Headlines

Year 11 students achieve best ever GCSE results, confirming Hasmonean as one of the leading non-selective faith comprehensive schools in the country.

Some highlights:

• Over 90% of students gained five or more Grade A* to C - including English and Mathematics.
• 54% of all grades were at A* or A.
• 28 pupils achieved at least 10 A*/A grades (22% of the year group).
• One student achieved 15 GCSEs at A*.

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Hasmonean students again achieve exceptional A level results

Some highlights:

• The average point score in the A level results increased 10 points to 306. This is double the improvement achieved last year.
• 46% of all grades were grade A.
• 72% of all grades were at A or B.
• 26 students gained straight A grades.
• One student achieved 6 A levels; 9 students achieved 4 A levels at Grade A; 17 students achieved 3 A levels at Grade A.

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David Fuller, Director of Schools, has been appointed to the prestigious role of National Leader of Education by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL), a government-funded body responsible for developing excellent leadership in all England's state-maintained schools. At the same time, Hasmonean High School has been designated a National Support School.

The NCSL defines National Leaders of Education as "outstanding school leaders who, together with the staff in their schools, use their knowledge and experience of teaching to provide additional leadership capacity to schools in difficulty". The type of support provided is flexible and can include coaching or consultancy and interim leadership roles.

This new role gives Hasmonean High School a remit to help improve education opportunities and raise standards not only within our own community but also in others across the country.

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Hasmonean High School has been accredited with the Investors in People Standard. IIP is the national quality standard for the training and development of the people who work within an organisation. The IIP report, completed in April 2008, highlights the following good practice features which led to the accreditation:

• "Hasmonean High School has a strong shared vision and sense of purpose which combines adherence to the orthodox Jewish faith and pursuit of educational excellence. Staff have a very high loyalty to the school and speak warmly of its family feel and caring approach to supporting people, both professionally and personally.
• "School improvement planning is well organised, participative and strongly linked to key success measures from the school self-evaluation framework (SEF) development plan and Ofsted inspection action plan.
• "Performance management processes, including classroom observation, are becoming more effective and producing significant improvements in the quality of teaching and learning.
• "There has been very good participative involvement of staff in developing the School’s capability statement for effective managers. This has greatlyassisted ownership and understanding.
• "Staff speak highly of their managers and feel very well supported. Managers are seen as effective role models who encourage teamwork and opportunities for their colleagues to develop their potential.
• "Most people feel very much appreciated by the school and their contribution is recognised [...].
• "There are many opportunities for continuous professional development, particularly for teachers [...].
• "The School can demonstrate very commendable links between its improvement planning, including staff and curriculum development and benchmarked performance in Ofsted and the national examination league tables. Hasmonean High School’s examination results show it to be in the top 1% performing schools in the country.
• "There is a strong culture of self-evaluation and most staff are involved in supporting a wide range of improvement activities that are directly linked to the school development plan and the Investors in People Standard."

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Hasmonean High School is ranked sixth best state comprehensive school in the Financial Times league table of top-performing schools, based on its 2007-08 A Level results. The Financial Times league table, published on 20 March 2009, differs from all others in that it is designed "to reflect results in rigorously academic subjects at A-level".

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The latest Alps™ (A level performance systems) report puts Hasmonean High School's Sixth Form in the top 1% nationally, based on its performance over the years 2006-08.

"The Alps report is a statistical analysis of an institution's A level and AVCE level results and shows a school or college how it is performing against a national benchmark." It is used by 82 Local Authorities, 90% of the Sixth Form College sector, 51 FE Colleges and over 1,000 schools and colleges.

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Hasmonean High School has been awarded a second specialism as a Leadership Partner School by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. a joint initiative between National College for School Leadership and Youth Sport Trust. This is the second specialism award for Hasmonean High School and follows its designation, in September 2003, as a specialist Business and Enterprise College.

"Leadership Partner Schools will become national hubs for the development of outstanding leadership development and succession planning strategies."

[National College for School Leadership]

The Leadership Partner School scheme is a joint initiative between National College for School Leadership and Youth Sport Trust.

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Hasmonean High School performance in the 2007-08 GCSE and A level League Tables

League table data, based on summer 2008 GCSE and A/AS results, were published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families in January 2009.

• A report in The Times shows that Hasmonean is in the top 40 schools in the country at both A Level and GCSE and the best performing non-selective Jewish day school in the country. Hasmonean is similarly ranked in the top 40 schools for value added and student progress and has the best results of any comprehensive school nationally at GCSE.

• At all subjects in GCSE and in English and in Maths at GCSE, Hasmonean is in the top 1% of schools in the country with 86% of students gaining 5A*-C (including English and Maths).

This is an outstanding performance and confirms our position as one of the best performing UK and Jewish comprehensive schools.

There are no detailed comparative tables published to demonstrate A Level performance in non-selective schools. However, we remain delighted with our excellent performance: we were ranked as the 3rd best comprehensive in the country by the Daily Telegraph. 48% of all grades achieved at the school were A.

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Hasmonean students gain school's best ever GCSE results

Main highlights:

• 94% of students gained five or more Grade A* to C passes.
• 85% of students gained five or more Grade A* to C passes, including English and Mathematics.
• 24% of all grades were A*.

The Daily Mail league table ranks Hasmonean as third best-performing non-selective Comprehensive School in the country, based on these results. Well done to all of our students for their achievements in this year's examinations.

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Hasmonean students again achieve outstanding results in their A Levels

Some highlights:

• The average points score in our A Level results increased from 290 in 2007 to 295.9 in the current year.
• 48% of all grades were grade A.
• 77.3% of all grades were A or B.
• Boys and girls performed equally well.

Based on these A Level results, Hasmonean was ranked third best-performing Comprehensive School in the country in the Daily Telegraph league table. Congratulations to all our students.

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Hasmonean awarded High Performing Specialist School Status

Hasmonean High School has been awarded High Performing Specialist Schools (HPSS) status by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). This status allows Hasmonean to gain a second specialism in addition to its current status as a Business and Enterprise College.

The status was awarded as a direct result of the school's exceptional Ofsted Report and excellent exam results. Hasmonean was recently congratulated by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) for high performance at GCSE, with more than 60% of students achieving at least five A* grades including English and Mathematics.

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Hasmonean featured in the Financial Times

Based in 2007 A Level results, Hasmonean High School "tops the FT rankings as England's highest-performing non-grammar state school". Financial Times Special Report, Top 1,000 Schools 2008,8 March 2008.

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Pikuach Inspection 2008

The Hasmonean Pikuach Inspection took place on 9-10 January 2008.

• Overall effectiveness of its provision for Jewish education:
  Grade 1 Outstanding
• Effectiveness and efficiency of the Sixth Form:
  Grade 1 Outstanding
• Achievement and standards:
  Grade 1 Outstanding
• Personal development and well-being:
  Grade 1 Outstanding
• Quality of provision - Teaching and learning:
  Grade 2 Good
• Quality of provision - Curriculum and other activities:
  Grade 1 Outstanding
• Quality of provision - Care, guidance and support:
  Grade 1 Outstanding
• Leadership and management:
  Grade 1 Outstanding.

From the report:

"Though there are differences of emphasis in the Kodesh curricula of the boys' and the girls' schools appropriate to the perceived roles and responsibilities of the two genders in orthodox Judaism, both curricula are firmly rooted in a common ethos of lifelong commitment to orthodox Jewish belief, observance, practice and religious study, combined with an equal dedication to acquiring the secular education needed to function in the modern world. This is the meaning of the school's Hebrew motto: Torah im Derech Eretz."

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Ofsted Inspection

The Hasmonean Ofsted Inspection took place on 9 January 2008

Inspection judgements on all aspects of the school were either grade 1 (outstanding) or grade 2 (good). The school was judged overall to be "very good with outstanding features". A breakdown of all the judgements can be found in the report (see links below).

From the report:

"Hasmonean is a good school with many outstanding features. A distinctive feature is the very good balance between religious and secular studies. A strong religious ethos and supportive community underpin its success. Many aspects of the work with 11 to 16 year olds are outstanding. Very strong leadership has ensured that academic standards are exceptionally high at GCSE level and consistently well above average at GCE advanced level. Most parents are very appreciative of its efforts. As one parent wrote, `Our children are happy in a supportive, educationally challenging and safe environment.' A significant minority of parents feel that the school could do even better. This reflects the high expectations for the school. The school is not allowed to rest on its laurels by parents, students or the ever-watchful governing body."

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