Advance Tutorial College Newsletter

Dear Parents and Friends,

The Christmas break is fast approaching, heralding the end of another year.  Traditionally, this is a time for reflecting and making new years resolutions.  For the ATC, it has been an incredibly busy year, with some excellent achievements and lots to look forward to in the New Year.

2010 began with some amazing results from the Year 6 cohort sitting for secondary school entrance exams.  Over 80% of our children were offered places at top state and private schools, with over 15 scholarships awarded to ATC students.  Notably, 12 of our boys were offered places at QE Boys School.  Just to blow our own trumpet, this represents nearly 10% of the total intake by the school – we are very proud of this!

The GCSE results in the summer also proved how well the students from the ATC had prepared, by achieving excellent results.

In July, we moved out of our old office and relocated to take over the whole building at 524 Watford Way.  After much decorating, we held our most successful summer school to date, with over 100 students attending.

The Autumn term has passed far too quickly but promises so much for our hardworking current Year 6 cohort.  We had more children than ever through to the second round exams for Mill Hill County.  With only a few exams remaining, we would like to say well done for all of the effort they have put into their exams so far. We would also like to wish the students with exams still to sit good luck!

In the Autumn term, we also introduced a Pre-11+ course for our Year 4 students.  We have written our own programme and course materials, similar to our Year 5 course, which get the students ready for the intensive 11+ preparation in Years 5 and 6.  This has proved to be very successful with the students so far.

In January 2011, we will be introducing a new course to our programme for Year 6 pupils.  Once the 11+ exams are out of the way, we have decided to target one of the key weak subjects for Year 7 pupils when they first join secondary school –Science.  As Science is also examined in the SATs exams in May, it is very important that your child has a good understanding of the key concepts.  This course will teach the material covered in the SATs exams, and expand further on them to bridge the gap between Primary and Secondary education.

In December, we purchased a new franchise, CENTRA Dyslexia and formed a new company- The North London Dyslexia Centre.  The North London Dyslexia Centre will offer guidance, assessment, counselling and tuition for both children and adults with literacy difficulties and dyslexia.  If you are interested in finding more information about North London Dyslexia Centre, please call 020 8959 9825 or attend the Open Day on Thursday 6^th January 2011.

Upcoming events:

·        Week commencing Monday 13^th December 2010: Year 5 End of Term Tests

·        Friday 17^th December 2010: Year 5 Parents Evening (between 4:30 – 6:30 pm).  A chance to meet your child’s tutor and talk about your child’s progress throughout the autumn term.

·        Monday 20^th December 2010: 11+ Christmas Revision Course –FULLY BOOKED

·        Tuesday 4^th January 2011: Start of the Spring Term

·        Thursday 6^th January 2011: North London Dyslexia Centre Open Day 10am-3pm

·        Monday 17^th January 2011: North London Dyslexia Centre Launch date

·        Friday 18^th February 2011: Year 5 Parents Information Evening

·        Friday 1^st April 2011: Year 4 Parents Information Evening

·        Friday 8^th April 2011: Year 5 Parents Evening

·        Monday 1^st - Friday 19^th August 2011: Advance Tutorial College 11+ Summer School

·        Monday 24^th – Friday 28^th October: 11+ Half term course

We hope that you all have a wonderful, relaxing winter break, and we will see you again in the New Year

Advance Tutorial College

The White Paper

Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced that he is changing the education system to return to more traditional educational values.  He plans to aid students to achieve much higher results at Primary and GCSE level in both English and Mathematics.

With many students still not achieving a Level 4 in National Curriculum tests in Primary Schools and at least 5 A*-C grades at GCSE, Gove plans to bring in a higher standard of Headteachers to push the students at struggling schools to achieve these targets.  Other plans to achieve higher grades in schools include:

• extra funding to allow struggling schools to be taken over by successful heads
• improve the quality of teacher training
• to give teachers aptitude tests when entering the profession
• give teachers a greater control over the material they teach
• increase the salaries for the teachers whose classes are receiving better grades
• make more bursaries available to teachers to pursue masters degrees or other postgraduate qualifications to further knowledge of their subjects
• remove the current GCSE structure of frequent modules, which will be replaced with a single exam at the end of two years
• more plans to encourage academy-style independence to more school
• persuade people who have had successful careers elsewhere (eg. ex-servicemen) to go into teaching via the TeachNext Scheme

School League Tables

Reearch recently carried out at Bristol University has shown that since schools in Wales have abolished their school league tables, their GCSE results have become significantly lower (on average, a decline of almost 2 GCSE grades per student) compared to their English counterparts. 

As poor results were not released by the press, the weaker schools were not "named and shamed" so in turn were not as ashamed of their results as they would have been in the past.  This has resulted in far less improvement in the quality of teaching and management of these schools.

This shows that although the release of school league tables may become nervewracking amongst teachers, they influence far more motivation from the staff to improve.

Government Spending Review

When the new government came to power, they assured the country that the schools will not suffer from the budget cuts. It has now been confirmed that direct funding for schools is to be protected and that they will be due to receive a 0.1% increase in budget in real terms each year.  This will increase the education budget from £35 Billion to £39 billion, which will hopefully result in a better quality of education for the students aged 4-16.

It has been announced that although schools will be protected from budget cuts, students aged 16+ will face the worst effects of the cuts.  The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which provided students from lower-income households with a weekly sum of money to encourage them to stay in education, is facing becoming scrapped.  Universities are also facing a 40% decrease in their teaching budgets, which may result in a lower quality of teaching occuring, as well as their research budget becoming frozen.

University tuition fees due to double

Lord Browne has announced that the current university fee system is due to be altered to benefit universities.  This would see the current cap on tuition fees become lifted, allowing universities to choose the fees they charge their students.  Most univerisites are due to increase their fees from £3,290 a year to a possible £7,000.  The more prestigious universities, such as the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, are also planning to increase their fees to an even higher rate of between £10,000 and £12,000.  This plan is aiming to help increase the universities income so that they could provide  better teaching and research resources for the students.

These new plans may deter many students from attending university as they fear that they cannot afford to attend or they do not think that they will be able to repay the £30,000 of debt they will have at the end of their degrees.  It may also result in fewer students leaving their family home for university, so that they can attend university, whilst not having to pay for accommodation and may also be able to have a part-time job.

1/6 Primary School pupils are "behind in basics"

It has been revealed that 1/6 of students in Year 6 are not achieving the target of 2 national curriculum levels higher than their Year 2 SATS results in both Maths and English.  This is resulting in these students struggling greatly when they make their transistion to Secondary schools.

These basic reading, writing and numeracy skills need to be targeted at an early age, so that once these foundations have been understood, students can expand on these skills (hopefully by at least 2 national curriculum levels) by the time they leave Primary school.

To ensure an easy transition to Secondary school, try to make sure that your child understands the basics required for Year 6 pupils. If they are struggling, why not sign them up to our after-school or Saturday classes for more help?

Wrongly marked exam papers

One of the major examination boards, AQA, has announced that up to 650 exam papers (ranging from GCSE to AS and A2 level) have been wrongly marked.  Many of these papers had not been fully marked, so students which potentially could have received A*-C grades, were obtaining much lower qualifications, due to AQA's error.  AQA has promised to treat all candidates fairly and they should receive the marks that they deserve.

Although AQA are trying their best to resolve this issue, this mishap has resulted in many students not obtaining their place at their chosen university.  If you had any unusual results in any AQA examinations you've taken, AQA have extended their results inquiry deadline to help resolve this issue.

Pupils at school in Wandsworth have done as well or better in French exams than French children

Over the last four years, students at a school in Wandsworth have had their school week divided so that half of the week they were taught in French and the other half they were taught in English.  This is due to a partnership with a school inFrance who is also trialling this idea.  The students who started at the age of four, are now eight and have completed the French national tests for this age group.  Results have shown that the students taught in England have received results higher that the students in France, which proves their great understanding of the language.  These results could be used as part of a future model for other schools to allow students to learn languages from a much earlier age.

Education secretary to scrap "no touch" rules

Michale Gove, the Education Secretary on the cabinet, is hoping to abandon Labour's "no touch" rules to allow teachers to obtain more authority in the classroom.  This does not mean that the teachers will be able to hit the children, but it does give the teachers the ability to separate two students causing trouble, or to console a student who is a victim to bullying. Teachers will also be allowed to search students for banned objects at school, such as weapons or drugs. There has been an opposing view on this concept which claim that this will breach human rights and child protection laws.  What is your view on this idea?

Cuts to research funding ‘could force university closures’

Due to the recent government budget cuts for research, up to 40 universities are now facing closure of departments, and in some cases, the whole institution. Most of the universities which will be severley affected by these cuts are former polytechnics, but some Russell group universities will also suffer. For example, Newcastle university is due to lose 16% of its research budget, which will result in a large amount of job cuts.

With teaching budgets having already being cut, students applying to university are now facing going to universites with larger classes and less research expertise.

School GPS admissions rule

School admissions rules have prioritised children living in ground-floor flats over those living in higher levels as the distance from the school is measured both horizontally and vertically.  This means that children living within the same tower block of flats may not have an equal chance to get into the same school.

Some councils are using GPS satellites to calculate how far families live from their chosen schools- this can be worked out to within 4 or more decimal places of a mile.

This is causing a great deal of stress and upset for parents aiming to get their child a place in particular schools.

What do you think about this admissions rule?

Bursaries fail to attract poor students to top universities

A recent study has shown that bright students, capable of becoming students at some of the country's top universities, are reluctant to apply, regardless of the bursaries worth thousands of pounds that they are offered. This is thought to be because the bursary system can be perceived to be too confusing, which has put many student off applying.

Possible solutions which these universities are considering to overcome this issue are to visit schools in deprived areas, and to maybe even waive the tuition fees for the poorest students.

Do you think that this strategy will help entice more students to the best universites in the country?

Schools focusing attention on middle-ability pupils to boost results

Recently, many schools have been trying to boost their GCSE results (which consequently leads to climbing their way up the league tables and impressing OFSTED inspectors) by focusing more attention on the middle-ability students.  This may help the middle-ability students get  the 5 A*-C grades the schools are aiming for, but this comes at a cost by jeopordising the results for both the high and low-ability students.  The higher-ability students are not given enough work and support to push them to get the A and A* grades they deserve. However, it seems that the lower-ability students are suffering the most. As schools are focusing on obtaining at least C grades for the middle-ability students, lower-ability students in English may also be placed in lower-ability classes for Mathematics, even if their Mathematics ability is stronger than some of the middle-ability students.

Do you agree that this is the right way for schools to try to improve in the league tables? How would you feel if your child was not getting sufficient support due to this method schools have been practising for years?

Firms could sponsor private school places???

An article in The Times this weekend has unveiled that corporate scholarships may be given to state school students to allow more students the opportunity of an education at an independent school.  The main aim of this scheme is to prepare bright students more for university and encourage more to take maths and science-based subjects.

Students at state schools who are wanting to study sciences and maths at A-level, could apply for one of the 1000 scholarships available in the independent sector thanks to many banks and businesses.

This scheme is already taking place at the City of London School, thanks to a collaboration with HSBC, and has proved successful.  How do you think that the scheme will work nationally?

11+ Entrance Exams

Secure a place at your chosen school.

Be Prepared. Join our last minute courses.

Half-Term Course 2010

A course for those who are sitting 11+ Entrance exams after the Half-Term -especially for state school exams.

- English, Maths & Reasoning

- Covering exam techniques

- Speed practice

Dates: 25 - 29 October 2010

Time: 10:00am - 13:00pm

Christmas Revision Course

A 6-day course for students sitting for Independent Schools in January 2011.

- fast paced revision

- focussing on English, Maths and Reasoning

Dates: 20 - 23 December 2010 and 3 - 4 January 2011

Time: 10:00am - 13:00pm


For details and an application form, please call 020 8959 9825.
We have limited numbers. We will enrol on a first come basis for these courses, so do not delay your application.