All Change

Students returning after the Summer break have found significant changes to the school week, curriculum and timetable organisation at Grove.

The changes, which were planned over a long period, have the full backing of the Governors and Shropshire Local Authority.  In a consultation of parents last term, the responses were also overwhelmingly positive.

The first change has meant the reinstatement of the teaching period on Friday afternoon that was lost because of financial reasons a number of years ago.  This means that students are once again taught until 3.00 pm on Fridays and the school week is restored to 25 hours for students, which is  widely regarded as standard.  Ms Radbourne is very clear that reinstating the extra teaching time is very important in continuing the drive to raise standards.

The second alteration concerns lesson length.  To increase flexibility and allow essential curriculum content to be covered, there are now six lessons of 50 minutes each day.  Students have some double lessons to allow longer blocks of time.

Finally, parts of the timetable and curriculum have been restructured to allow even more flexibility in Years 10 and 11, especially for students including vocational elements in their courses, and for grouping by ability in more subjects in Key Stage 3.

The changes have run smoothly with students and staff quickly getting used to the new times.