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DARTON COLLEGE

4th December 2015

Issue 13

Unlocking potential ….Changing lives Principal’s News When you are as disorganised as

me with Christmas shopping it is

slightly disconcerting that the

weeks are flying by so rapidly!

This week has been especially

busy and it has been wonderful

to hear so many positive things

from parents and the local

community about our learners.

Our school choir performed on

Wednesday as part of a Barnsley

Music Hub performance and

received high praise; huge

thanks to all the learners involved

a n d t o M r s C o e n f o r h e r

unrelenting commitment and

drive - the choir are going from

a stark reminder that we still

have much to do to ensure that

all learners make the progress

that they are capable of. There

is and will be no complacency

from any member of the senior

and wider staff team in ensuring

that we achieve this and

maintain our positive and rapid

trajectory of improvement.

As part of my wider National

Leader of Education role (NLE)

and work with teaching schools I

am privileged to facilitate on a

number of national leadership

courses, this week I had a great

final day with 20 senior leaders

developing the leadership of

teaching and learning - a real

joy!

Have a great weekend!

Kate Davies

Principal

In this issue…

Page 1: Principal’s News

Page 2: Up-coming events / procedures for winter weather

Page 2: Snippets

Check out our website: www.dartoncollege.co.uk

strength to strength! Our second

Year 8 Parent’s Evening took

place this Thursday and as ever I

was delighted to be able to

meet so many of you, it was also

heartening to receive some

positive feedback about the

improvements that you feel we

are making - thank you!

Every year all schools receive a

data summary of their perfor-

mance in the previous academic

year. This was published on

Tuesday, whilst there was some

positive progress made and a

notable reversal of the school’s 2

year downward data trend it was

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Important Dates

Year 11 Mock Exams Results Day

Monday 14th December

Christmas Lunch (Learners & Staff)

Tuesday 15th December

Winter Showcase

Wednesday 16th (see poster)

Year 11 Parents’ Evening

Thursday 14th January 2016

Follow us on twitter: @darton_college

Snippets...

Here are just a few snippets from the great learning this week…

Wonderful work from Year 10 learners Isabelle, Lucas, Brandon and Katie in

producing their own WAGGOL to support their learning in French - brilliant

work!

Great home learning from Ash in Year 10 on population density

- great work!

Please visit our website http://dartoncollege.co.uk to check out an

array of articles or scan the code here to visit the school blogs.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow …

It’s that time of year again when

we can expect frost, snow and

ice. Last year over the winter

months the college remained

open every day, even when we

had snow.

The Principal has the difficult

decision of keeping the college

open whilst keeping in mind the

safety of learners and staff.

Barnsley MBC has a web page

that shows al l of the school

closures throughout the borough

h t t p : / / b a r n s l e y . g o v . u k /

schoolclosures

This web page is up-dated early in

the morning so that the information is

available for viewing before the

school day begins. The college

website also has information when

the college is closed -

www.dartoncollege.co.uk

Dearne FM is another media outlet

you can gather information from

about school closures. All schools in

the area contact Dearne FM early in

the morning with details of school

closures and delayed openings.

They will broadcast this information

on - FM 102 & 97.1

The Dearne FM website also lists all

the school closures: -

www.dearnefm.co.uk

Should the decision be made to

close during the school day, a text

message will be sent to parents and

staff will remain in college until all

learners have been allowed to leave

or have been collected by a parent.