Over the past two school weeks, the end of year Key Stage 3 examinations have been taking place.  Year 9 students sat their exams between 20th-24th May and Year 7 and 8 students sat their exams between 3rd-7th June.

The majority of exams have been completed in classrooms due to logistical reasons, however, every student has had the opportunity to sit at least one examination in the official public examination hall.  This means that students have lined up outside the exam hall ten minutes before the start time, have filed into the hall in silence to take their seat, completed the examination paper on an individual desk and then exited the hall in the same way as they entered. The rationale behind this is so that students gain experience of what is expected of them in Year 11 when they sit their GCSE exams.  We believe that the more familiar students are with the examination procedures and surroundings, the less likely they are to be fazed in Year 11 or Year 13.  Our current Year 11 students who are in the middle of their public examinations now have five years experience of this and when asked, all say how useful the opportunity has been.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the students in Years 7, 8 and 9 who did complete an examination in the main hall as their conduct throughout was immaculate.  This bodes very well for their futures.