Dear Parents and Carers,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely and restful break, and that you are feeling refreshed for the term ahead.
I would like to thank you for your continued support this week, particularly in light of the challenging weather conditions. It has been a pleasure to see our pupils continuing to show resilience and excellent behaviour despite the elements. Uniform standards remain high, and it’s great to see so many teenagers wearing their coats – a small thing, but a sign of their readiness to take on the day in all conditions. Thank you to our site team who have worked around the clock to make the campus safe.
A special mention goes to our Year 11 students, who have faced their mock exams with determination and focus. Many of them had the evening off from revision last night as they took in a performance of An Inspector Calls at The Lowry. Thank you to the staff for accompanying the trip and parents for braving the cold on pick up duty.
I would like to take this opportunity to share a few important updates and events that are happening at school.
Firstly, we are welcoming PC Andy Cornell to the school this coming Wednesday (15th January) to lead a session for parents on how to keep your child safe online. This will focus on internet safety and practical tips for ensuring that your child remains safe in the digital world. Please note, this session is for adults only, as it is not appropriate for children. There are two sessions, delivering the same material at 5:30pm and 6:30pm in school. We hope many of you can attend and benefit from this informative discussion.
Please use the link to sign up to the presentation:
We are also excited to announce the launch of a Homework Hub, which will initially be available to Year 7 and Year 8 pupils. The hub will provide a centralised place for pupils to access all their homework resources. This is a trial, and once we’ve had some time to assess its effectiveness, we will send out further details to parents.
In case you missed it, our school newspaper ‘The Swan’, went out before Christmas, showcasing a range of activities and achievements from our pupils. There are also a variety of enrichment clubs available this term. If your child hasn’t yet joined one, perhaps this could be a great New Year’s resolution to help them get more involved in school life.
I’d also like to share with you some insights from the learning walks that took place before Christmas as part of our quality assurance programme. Pupils were able to visit classrooms, observe lessons, and share their feedback with us. Some of their observations included how much they appreciated the effort teachers are putting into making lessons enjoyable, such as using character voices and interactive activities like bingo. They also commented on the recreation of the Battle of Hastings in one history lesson. Their feedback highlighted that they liked how teachers focus on targeted improvements rather than expecting them to correct every question. All this feedback has been shared with staff as part of our continuous professional development programme, ensuring we keep improving the quality of learning for all pupils.
This half term, we are having a spotlight on punctuality. All form tutors have discussed with their groups the importance of arriving on time and how tardiness can affect learning. Pupils are marked with an 8 if they are late, and a 5 if they are more than 10 minutes late. We kindly ask that you have a conversation with your child about the importance of punctuality and encourage them to make every effort to arrive on time to lessons each day.
Thank you for your continued support. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.
Whatever your plans this weekend, stay safe and enjoy a rest.
“If you look for something to criticise, you will find it. If you look for something to compliment, you will find that, too. Your choice.” (Katrina Mayer)
