Oriel has a new Principal for the proposed academy which, we hope, will open in September 2010. If Oriel’s future as an academy becomes secure (and we hope this will be approved within the next month or so) we can look forward to so many opportunities for improved facilities and exciting learning resources.

I would like to congratulate Miss Haddleton on becoming part of the Sinnott Fellowship programme. She has worked hard over several years to secure a strong partnership with Gresham’s in Holt and now her time to help many more students benefit from this is funded by Sinnott! Check out the EDP and the Advertiser for evidence of our Oriel celebrity! She will also have more time to develop our links with English Heritage and Morston Hall – fabulous news.

In light of the recent modular test results and the final grades for some students in English Language in Year 11 we have tailored our mentoring programme even further to make sure as many young people as possible leave with good GCSE grades in English and maths. This week we will also be introducing increased staff mentoring to make sure Year 11 are on track and understand fully how to revise. Details will be out to staff and students this week. The Class of 2010 Yearbook details have also reached Form Tutors via email, so make sure you jot 22nd Feb in your planners because that’s when Erwins will be in for the photo shoot!

I sincerely hope everyone enjoyed last week’s Flexi-Friday – those of you involved in the Camouflage Learning activity seem desperate to know when they will be returning!

2 weeks to go until half-term and lots of work to be done before then. Year 11, I’ll say this again, your evenings must be spent revising, not deliberating as to whether to revise or not! If you are still unsure of how to revise or what to revise, please talk to your teachers – there are so many after school sessions running to support you – take advantage of them!

Ten photography students were very fortunate to be able to visit the Sainsbury centre in Norwich, this museum is housed on the UEA site and is open to the general public on a daily basis.

The students brief for the morning was to explore the exhibits and take profile pictures of the faces and figures in the museum, this was to help the students complete a section of their coursework. The trip was very interesting for all involved and the museum is certainly worth a visit, not only for the thousands of interesting pieces to look at, but also for the relaxed feeling you get as you walk through the door.

 The Sainsbury Centre is one of around a hundred university museums in the UK which are regularly open to the public. Sir Robert (1906 -2000) and Lady Lisa Sainsbury (1912- ) donated their collection of world art to the University of East Anglia in 1973 and the Sainsbury Centre first opened its doors to visitors in 1978. It was the Sainsburys’ hope that students, academic staff and the general public would grow to appreciate the works on display in much the same way as the Sainsburys themselves had done, by being able to look frequently and closely at them without the distraction of too much museum-style text and labelling.

You may have read in the local newspaper or heard on the local radio that we currently have a very high “PA” rate. The Government announced that Oriel had become a PA school in September 2008. Since then we have worked hard with the help of the Local Education Authority to rectify this. Unfortunately, even though we have made a lot of progress, we are not meeting the targets set.

“PA” stands for Persistently Absent.

Any student who has an attendance percentage of less than 80% for whatever reason is classed as persistently absent. This target has been set by the government, not the school. If a child goes on holiday for example during term time this can drop their percentage below 80% and as such they will become classed as “PA”.

Our Attendance Officer has put together the following document explaining what YOU need to know about PA - Why are we PA?

On Wednesday 13^th January 2010 students from Oriel took part in the district cross country championships. The conditions were horrible, it was freezing and snowing yet all of the students performed really well and were a credit to the college.

We had three students who won medals: Bradley Simm (3^rd), Maria Augusto (3^rd) and Hannah Boniface (2^nd). These students will be some of the Districts team’s main hopes in the County Championships.

A number of other students finished in the top 8 places of their race and were rewarded with certificates and also entered into the County event in 2 weeks time. Notable achievements went to Shannon Alexandra (7^th), Terresa Combera (7^th), Dale Searby (4^th) and Curtis MacLeod (4^th).

Congratulations to all of our runners and good luck to those who are set to move up a level and represent the district area in the next race. It is a major achievement to be selected for a district team, and those students should be very pleased and proud of themselves.

Well done to everyone,

Mr McInally.

County event is held in Norwich on Wednesday 27^th January.

Oriel seems to be the subject of much speculation this week for more than one reason……First of all, I was contacted by the press for comments regarding our PA (persistent absence) figure for a report on attendance on the local BBC radio programme – we’ll be uploading information to the website this week to remind everyone what PA is and what we can all do to reduce it – this has been put together by our Attendance Officer, Miss McBarron.

The second focus of the press this week seems to have been the advertisement for a Principal Designate for Oriel in preparation for Academy Status (provided it is agreed) – this has caused much excitement in our local press. The focus on the excitement should be the prospect of Academy Status which would mean that we would be able to work closely with other organisations and educational institutions like Gresham’s Independent School (who have already provided us with some wonderful opportunities) and the Ormiston Trust who work hard to help families and are already working with several other schools. I’ll keep you posted on developments when I have more to tell you – I’m sure the benefits will be great for our community.

We received some wonderful news this week regarding those of you who were able to take GCSE English Language early – we are pleased to say that 36% of our current Year 11 already have a grade C or above! Well done to all of you! We firmly believe that you shouldn’t have to take all of your examinations at the same time – it just puts more pressure on you at the end of Year 11. As soon as you have a qualification ‘in the bag’, you can focus on raising your grades in other subjects.

Study hard – the passport you have for the future will be worth it!