Dear Parents and Carers

Next week sees the start of the exam season for students in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13. We have over 600 students in exams on Monday and this marks a significant change in the way the school is organised during the day. We brief our younger children and ask them to repay the help, support and care they have had from their older friends at Myton by now looking after them; keeping it quiet around the examination halls, and generally giving them space and consideration.

At Myton we have a particular view which is relatively unusual amongst schools, in that we believe in only offering high quality, high currency qualifications. We will enter students early if they are ready, in consultation with parents, such as in RE and art (we were criticised by Ofsted but we believe we are morally correct).

It is fair to say that controlled assessment at GCSE has seen some very poor examination practice in other schools, often at a whole-school level. This is not the case at Myton, where we believe we do not serve children well by attempting to inflate their grades. We know that authentically well-educated young people will gain the grades they actually deserve. The examination system needs to have integrity and credibility; massaging statistics for league table gains is unethical, unprofessional and, if the truth be known, counterproductive. Our stated position is clear: we neither look at league tables (apart from the Premier League of course!), nor do we use examination entry to gain points for the school (as the HMI who visited us said that we should!). It is my firm belief that parents and the young people doing examinations care about gaining qualifications which enable them to move forward to their next stage of life. As a parent myself, I really don’t believe that any school’s league table position matters to a GCSE candidate, and nor should it.

So we may be relatively unique in our views, but we know we have the confidence of our community, and looking at our levels of achievement across the board this year our position is vindicated by young people moving to the next stage of education and being incredibly successful. Myton has an enviable track record in this area and it is a crucially important one.

However, examinations need to be underpinned by emotional, social and behavioural skills. We know that everyone is better off if they look after each other. Young people who leave Myton are nicer people for being here, and that matters in any family.

It just remains for me to thank you for your continued support.

Kind regards

Paul MacIntyre

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