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Danes Educational Trust held their first primary Learner Voice Council induction day at Ascot Road School Posted on: 30/01/2023

Danes Educational Trust held their first primary Learner Voice Council induction day at Ascot Road School

On 10 January, Danes Educational Trust held their first primary Learner Voice Council induction day at Ascot Road School.  The LVC programme guides pupils through university style active research where they work alongside staff to develop the teaching and learning within their school.  This work encourages pupils to become agents of change within the school community, empowering them to play a part in shaping their own lives and to go out into the world as its leaders.  The programme has been running in our secondary schools for two years and we are delighted to be able to bring the successful work to our primary schools. 60 pupils from across our four primaries took part in a series of workshops before beginning their own LVC journey.  It was a pleasure to watch our incredible LVC from Chancellor’s School lead an expert session on ‘What the LVC means to me’.  Sincere thanks to specialist practitioners Nicola Spencer, DET Oracy lead; Louise Wickenden, Associate Assistant Head SCD; and Jo West, Ascot Road Outdoor lead who led outstanding sessions on oracy, building self-confidence and Forest School.  Huge thanks to Cathy Elsley and the Ascot Road team for hosting the day and giving guest staff and pupils such a warm welcome. The pupils were an absolute credit to their schools on the day, taking part enthusiastically and wholeheartedly.  It was particularly inspiring to watch them forming links both within but also across schools.  We hope they got as much out of it as we did.  The pupils now return to their home school to take part in the LVC programme. If you would like further information on the Learner Voice Council programme, please contact Nikki Railton NRailton@scd.hert.sch.uk
‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.’ Helen Keller Posted on: 26/08/2022

‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.’ Helen Keller

Last year, still significantly affected by the ongoing disruption to education caused by the pandemic, we entitled our ‘Results’ Article’ of 13 August, ‘Adaptability, Creativity, Courage…And a smattering of Hope’.  This year, following receipt of externally validated data for both our Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 cohorts, we can truly say that our hopes and those of our resilient, extraordinary learners have been realised. We are proud of each and every one of our students and celebrate below with a snapshot of individual ‘success’ stories. Tremendous efforts at all four of our secondary schools with Post-16 cohorts have resulted in our students being able to pursue exciting and well-deserved futures at a range of destinations. At Onslow St Audrey’s School, Chancellor’s School and St Clement Danes School, students gained places at Oxford and Cambridge. Our students will be reading Medicine at Gonville and Caius, Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Selwyn College, History at Balliol, Computer Science at King’s and Natural Sciences at Emmanuel. Four further students will read Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine and Science at UCL, Sheffield, Queen Mary and Surrey. Exceptional attainment was seen at Chancellor’s School and Onslow St Audrey’s where eight students gained 19 A*s, 6 As and a Dist* between them. They will read from the full range of subjects including Chemistry, Computer Science, English, Economics, Engineering, History, Law and Mathematics at some of the country’s most prestigious universities including Durham, Exeter, Liverpool, London, Nottingham, Sheffield, York and Warwick. At St Clement Danes School, 54% of A Level entries were graded A* or A with the Best 3 A Levels Average Point Score equivalent to an A- Grade at  45.4. Meanwhile at Elstree Screen Arts Academy (ESA), a UK Centre of Screen Excellence for the CraftSkills Traineeship, 100% of post-18 trainees have found employment, training or freelance work within the creative sector. As a specialist centre for media and production arts, there have been some amazing outcomes in Photography, Game Design, Film Studies, Dance, Production Arts Technology, Production Make Up, Music Performance and Musical Theatre.  Notable student successes at ESA include four students gaining 8 Dist*s, 2 A*s and 2 A grades in a range of vocational and academic courses. Three of them will go on to study Musical Theatre (Triple Threat), Popular Music and Make Up at University of Chichester, Goldsmith’s and Arts University, Bournemouth while Maya N has enrolled in the Year 14 CraftSkills Traineeship at ESA for Production Assistants. It is wonderful to see ESA becoming a pipeline of talent into the creative industries and our Trust students becoming the future creatives of film and TV. Destinations 2022 include: Sky, Warner Bros, Netflix, Panavision, White light and RADA. We also celebrate those students for whom progress has been exceptional. Particular congratulations go to Sofia S from Onslow St Audrey’s who will be taking up a Sports Coaching Apprenticeship with Premier Education and Redon S, Jonathan P and Sylvie M-L from Chancellor’s who will read Mathematics and Computer Science at Birmingham, Aeronautics and Astronautics at Southampton and International Relations at Leeds respectively. Our Key Stage 4 students are no less to be congratulated. When we remember that the last time they experienced a non-pandemic year was when they were in Year 8, to know that their commitment, combined with the phenomenal support they have received, has resulted in such success for them is nothing less than an absolute joy.  This is particularly the case for our students, Senior Leaders and colleagues at Croxley Danes School. Having attended three different school sites and endured a pandemic since starting at the school which opened in 2017, Croxley Danes’s inaugural cohort of students received the school’s very first set of results yesterday and they were excellent. Over 20% of the student cohort averaged a Grade 7 or above across all their GCSEs and early calculations indicate that a significant majority have made progress beyond expectations based on their primary school data.  Across our schools, and for their achievement and truly exceptional progress, the following students should be recognised. At Chancellor’s School, Antigone M, Serena G, Erin M and James S, and at ESA, Jay L. Between them, these five students achieved 5 x 9s, 15 x 8s, 23 x 7s, 9 x 6s and 2 x 5s. At ESA 82% of the student cohort met or exceeded their target grades - a truly remarkable achievement in light of all circumstances - with 90% achieving on or above their targets in the specialisms of Creative Media, Dance, Film Studies, Photography, and Make Up. At Onslow St Audrey’s the following students all achieved at least one grade above target in each of their subjects: Jack C, Ella H, Leo W, Laura d-C, Talita C, Alexander J and Tyler M. Mia T, Emily W and Amir M-B are to be congratulated at Croxley Danes, each of whom out-performed their target grades by far. Many students across our Trust schools also gained a strong clutch of 9s, the very highest possible grade and a recognition of truly outstanding attainment and performance. Our ‘top performers by attainment’ (placing them all in the top 0.25% of performers nationally) were: at Croxley Danes School, Yousuf S and, at Chancellor’s, Bethan E and Lauren H, each of whom attained ten Grade 9s, as did Freddy N at St Clement Danes School, who also attained an extra Grade 8 for good measure.  Liam E, Sophie M and Anya M at St Clement Danes each attained nine Grade 9s and a Grade 8 and Olivia Matharu nine Grade 9s. A further seven students across our schools attained a minimum of eight Grade 9s while ten students at Onslow St Audrey’s secured average points scores of up to 8.5. Twins Harriet and Jack W at Croxley Danes attained eleven Grade 9s in total across their nineteen subjects. Finally, special commendations from their Headteacher for resilience and achievement in the face of particular challenges go to Iris B and Katie W, both from St Clement Danes School. We are so proud of all our students who have stayed wholly committed, not only to their studies but to their place as kind, hopeful, confident citizens in futures to come. We are also deeply grateful to our Senior Leaders, colleagues and the wider families who support our students for their sustained and unrelenting belief that the mountain they and their students have climbed could be conquered. Surely all that is left to say is…Well done Class of ‘22. You are truly exceptional.
Danes Educational Trust secures over £13 million investment for Onslow St Audrey's School Posted on: 14/07/2022

Danes Educational Trust secures over £13 million investment for Onslow St Audrey's School

Danes Educational Trust, jointly with Hertfordshire County Council, have exchanged contracts to sell a part of the existing school site of Onslow St Audrey’s. Completion of the land sale is expected in the coming months. The funds from the current expansion project and land sale will raise over £13 million for the school which will be re-invested into delivering new and improved buildings and facilities at Onslow St Audrey’s. Josephine Valentine, CEO of Danes Educational Trust said “We are excited about this once in a lifetime investment into our school that will ensure an excellent and adaptable learning environment is delivered to offer the very best educational opportunities to the Onslow St Audrey’s School community now and for the future.” Building is already underway with the science block, tennis courts and additional car parking space scheduled for completion in August 2022. The land sale proceeds will allow a further two phases of work. Phase two has already received planning approval and consists of an additional hard surface play area, a new sports hall with a fitness and dance studio and associated facilities as well as an all weather (3G) pitch. It will commence in the Autumn Term 2022, with completion in 2023. The third phase will see the remaining land sale proceeds invested into improving the existing school buildings. Danes Educational Trust will engage with architects to ensure that an excellent and adaptable learning environment is delivered to offer the very best educational opportunities to the Onslow St Audrey’s School community now and in the future.
Croxley Danes School awarded 'Good' judgement at first Ofsted Inspection Posted on: 17/03/2022

Croxley Danes School awarded 'Good' judgement at first Ofsted Inspection

On 25th and 26th January 2022 Croxley Danes School had its first Ofsted Inspection. The school is delighted that Her Majesty’s Inspectors found Croxley Danes to be a  ‘Good’ school. They went on to praise the school and award ‘Good’ judgements for each of the areas they looked at: Quality of education; Behaviour and attitudes; Personal development and Leadership and management.  Headteacher Steve Thompson said “This is a fantastic endorsement of the hard work and achievement of the whole school community. From the school’s inception in 2014 to its opening in 2017 we have worked to provide a quality school for all our staff and students. We were delighted to receive feedback that the school was “warm and welcoming” and “pupils, particularly the oldest, are proud of being part of the school’s journey since it opened for pupils in 2017.” It was also highlighted that “Pupils behave with respect and courtesy towards each other” The inspectors recognised that “leaders and trustees have worked determinedly to build and establish a brand-new school for the local community. From moving between buildings to ensuring that the facilities are fit for purpose, staff and pupils have risen to the challenge. The work has paid off as Croxley Danes’ pupils access a good-quality education and school experience”.  Dr. Valentine, CEO of the Danes Educational Trust commented "I am thrilled with the outcome of this report. The community has a school they can be proud of. Few new schools have had three different sites, built a brand-new school and been through a pandemic and lockdowns within the first five years. I am proud of what has been achieved and I want to thank Steve Thompson and his dedicated, hardworking staff and students for being part of such a successful school community. I want to also thank those pioneering parents who, in the autumn of 2016, wrote Croxley Danes on the secondary transfer form. They trusted us to deliver, and I hope they will celebrate with us now.   
De Havilland Primary School welcomes Baroness Barran Posted on: 1/12/2021

De Havilland Primary School welcomes Baroness Barran

It’s not often a Baroness comes to Hatfield, on Tuesday 30th November De Havilland Primary School was delighted to receive a visit from the Under-Secretary of State for the School System, Baroness Barran. The Baroness toured the school with Sarah King the Headteacher and met children and staff. Sarah King and Baroness Barran discussed the changes to De Havilland’s Building Futures curriculum. The curriculum has been rejuvenated and transformed so that it caters to De Havilland’s children’s needs. It enables the children to become confirmed in core skills like reading, writing and maths but also to explore topics that they might not experience in their everyday lives. The new topics this year explore frozen kingdoms and allow the children to meet inspirational individuals, showing the children a wider world and engaging them with it.  The Baroness was particularly interested in the mental health of children and staff. On the tour she visited The Hanger which is a nurture provision for children to learn in a calm and safe environment and to unpick challenging behaviours to support talking about emotions and to actively support their own wellbeing. The space is part home and part classroom where the children learn and eat together as a family, for some this has helped the transition from homeschooling to school based education. Sarah King said: “I was delighted to share with Baroness Barran the improvement journey our school has been on since joining Danes Educational Trust. In particular the development of our wonderful learning environment and teaching and learning opportunities for all our children.” Following the tour there was time to discuss and the support De Havilland have received since joining Danes Educational Trust, a multi academy trust in October 2020.  The Baroness said the visit was an absolute joy and she invited the children from De Havilland to visit her in Parliament and the House of Lords.

44 Blog Posts found - Showing 19-27

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