer can work and support the school.

New links that are being established during 2008-09 were with the North Cardiff Medical Centre Youth Forum and Sainsbury’s supermarket. The latter is considering the welfare of young people in the north of the city. With the latter we are trying to build positive links with the store which will also help to give it a profile within the school. We hope that this will help to counter-act the anti-social behaviour in the vicinity of the store of some groups of young people.

We are also happy to have links with local places of worship and this year were again given a warm welcome at Highfields Church in Roath for our annual Carol Service.

The leader of the Youth Centre continues to be a co-opted member of the Governing body. This helps to ensure that we work together for each other’s mutual benefit.

We continue to work closely with Careers Wales and have received a comprehensive report from them of all the work that they carried out in conjunction with the school during 2008-2009. There is no doubt that our pupils are benefiting from ever increasing links with the world of work, business and commerce. Arrangements for Work Experience for both Years 11 and 12 were very comprehensive and successful and we look forwards to the enhancement to the latter that will be provided by the Welsh Baccalaureate. We are very grateful to all the local businesses and employers who support us in these ventures.

CONCLUSION

The governors are pleased to be able to present this report to you. We are determined to retain what is good about the school and provide the support and challenge for continued improvement; particularly those aspects identified in the post-inspection action plan.

Together we will aim to provide a school in which everybody can have the opportunity to succeed. We are sure that as parents you will support us in this.

APPENDIX 5 ....... NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT TARGETS KEY STAGE 4
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APPENDIX 6 ....... NATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT TARGETS KEY STAGE 3
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