Mister Mayor and Mayoress, Mister Guest Speaker, Mr Chairman, Governors, Honoured Guests, Ladies, Gentlemen and members of the School.

Welcome to our annual Prize Giving Ceremony and many thanks Sakshi for your opening remarks.

In his “Tale of Two Cities” Charles Dickens wrote:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.

In some ways that quote sums up for me what has been a very busy and successful year but without question a year of some intense sadness during which we witnessed the death of a well respected, dedicated and committed school governor for 18 years (Dr Jill Wren), a number of staff and students lost close members of their families and some staff suffered very serious health problems. Despite the difficulties that people have encountered, we've continued to achieve great things at Crossley Heath. You will have seen or heard of these in my letters, in Dispatches – our termly newsletter, in media reports or on our website. At the end of the year came another excellent set of A level, GCSE and SAT's results with many outstanding individual, group and subject performances. The high standards you depend upon from The Crossley Heath School. By the end of this summer's results day the majority of university applicants had places confirmed at their first choice institutions. Alongside this we have, both individually and collectively gained a great many other achievements and accolades.

These successes and achievements arise from strong teamwork. Individuals working together to provide support and guidance and to help one another through difficulties and adversities. Crossley Heath School consists of such a team of people - staff, students, governors and parents and the mutual friendship and support that exists in both the best of times and the worst of times has ensured another very successful year .

I'll return to these achievements later.

For the moment, I'd like to set my report within the context of the Government's current educational agenda.

Following the Children's Plan, which was published in 2007, a new government document, “Delivering 14-19 Reform: Next Steps”, sets out the timetable of reform to 2015, detailing its aims to encourage greater participation by young people in education through: a mix of entitlements, a broadening of the curriculum and a shift of responsibilities for post 16 education to local authorities.

In order to achieve such ambitious goals, all services within an area (Education, Youth, Welfare, Health, Police and so on) are charged with working together through strong partnerships to deliver excellent learning and support for all young people. There will have to be:

• a comprehensive range of provision for all from the least to the most able and the most vulnerable, so that no young person is prohibited from following a high quality and valued learning route enabling them to participate, achieve and progress and
• appropriate and impartial support and guidance to enable young people to make the most of their choice.

What does this mean for Calderdale and in particular for Crossley Heath School?

I will focus specifically on two aspects of the reform agenda, namely the 14-19 agenda and the Building Schools for the Future programme and in so doing will stress the importance for us at Crossley Heath to be an integral part of any Calderdale collaborative arrangements and to ensure that we are perceived as such by our partners.

Indeed, we have spent much of the last 7 years building some very strong links, in becoming an extremely inclusive school, in demonstrating numerous areas of strength and expertise and in working collaboratively to share the good practice that exists across and beyond Calderdale.

The 14-19 Implementation Plan placed a commitment on local areas to set up 14-19 Partnerships. Four years ago, threats from the Learning and Skills Council - to close our sixth forms – lead to the inception of Campus Calderdale. Schools in Calderdale have since been developing partnerships to establish and coordinate curriculum delivery across the 16-19 age range. For example, this year a small number of Crossley Heath students are studying Photography at North Halifax and Advanced Level Food Technology at Brighouse, while students from Brooksbank are coming to us to study Product Design.

The 14-19 agenda extended this to 14-16 provision and beyond and we are, as are schools in all authorities, COLLECTIVELY charged with the delivery of the full range of curriculum choices (GCSE's, Advanced Levels, Apprenticeships and the Diplomas) along with high quality Information, Advice and Guidance. In conjunction with employers, Diplomas have been developed which combine classroom education with practical workplace experience. The new Diplomas cover each occupational sector of the economy and each Local Authority is required to offer all 13 Diplomas at levels 1, 2 and 3 (foundation, intermediate and advanced respectively). Schools throughout the country have gradually begun to deliver the Diplomas. It has, necessarily, been a slow start as these have been “unknown” in relation to the qualifications that have been around for a while and are already tried and tested. To date, universities have been unwilling to place a value on Diplomas in respect of their entry requirements. It is hoped that this will soon change.

From 2013 all 14–19 learners will have an entitlement to study any of the 13 Diploma lines at the most appropriate levels for them. In Calderdale, this is equivalent to 39 additional courses across 15 secondary schools. In the true spirit of partnership and collaboration, all secondary schools within Calderdale are assuming responsibility for the delivery of at least one of the Diplomas at one or more level. The extent to which any one school will commit will be dependent upon the skills base of its staff and the availability of appropriate resources. The style of teaching for the delivery of the Diploma is different and is challenging and inspiring a new generation of teachers and students. We are currently collaborating with Holy Trinity School in preparing for the delivery of the ICT Diploma.

The future for students will not necessarily be one where they enter a secondary school in Year 7 and complete all of their courses, at the end of a specific key stage within that single institution. Nor will they be limited by the offerings of that single institution. No one school can possibly have the capacity to be able to offer the full range of courses. Each school will negotiate the delivery of an appropriate range of courses to match the skills of their teachers, to make the most of the physical resources available to them and to best suit the needs of the majority of students for whom they have a direct duty of care.

At Crossley Heath we are well on the way to a much more personalised curriculum in terms of the age at which students may embark upon GCSE's and Advanced level courses, but we are only able to offer a limited range of courses. In Calderdale we are actively engaged in providing students with increased flexibility about what, when and where to study individual qualifications and collaboration is providing students with the opportunity to undertake courses that are not on offer at their “BASE” school.

Where schools have different timetable structures it imposes certain constraints on effective collaboration - another challenge for schools. If young people are really going to have the opportunity to select from the full range of courses within an area, there will need to be an alignment of timetables to facilitate this. In some authorities schools have already moved to aligned timetables. These discussions have just started in Calderdale.

During the past 7 years we at Crossley Heath have developed numerous collaborative partnerships as a result of the expertise that exists in many subject areas. An excellent example of this is the work that has been done by our Modern Foreign Language (MFL) department since we became a specialist Language College in 2003. We have links with all primary and secondary schools in Calderdale as the Lead School for both the KS2 and KS3 MFL strategies. Only last week a DVD aimed at developing MFL teaching in primary schools was launched at Crossley Heath. Mrs Ceri Lusk, lead teacher for the KS2 strategy, was instrumental in producing that DVD, which has been very well received. As a Language College we also have active partnerships that spread out across Europe.

In 2007 we received High Performing Specialist School status as a direct consequence of MFL being judged to be an outstanding department and it continues to go from strength to strength. I believe it would be difficult to find a better MFL department in any other school in the country.

Having received High Performing Specialist School status, we were granted a second specialism, that of Leadership Partner School (1 of only 14 in the country) with a focus on raising achievement for all students through the development of high quality leadership at all levels through partnership work. Since Last December, we have been working in very close partnership with 2 Calderdale and 2 Rochdale secondary schools. As a result of this collaboration, we have also received support for our involvement in 2 new pilot studies aimed at Narrowing the Gap between the outcomes of performance for different groups of students in English and in MFL.

Our partner schools are all very different in nature to Crossley Heath. All are comprehensive schools, 2 are Sports colleges, 1 is a Performing Arts school, 2 are 11-16, 2 are 11-18 and 1 is a catholic school. We are sharing ideas in a variety of ways. On occasions we may exchange teachers and senior staff to enable them to learn from each other in different contexts. We are extending student leadership and the student voice. Groups of students from each of the schools collaborate with a view to sharing ideas and, in June 2008, the students themselves planned and ran a conference, held at Huddersfield University, to further develop their own expertise in leadership. The intention is for this to be an annual event. We have plans, with the support of a research associate at Huddersfield university, to develop the skills of students in providing high quality feedback to teachers to enable them to evaluate and plan their teaching provision. This is due to begin soon at Crossley Heath, thanks to a number of teaching staff who are willing to allow students to observe their lessons. External feedback received to date is that our work is an example of excellent practice. This is very encouraging because it demonstrates a willingness and openness, on behalf of our partner schools, to accept that grammar schools and comprehensives (despite starting from very different viewpoints) are able to accept that they can learn from one another.

As important, it is helping staff in each of the schools to open their minds to the challenges faced by staff in schools in different contexts from their own.

Moving on to Building Schools for the Future (BSF), the Government has charged authorities not simply to consider how many schools within their area need new buildings and/or how many need refurbishment but how they intend to use BSF money:

A to transform education (ie meet the requirements of the 14-19 agenda and the Children's Plan)

and

B to develop world class, innovative provision.

In some authorities there has been radical transformation and BSF money has been used to completely restructure schools, closing one or more, relocating others and redefining the nature of some. Indeed we are witnessing some of this in Calderdale with the closure of the Ridings and the transformation of Holy Trinity into an Academy.

Apart from the imminent introduction of an Academy, Calderdale is in the process of putting together an expression of interest for money from the 2011 phase of BSF. Various ideas are being considered and Heads are involved in these discussions.

As a school we know very well (and we are constantly being reminded by students and parents) that our 144 year old building, although outwardly very grand and of great historic value, is not fit for purpose in terms of 21 st century education AND that our facilities are greatly lacking. Our Asset Management Plan sets out our accommodation needs very clearly. However, this on its own is not enough for us to be placed at the top of the list when it comes to the need for major refurbishment and/or new build. In order to meet the Government's requirements, we at Crossley Heath have to identify collaborative, transformational ways of further developing educational provision for the young people of Calderdale. We do not qualify for additional funding streams as the criteria that triggers the release of such additional sources of money are primarily based upon low ability and/or deprivation. Our school may be included in the plans submitted for the early phase of BSF funding in 2011 or we may have to wait for the 2013 round.

In any event, we do not expect (as a result of BSF) to see significant changes to our accommodation or facilities until at least 2011.

However, we can and will continue to see significant changes in the nature of educational provision, for our children and in the exciting opportunities arising from the partnerships that are being developed - both for staff and students.

Staying on the subject of facilities for the moment, I would like you to cast your minds back to this time last year when I told you that we had just embarked upon a major project to raise monies to build a new sports/community hall at Crossley Heath. I told you we would need to raise £2.3million pounds in order to make this happen.

Raising money is not easy at the best of times and we certainly picked our moment - during the credit crunch and when the country is on the verge of a major recession. There were some who said we would never achieve our goal. But, in the words of Samuel Johnson, “Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be overcome first” . I am now able to report to you that we go out to tender at the end of November with a view to starting work on site next spring and completing building works towards the end of 2010. We are in this position because we have managed to raise approximately £400,000 ourselves (some from parents, former students and other supporters of the School); the LA have agreed to a Prudential Borrowing loan of £650,000; we are confident that our bid to the Football Foundation for £350,000 will be approved and we have committed a further £450,000 of the School's capital budget over a period of 5 years. This leaves us approximately £350,000 short of our total and we intend to continue fundraising until we have the full amount. So - PAUSE- our students WILL have the kind of facility they deserve for sport, dance, drama and so on. We will be opening the building to other sectors of the local community and we have plans to develop spaces vacated within the main school building which will be freed up as a result of the new build. At this point I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has helped or supported us in reaching this position. Although it's been hard work, we have had some great fun in the process.

In particular I am thinking of all of the events put on by the Crossley Heath (our parents) Association – who presented us with a cheque for £25,000 earlier this year, the Day of Challenges and other events organised by students, and our fundraising dinner, which featured Brian Moore, the Calendar Girls and Paul Opacic and was a hugely successful evening, raising £6000 in total. I think the following quote by Walter Bagehot sums it “The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do”.

Although we must acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of all Crossley Heath students, in whatever form that achievement may take, tonight I would like to pay tribute to our prize winners and those who have come to be presented with GCSE and Advanced Level certificates. In particular to the Year 13 leavers (the class of 2008) who set a very high standard in every aspect of their performance, both academically and in terms of the contribution they made to the School. You arrived at Crossley Heath shortly after I became Head in 2001 and were the first transition group to hear my induction assembly. Do you remember the poem of two frogs falling into a can of cream or the story of Dorothy and her friends travelling to see the Wizard of Oz. The messages were to never give up, to believe in yourself and to make each day count. Not only were you the first to hear it, even if you would never admit to remembering it, I think you were largely true to yourselves in terms of those sentiments. Results in 2008 were some of the best ever achieved at A2. The average point score per student and the Percentage of grades A and B increased for the third year running to an all time high. 13 subjects exceeded the school target for the proportion of students achieving A/B grades, with Geography at 95% and History at 86%. In these two subjects, along with Film Studies, Art, French, Maths and Further Maths in excess of 75% of students achieved A and B grades. Alongside this, the Year 13's were a bright, bubbly, conscientious and committed group of individuals. The quality of Post 16 leadership reached an all time high and Verity and Edwin, our Head girl and boy, certainly kept the Leadership Group on our toes. Teamwork, was displayed right across the year group, strong friendships were forged and their mutual support was a real trademark. When they left they had sweatshirts made and also produced a DVD on which appeared the name of everyone in the Year Group. I was presented with my very own – which I wear! Never to be forgotten - we miss you, we wish you happiness and success for the future, we hope that your strong friendships last a lifetime and ask you to remember us with affection, and visit occasionally, as you move forward in life.

Our current Year 13, not to be outdone, are rising to the challenge! Their AS results surpassed the previous year's AS results – indicating that we are in for a bumper crop of A2's in 2009 – no pressure of course! 10 subjects exceeded the school's target of 60% A/B grades with 100% in Geography and 91% in French achieving these top grades.

At GCSE the average total point score per student rose as all students took the dual ICT award for the first time. 9 subjects exceeded the school target for the percentage of A*-A grades, with 79% of students in RS and 73% in English Language achieving at the highest level.

KS3 SAT's are no longer. News of which sent many of us, not least of all Department Leader Vicky Johnson, into a state of euphoria (she made sure we all celebrated by forcing us – I use the term lightly - to eat copious amounts of chocolate, which she provided). 2008 SAT's results must, however, be mentioned. Partly because of the hard work that all our core subject teachers have put in over the years in preparing students for these examinations, partly because – despite this year's debacle with marking – results rose again and also because of the achievements of Year 8 students who were entered a year early. In Year 9 the average level per student rose for the third consecutive year in Maths and English and remained at its previously high level in science. Having taken their Maths SAT's a year early 97% of Year 8 students achieved at level 7 and above (this figure was 98% for the Year 9's) and in English 75% of Year 8's achieved level 6 and above compared with 91% in Year 9. These are outstanding results and staff and students worked extremely hard to achieve such high standards.

In addition it is worth reporting that for the first time Year 9 students took GCSE's in Citizenship: Critical Thinking, which was delivered to Post 16 students in only one lesson a week, proved to be a real success; the majority of departments put on additional support sessions for students and feedback told us that parents appreciated how these additional support measures and the strategies being used to improve teaching and learning have positively impacted and that students feel, even more so than before, that their individual needs and preferred learning styles are being catered for.

So what, if any, are areas for development?

Well, despite our fantastic results government measures to assess the level of value added of schools (known as CVA – contextual value added) puts us in the position (between KS3 and KS4) where it would appear that the majority of KS4 students make insufficient progress. In fact, using the 2008 calculator, 28 students who gained all of their GCSE's at grades A and A* achieved negative value added. However, if we change all of their postcodes their value added suddenly becomes positive. Suffice to say that the way in which CVA is calculated disadvantages academically able children who come from certain areas.

Having said that – we are definitely not complacent, we constantly identify potential underachievement, using appropriate indicators, and we put in place remedial action.

•  We identified several years ago that a “one size fits all” curriculum provision was inadequate in terms of personalisation and we have redressed that situation.

•  The quality of teaching and learning is continuously improving and currently around 80% of lessons are good to outstanding.

•  We have been informed that support for individual students is some of the best in the authority.

•  We benchmark against the best grammar schools where in excess of 70% of students achieve grades A* and A in the majority of their GCSE subjects.

•  We have set challenging targets, school wide, for subjects for different teaching groups and for individual students.

•  Everyone at every level is up for the challenge because no one is prepared for Crossley Heath to be classified as a “coasting school” (a term used by Ed Balls last week in reference to schools who are failing to demonstrate that students make sufficient progress).

At Crossley Heath, everyone has a desire to help our students achieve as well as they can in everything they undertake. We want to be constantly improving, as does any organisation which looks to the future rather than resting on its laurels, and you can see plenty of evidence this evening of a school community that really is vibrant.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank to all department leaders, subject teachers, YGL's and teams of Form Tutors for:

•  their dedication and constant commitment to the students

•  an excellent year in 2008 and

•  for all the new strategies in place to bring about further improvements.

It is perhaps an appropriate time to record my appreciation to Paul Jackson, Shirley Newsham and Gordon Stansfield, three teachers who retired from the School in August, having made a collective contribution of 58 years between them. We wish them a long, happy and healthy retirement.

Education has changed a great deal since people of my generation were at school. In some ways we have become more humane: there are far better relations between staff and students, and I would contend nowhere better than at Crossley Heath, but young people do now find themselves under more pressure than was ever the case for us. They have to achieve, and it is right that we should set high standards for them, but we and they need to retain a sense of perspective, and indeed a sense of humour, if they are to meet the challenges and keep their equanimity.

Despite the high expectations that we have of our students we manage to get the right balance at Crossley Heath. It is clearly visible in the cheerful demeanour of students which is a delight each day, makes association with our school a pleasure and a privilege and which visitors comment upon.

Schools do not improve by sacrificing extra curricular activities on the altar of academic achievement; there is a balance to be sought, and beyond the classroom, we continue to offer a simply outstanding range of activities. Time does not permit me this evening to mention in detail all of the wide range of extra curricular experiences we offer, which are recorded in our termly newsletter and even more readily on our website. Our students enjoy a wealth of opportunities, many departmental based, which continue to expand. An addition to the numerous international opportunities that were already in place came this year with the 2008 trip to Iceland (staff and students created a BLOG during the trip which they updated every day with photographs and a record of their experiences). We really felt we were able to enjoy the trip with them.

Many students had the chance to be involved in the fantastic production of Les Miserables, every performance of which earned standing ovations.

Others have found chances to shine in the field of young enterprise. Indeed last year's Year 11 team, Spiral were crowned best in West Yorkshire despite being pitted against teams largely from other sixth forms. The range of sports provision on offer to our students continues to expand and we hope will get even better when our sports hall is ready for use.

One of the most exciting developments of last academic year, of which we are very proud at CHS, is the way in which use of the VLE has grown across all areas of the School. We embrace new technology, and at Crossley Heath we are making huge steps forward.

In 2007/8 we were s hort listed to one of 6 out of 150 schools for the Becta Beyond the Classroom award. In September we were awarded "Frog Specialist Status for Raising Student Voice via the VLE". In a recent ICT competition, run by Calderdale LA, we won the categories: "Best Secondary School website in Calderdale" and "Best Secondary school webpage" by student Tommy Li of 9D. Department VLE's are coming on well, some of the best examples being in English, Art, Mathematics, History and Design Technology. Also, worthy of a mention is the excellent work Mrs Sue Parsons has done with Echo magazine, an online magazine designed and published by students, and the Year 6 transition pages, which helped Year 6 students get to know something about the School and the other students before they had even stepped foot in the building. Two students whose names should be mentioned are James Hardy and Hannah Meehan who have contributed in helping to develop the VLE and raise awareness amongst their peers.

As I come towards the end of my speech I would like to acknowledge three other groups of people, whose support is of vital importance to the School. There was a time when we talked about non-teaching staff, defining a really important group of people within school by what they did not do, which always struck me as curious. At CHS they are very definitely support staff and they are excellent at what they do; they all, individually and as a team, contribute towards the school's ongoing success. Because a considerable portion of their work occurs when there are no students and few staff around, not least in the long summer holidays, it is not always noticed. My own secretary, Mrs Sharples is completely calm, adaptable, always open to new ways of doing things and manages me very well! To all of the admin staff, caterers, technicians, cleaners, lunch time supervisors and those who co-ordinate their work, for example Mr Michael Jackson, Site Manager, Mrs Sally Thristan, General Office Manager and Mrs Debbie Wheelwright, Catering Manager and to our Learning Mentors and others on whom our students depend and in whom they have trust and faith, for the role they play in providing personal support and for being there as need arises. I thank you on behalf of the whole school community.

Another group of people essential both to children's happiness and their achievements at school is, of course, parents. We very much appreciate your support both in our day-to-day business and at school events such as this, and we know that the partnership we enjoy with you is absolutely key to our success. Our relationship is not quite as follows of course. The long summer vacation was over and Little Freddy returned to school. Only two days later his teacher phoned his mother to tell her that he had been misbehaving. "Wait a minute”, said his mother. "I had Freddy with me for seven weeks and I never called you once when he misbehaved!". But it is important we talk to each other!

We must not forget our governors for their voluntary commitment to the school. We are fortunate to have a governing body that is dedicated to the school and that has its finger on the pulse but never interferes in its running, which certainly cannot be said for all such organisations. In particular, I would like to extend our good wishes and thanks to Grayham Smith, Old Boy of the Heath Grammar School and governor for 13 years, who retired from the Governing Body this summer and, at the same time, welcome several new governors who come with highly developed skills from a range of professional backgrounds. We are fortunate to have their support and we are looking forward to working with them.

Just as 2008 brought us great pleasure and great achievements, as I mentioned the next 10 years, is going to bring dramatic change. Over the longer term, there will be many changes to the way we work in partnership with others and the overall format of educational provision. In the medium term, exciting developments to our accommodation and in the short term, 2009, further progress.

Mr Chairman, we have the vision, the motivation and the team to do it....so let's get going!