http://www.furzeplatt.com/rss.xml News from Furze Platt Senior School. The latest OFSTED arrangements mean that Good schools like ours are inspected less often provided all is going well and standards are maintained. To judge our performance OFSTED carried out an interim assessment which analysed examination success and the attainment and progress of various groups of students. We were delighted to hear on Friday from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, that we have been successful in our interim assessment and that the school will have its next inspection deferred. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/250113.pdf The current season of weekly seminars for our sixth form students is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean the quality of the speakers is beginning to wane. Quite the opposite, as Rt Hon Theresa May, MP for Maidenhead and UK Home Secretary, last month approached the school to ask to talk about her work. On Friday afternoon she spoke to a 70 strong audience of Furze Platt students and teachers. After a lively and informative speech Mrs May took questions on a range of issues. We are very grateful that she was able to attend and look forward to her continued support. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/231112.pdf We were delighted with the enormous turn out at this year's Open Evening. We estimate that we had in excess of a thousand visitors. Thank you to the Year 8 and sixth form guides who did such a splendid job of showing off our school and of course to all of those who helped in departments. A copy of our new school brochure can be found on our website. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/041012.pdf We were delighted to see so many Year 5 students and their parents at our open morning this week. Thank you for all of the positive comments and special thanks to the Year 7 students who baked and decorated some splendid biscuits for the younger children to enjoy. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/060712.pdf The Year 8's started their season off with an excellent performance against Trevelyan Middle School in the cup on Wednesday. Due to the weather, the cricket season has got off to an incredibly slow start for all years and this was one of the first fixtures to take place. The boys have shown tremendous commitment considering the lack of training taking place. Led by Mark Firth, they pulled together to put in a strong performance with both bat and ball. Trevelyan won the toss and put us in to bat. Opening batsman Amit Avtar retired after hitting 35 and was followed by Layth Al-Wakil who reached 24. Henry May also hit a quick 11 off 4 balls after coming in during the final over. After reaching 101/1, the boys went about their business keeping runs to a minimum. Several batting changes by the opposition gave us an opportunity to give many of the bowlers a loosener in this game with no one getting hit for more than single figures. Furze Platt won by 49 runs and progress through to the next round. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/180512.pdf The Governors and Senior Team have continued to explore the many benefits which our 'Even Better If...' new school buildings proposals could bring to our students and the local community. In the last week of May we will be holding some Parents' information meetings where you will be able to hear about our work on the project so far and gather further information about the proposals. Tuesday 29th May - Parents of students in Years 9 and 10 from 7pm to 8pm, Thursday 31st May - Parents of students in Years 7 and 8 from 7pm to 8pm and Parents of students in Years 11, 12 and 13 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. We look forward to seeing you. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/040512.pdf For some years now we have learned to expect some brilliant results from the Maths department, but this latest batch of results really are quite extraordinary. Year 11 students gathered to collect their results envelopes on Thursday after school and were, as ever, naturally nervous about what they would achieve. For the huge majority it was very good news indeed. Adding together the results achieved in the November and January sittings, our overall GCSE A* to C result is now 78%. Even more astounding is the A* and A result, which is a record breaking 47% of Year 11 achieving these highest grades. Further students will also be sitting GCSE Maths in June so it looks as though another school record will be broken. This level of achievement is the result of much hard work by our talented students and the enormous commitment from our Maths teachers who go the extra mile for every student. Well done to one and all. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/200412.pdf The busy term was capped off with our whole school assembly. There were hundreds of nominations and some excellent entertainment provided by the Performing Arts Choir who sang Adele's 'Someone Like You.' Henley are this term's top house. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/300312.pdf Four students from Furze Platt Senior School became the regional champions at the annual Reading University Science Challenge. The team of four, all from Year 9, had secured their place in the final after winning through the heats earlier in the year. The event is designed to promote interest in the sciences and technology and is coordinated by staff at the University supported by Science undergraduates. The Furze Platt students had been selected for their breadth of knowledge in science and their team working skills. Teams from across Berkshire and Hampshire competed in the competition which was designed to simulate TV’s University Challenge. Furze Platt had an unbroken run of victories throughout the heats and met All Hallows School in the final, beating them by a 100 point margin. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/230312.pdf Our next Flexible Learning Day is on Monday 12th March. We hope this will prove to be another useful and productive event. Year 7 children will be studying the ethnic, political and religious dimensions of Jerusalem with their History and Core teachers. Year 8 will be working with a professional theatre company in a range of drama workshops. Year 9 students will tackle ICT and science work. In Year 10 students will be focusing on their option D subjects. Year 11 are investigating their possible future career paths and engaging in small group catch up sessions in some subjects. The whole of the sixth form will be out of school travelling around London and visiting museums, galleries and the Houses of Parliament. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/020312.pdf Our most able mathematicians from Years 9, 10 and 11 are gearing up for next week's Intermediate Maths Challenge. They will be pitting their wits against some 200,000 other young people from more than 2700 schools across the country. This is a one hour multiple choice written paper in which the participants have 25 puzzles (often quirky and amusing) to solve. 130 FPSS students have applied to take part. They should go straight to the sports hall at 8.45am on Thursday, ready for a 9.00am start. - Mrs Monaghan. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/270112.pdf We had a very inspiring visit from Olympic badminton player Gail Emms. She met students and addressed an assembly. Students were treated to a video which showed the gruelling training regime that top flight athletes have to endure. There were also film sequences from her silver medal winning performance at the Beijing games which showed almost unbelievable speed and agility. The students were mesmerised by what they saw and this helped them engage with the key messages of her speech which focused upon the Olympic ideals and values. Gail agreed to be interviewed for our school newspaper and she also spent some time working with our GCSE PE students. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/200112.pdf Our Sixth Form Open Evening was extremely successful with more students and parents than ever in attendance. It was also good to see so many external students seeking places at Furze Platt. Details of this year’s courses can be found on our website. http://www.furzeplatt.com/downloads/spotlight/weekly_updates/130112.pdf