Welcome to Sheldon School

RECORDS TUMBLE IN FIELD EVENTS

Five school records, some very longstanding, were broken during the field events sports day on July 2. Two records were comprehensively smashed: Morgan Gascoigne jumped 4m 70cm in the year 10 girls' long jump beating Sarah-Jane Legg's record of 4m 46cm set in 1993; and Sam Wild threw 33m 25cm in the year 9 boys' discus, breaking Tim Sett's record of 28.98 set all the way back in 1978.

Deane Williams extended the year 7 girls' long jump record to 4.37m; Jamie Dagg raised the year 8 boys' high jump to 1.55m and Georgina Tucker raised the year 10 girls' high jump to 1.39m. We are looking forward to the track sports day on July 15 where more records may tumble.

SIX SHELDON PUPILS ARE COUNTY ATHLETICS CHAMPIONS

Sheldon pupils enjoyed great success in the county athletics championships in Salisbury on June 13. Six became county champions.

Year 9 pupils had outstanding success: Ryan Perry won the 200m with a personal best of 24.6 seconds; Alex Jones won the 800m with a PB of 2 mins 10 secs; Sam Wild won the discus; and Rhys Brown won 400m with a PB 53.4 secs which means that he has reached the national standard. In addition, James Green was fourth in the long jump and Alison Witts was second in the long jump (with a PB) and fifth in the high jump.

From Year 10, Morgan Gascoigne won the long jump and was fourth in the 100 metres. Rachel Sykes was second in the triple jump and third in the 800 metres.

Year 12's Connell MacQuisten won the pole vault with a PB of 3m 90cm.

From year 7, Ben Atkinson was part of the 4 X 100m relay winning team. Three pupils achieved personal bests: Ethan Jones finishing fourth in the 1500m, Olly Latham finishing sixth in the 800m and Deane Williams finishing second in the long jump.

From year 8 Kieran Witchard was seventh in the high jump and Lily Shaw Morris was fifth in the long jump.

SHELDON'S AMERICAN VISITORS

Sheldon was pleased to host three trainee teachers from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. Liberty is just outside Kansas City in the very heart of the United States.

The three visitors who study for teaching degrees at William Jewell were Chelsea Hawkins (art), Lisa Burbridge (math) and Kat Myers (performing arts). They were in Sheldon from June 8 to July 2 2009.

Chelsea, Lisa and Kat enjoyed their visit to Sheldon and made a great impression on pupils and staff.

SWINE FLU ADVICE

It looks as if the great Swine Flu panic of 2009 is drawing to a close; but if you would like to see the advice Sheldon has received from Wiltshire Council, the full letter can be seen here.

WEEKLY MENUS FOR SUMMER TERM

You can see the weekly menus here ...

FORMER PUPILS SEE HOW THE SCHOOL SITE HAS CHANGED OVER HALF A CENTURY

Pupils and teachers who attended the schools on Sheldon's site over the last fifty years have had a chance to see how things have changed and to reminisce.

Chippenham Boys School was opened in 1959 and the school later became part of Sheldon School when it was opened as a mixed comprehensive school in 1975.

Many former pupils came to visit on Wednesday 29 April 2009. They had a chance to tour the site and see old photographs and documents from our archives. Some ran into old friends or teachers. The evening, organised by governor Caroline Fowke, was a great success.

The Chippenham Gazette and Herald carried a large article about the site's half century on Thursday April 16 2009.

Read about Sheldon's history here ...

EDD AND SAM CANOEING TO WESTMINSTER

Sheldon Year 11s Edd Dobson and Sam Boyne have completed the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race. It is a 125 mile race on the Kennet and Avon canal and the River Thames.

The boys started in Devizes on 10 April, Good Friday, and finished at Westminster Bridge, London on 13 April, Easter Monday. They advertised Sheldon as they travelled - with some kit provided by the Sports College.

Read Edd and Sam's account of their preparations

SHELDON'S THOUGHTS ARE WITH JAY

Jay Ryles-Jenkins, captain of the year 11 rugby team, is seriously ill in Frenchay Hospital. The best wishes of everyone at Sheldon are with Jay and his family.

SHELDON'S ADMISSIONS RULES ARE NOT CHANGING

Sheldon's governing body has decided to wait before making any significant changes to the school's admissions criteria.

In the last couple of years the school has been very oversubscribed and some Chippenham families have been unable to gain places. In 2009 over one hundred families have been disappointed, including fifty who live in Chippenham.

However, detailed analysis of the school's admission figures over four years has shown that the number of Chippenham children gaining places has remained unchanged. It is the increased popularity of Sheldon that has led to more families in the town missing out. Sheldon's governors want to see if the rising demand for places continues before making any big changes to their policy.

Sheldon had been planning to use random allocation as a "tie-breaker". Now it has been agreed that final allocations of places for 2010 will continue to be determined by distance from the school.

Sheldon and Hardenhuish schools have agreed to work on any changes together, with the aim of maintaining a common admissions policy. The schools' headteachers and governors have met to discuss possible reforms and agree a joint review process during 2009.

NEW sQUID ADVICE

We have produced a new advice sheet for parents about the sQuidcard. It features answers to the questions that parents have been asking recently.

A POSTCARD FROM THE TOP

The headteacher has received a postcard from Steve Munby, the Chief Executive of the National College for School Leadership. It read:

"I just thought I would tell you that I was in a taxi last week and asked the driver what Chippenham was famous for. She said it had one of the best state schools in the country - Sheldon School. It was such a superb compliment I thought I would let you know. I have since looked up the school's OFSTED report and I am deeply impressed. Well done.
Steve Munby, Chief Executive, NCSL"

Thank you, Mr Munby. And thank you, mystery taxi driver!

SHELDON AWARDED THIRD SPECIALISM IN LANGUAGES

Sheldon has been awarded a third specialism. As well as our existing first specialism in science and our second specialism in sport, we will now be a specialist language school.

The school will receive an extra £135,000 a year to fund activities in this area which will include:

more work supporting the language strategy in local primary schools;
greater enrichment opportunities in our language curriculum;
a greater focus on internationalism across the curriculum;
more resources to improve standards in languages; and
opportunities for parents and local businesses to take part in language learning.

Sheldon was awarded a third specialism because of the outstanding Ofsted report last March and the school's continued high standards of examination results.

ENRICHMENT FUND AGM

Sheldon's Enrichment Fund AGM took place on Monday 9 February. A total of £4,304 was given to clubs and faculties to supporting a very wide range of activities to enrich the experience of Sheldon pupils.

Find out more about the Enrichment Fund

SHELDON'S GOVERNORS LOOK TO MAKE ADMISSIONS FAIRER

Sheldon's governing body is proposing some significant changes to the school's admissions criteria. In the last couple of years the school has been very oversubscribed and some Chippenham families have been unable to gain places. It is likely that for admission in 2009 over 100 families will be disappointed, including 50 to 60 who live in Chippenham.

Some of the proposed changes address unfair anomalies in the current rules and take account of changes in the national regulations, but the governors are also looking to provide a fairer system of allocating places when the school is very oversubscribed. The government's new Admissions Code suggests that "random allocation" is the fairest method in towns with more than one secondary school and Sheldon is planning to use this method as the tie-breaker rather than distance from the school.

If the new rules had applied in 2008 all siblings would have been allocated a place as well as all those who live in the rural catchment area; the random allocation would have given places to 85% of Chippenham applicants, with 15% being unsuccessful. In 2007, the random allocation would have decided which out-of-catchment applicants would have got places.

Find out more about the changes and the consultation here

Read the Western Daily Press article about the proposals here

NEW SHEL-LINK MAKES IT EASIER TO ACCESS YOUR FILES

Many pupils and teachers have been having difficulties getting remote access to their school files, especially if they were using computers with Windows Vista. We have now changed the Shel-link system to use SSL Explorer rather than RM Easylink. Shel-link should now work well on all computers.

Shel-link allows pupils and staff working at home to open their school files and save to their school folders. It also gives remote access to Shel-net and all the shared resources on the school network. You can use the link on the right to access Shel-link.

OFSTED CALLS SHELDON "AN OUTSTANDING PROVIDER" - AGAIN

Ofsted has published its list of "outstanding providers" seen during inspections in 2007-08. Sheldon has, once more, been named as an outstanding provider following our inspection in March 2008.

Sheldon also appeared in Ofsted lists for the school years 2004-05, 1998-99 and 1994-95.

It is rare for schools to have achieved this accolade more than once. There are four Wiltshire secondary schools to have been named twice or more; eight secondary schools in the south west region have been listed three times; and sixteen secondary schools in England have been listed four times.

Sheldon School is the only mixed 11-18 comprehensive school on the national list.

Find out more here.

SUPPORT THE SHELDON ENRICHMENT FUND

The Sheldon School Enrichment Fund trustees met at the start of November and agreed another set of donations to faculties, clubs and year groups to support enrichment activities.

The fund was set up to enable parents and friends of the school to make a financial contribution in order to enrich pupils' experiences.

By joining the enrichment fund you can promise to make a small monthly or annual contribution to the school. The Inland Revenue will then add 28% extra to your donation.

Visit the Enrichment Fund page to join the fund or to see details of recent enrichment grants.

UNIVERSITY FINANCE INFORMATION FOR YEAR 13

Students in year 13, and their parents, may be interested in the changes that have been announced for student finance in 2009/10.
Go to the DirectGov website

THE SQUID CARD IS HERE

Sheldon's new cashless catering system has begun. All pupils have been issued with their personalised sQuid card. sQuid is a "tap-and-go" e-money card. Parents are able to put money on the card online or through the finance office. Pupils are able to use the card or cash at all catering outlets and we plan to be fully cashless from January 2009.

Many parents responded to our online catering survey a couple of years ago saying that they would welcome an effective cashless system. We have spent the last year working with sQuidcard Limited to develop our new system. Sheldon and St Augustine's in Trowbridge are the first schools in the country to use this new technology, which is similar to London Transport's Oyster card. Pupils hold their card onto a small mat to pay for transactions - no swiping or PINs. Lost cards can be cancelled immediately and outstanding balances transferred to a newly-issued card. Parents can be sure that dinner money is spent at school and pupils won't have to worry about carrying cash.

The cards will be loaded automatically with credits for pupils who are eligible for free meals. All parents have received detailed information about the cards (which can be downloaded below) and there is a permanent link from this page to the sQuid website for charging up the cards.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions sheet here

Read the Recently Asked Questions sheet here

SHELDON PUPILS CELEBRATE SUCCESS

Sheldon's annual awards evening was held on Thursday 9 October 2008. It was a wonderful occasion celebrating our pupils’ many successes over the last year.

Our special guest for the evening was Carolyn Godfrey, Director of Wiltshire’s department for children and education. During the evening the invited guests and audience, together with award winners and prefects, were entertained with music from Jacob Byrne, Ruth Knight and Becky Holdsworth.

After the end of the formal ceremonies, guests, staff, parents and pupils gathered in the library for refreshments and it was a pleasure to see so many enjoying the opportunity to socialise and discuss the awards.

Congratulations to all the winners and everyone who worked so hard to make the evening special. The full roll of honour naming all winners is included in a special edition of The Sheldon Standard.

See the special Awards Evening edition of the Sheldon Standard.

Pictures from the Awards Evening can be seen here. Mr Hobson took hundreds of photographs on the night and they can be viewed and ordered from by following this link.
View and order photos from Awards Evening here

YEAR CALENDARS AVAILABLE

2008-09 calendars, with significant dates for each of Sheldon's year groups, are now available for download.
See the calendars here ...

2008 IS ANOTHER RECORD YEAR FOR EXAM RESULTS

Once again Sheldon pupils and students have achieved record examination results. This year, GCSE results were our best ever, with 77% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs and 69% achieving five good GCSEs with English and maths included. There was a big rise in the number of top grades achieved, with 9% A*s and 18% As.

At A level, 49% of entries resulted in A or B grades and 78% resulting in As or Bs or Cs. The average point score per student was over 340, our second best ever - a great achievement in a year with a very large sixth form intake.

At Key Stage 3, an impressive 90% of pupils achieved level 5 or above in English, 86% in maths and 84% in science.

Download a summary of Key Stage 3, GCSE and A level results

HISTORY STUDENTS MEET PRINCESS ROYAL

Sheldon A level history students Alice Johnson and Hannah Priston and their teacher, Ms Hayward, attended the official opening of the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre. The new centre is in Chippenham and was opened by HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne.

SHELDON IS "OUTSTANDING" . . . (IN EVERY WAY)

Ofsted has published its latest inspection report on Sheldon and has judged the school to be "outstanding". In fact, Sheldon was judged "outstanding" in all 38 categories that make up the new Ofsted inspection framework.

This is an exceptional achievement. Perfect Ofsted reports are very rare - in the first two years of the new system 1,500 mixed comprehensive schools were inspected in England and only six were graded "1" for every judgement.

MEDIA COVERAGE OF SHELDON'S OUTSTANDING REPORT

Sheldon's Ofsted achievements were on the front page of the Wilsthire Gazette and Herald, where the school was described as the best in England. GWR radio ran news bulletins about Sheldon throughout the morning.

The Gazette and Herald Website - The best school in England
GWR Radio News Report 1 (item is after 1 min 37 secs)
GWR Radio News Report 2 (item is after 2 min 17 secs)
The Swindon Advertiser

SHELDON'S CITIZENSHIP SHINES

For the past 18 months, Sheldon has been involved in the Citizenship Manifesto Project run by the Citizenship Foundation in London. The project involves our pupils creating their own Citizenship Manifesto, in which we pledge our commitment to good Citizenship in the form of a statement, and make a number of promises for the future.

SHELNET RELAUNCHED

Sheldon's Intranet has been redesigned and relaunched. It is full of interesting resources for pupils. You can link to it here or from the icon on the right.

INFORMATION ON "GIFTED AND TALENTED" EDUCATION

Miss Merriman is Sheldon's new lead teacher for gifted and talented education. She has placed additional information about support for gifted and talented pupils here.

SHELDON PUPIL AND PARENTS SURVEY RESULTS

In June 2007, the Centre for Successful Schools at Keele University surveyed 400 Sheldon pupils and families to get their views on the school.

The results of the pupils' survey were very positive:

90% thought Sheldon was a good school (68% is the national average);
91% were happy at school (88%);
75% thought discipline was good (61%);
93% said their homework was set regularly (83%);
only 19% said the school buildings were dull (52%); and
95% said there were lots of activities to do at lunchtime or after school (71%).

It was interesting that pupils were tough on themselves: just 70% said their behaviour was mostly good, slightly below the national average.

There were fewer than 100 responses to the parents' survey, but as this is 1 in 10 of our families, the findings are still interesting:

99% thought the school had high educational standards (73% is the national average);
88% thought Sheldon better than most schools (47%);
94% said the school buildings were good (75%);
94% thought there child was happy at school (86%);
97% thought their child was well cared for at school (94%); and
100% knew who to contact to discuss a problem or progress (93%).

The full results of both surveys can be downloaded here.

GET THE SHELDON STANDARD BY E-MAIL

It is now possible to get the Sheldon Standard by e-mail. This should help the many parents who spend too long searching in vain in the bottom of school bags. Find out more ...

Order the Standard by e-mail here.