We looked to bolster the less able, but also to stretch the brightest, encouraging early-entry GCSEs. Some achieved up to 11 A grades. We took on curriculum innovation, including use of GNVQs at key stage 4, and enrichment courses for English language learners. To motivate, we used the broader curriculum, like good quality work experience. We had a very broad range of pupils, with talents on which we sought to capitalise.
Schools ought to nurture extra-curricular activity.
We had an activities week each summer term. Morris dancing lives in my memory as a team of very large, black lads who danced with a very petite female head of English. Circus skills lived on as a lunchtime club. Our Gospel choir grew in two days from a handful of singers to 120. It sang twice at St Paul s Cathedral for the Millennium.