Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope that you all had a really relaxing and enjoyable summer holiday break. As ever, it was always a delight on the exam results days with Year 13 and Year 11 to celebrate their successes and achievements and see how education is such an incredible force for good. New destinations, new opportunities, new possibilities lie ahead for our students and the platform and springboard that their education has provided is wonderful to see.
Everybody seems to have started back to school with enthusiasm and momentum. We are always fortunate in schools that we have plenty of opportunity to start afresh. The new academic year is an ideal time to reflect on past performances and reset.
The uniform looks fantastic and a big thank you to all parents and carers for supporting us now and in the future with all aspects of the uniform policy. We made a couple of changes to our uniform policy for this year and pupils have been very respectful in following it.
Our new intake in Year 7 have settled really well so far in the first week, as have our returning Year 12 students, which is always great to see.
We have started this academic year with new timings of the school day, so we have spent the week getting accustomed to them. We have found it is far better to have an earlier break at 10:05; we know many students opt for an extra 10 minutes in bed instead of breakfast, so this is an ideal time to get refuelled. It also means that we have a good amount of time between break and lunch. We anticipate lots of clubs starting at lunchtime over the next few weeks and for pupils in Y11, there will be intervention taking place as well.
Can I request, for everyone’s safety, that parents/carers who drop off and pick up by car, where possible please do so away from the school entrances. It is very congested, and pupils find it difficult to cross the roads, particularly Hassall Road, heading off to the hub.
If you don’t already do so, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep abreast of all the things that are going on in school and keep on top of any messages. If, like me, you don’t use any social media platforms, we will always email key information and share information on our website.
A gentle reminder to avoid using social media to air any grievances about the school. We will not respond but a large portion of our school community do feel very aggrieved when this happens. If you are unhappy with something, please get in touch so that we can work to resolve the issue.
My final message is about attendance. There is a lot of noise nationally about attendance which is understandable, as, for a whole host of reasons, the last couple of years has seen a dramatic decline in attendance rates to school nationally. We need your support to ensure attendance is excellent this year. School really is a great place to be. It’s not just in the lessons, at breaktime and lunch, the friendships, the new opportunities and challenges and the thousands of subtle but life-shaping interactions we have every single day. I often say to the students that the men and women they are going to be for the rest of their lives are developed and formed in this crucial period of growth, change, education and understanding that takes place at secondary school. For that reason, every day in school is a huge benefit. There are new regulations that have been issued from the Department for Education about fining families for absences, but we don’t want it to come to that point. We want all of our students in school all of the time to maximise their life chances and potential for the future. All of your support and encouragement in this regard is enormously valued.
We have been blessed with some lovely weather today. Fingers crossed it runs into the weekend.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
Whatever your plans, have a lovely weekend.
“Education is the foundation of all we do in life. It shapes who we are and what we aspire to be.” (Julie Payette)
