Welcome to the last newsletter in January.

There has been an updated letter shared with you this afternoon about the proposed upcoming industrial action on Wednesday 1 February. Please ensure that you read it as unfortunately it is not going to be possible to open to students safely on this day.

This week, we had the first of our Pathways Assemblies for year 9 students. This is where each subject informs students of what they would be studying if they were to choose that subject as an option for years 10 and 11. The next assembly covers the Creative subjects and will be held next week. Just before half-term, students will be asked to express an interest in which subjects they would like to follow. At this point, it is just an expression of interest which helps us understand which courses we ought to offer and whether we have the staffing to do so. After half term there is an online Parents’ Evening to discuss your child’s progress and a week later the Year 9 Pathways Evening. At this point our offer is firmed up and subjects are blocked together to meet as many preferences as possible. The Pathways Evening is an opportunity to meet staff, learn more about the courses on offer and the process itself. Further details will follow.

An email was sent to all parents/carers of Year 11 students this week, with a link to book appointments for the virtual Parents’ Evening on Thursday 9 February. If you have not already done so, please do, as this is an excellent opportunity for you to discuss your child’s progress with individual subject teachers. Also following the results of the recent trial exams, subject teachers can inform you of what added support and guidance your child requires to achieve their expected grade.

A new weekly feature in our newsletter will be #feelgoodfriday. This will actively promote strategies and practical help to support good mental health and wellbeing across our Federation. We are launching today with ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’, please do have a look.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to the newsletter for this week.

You may have seen in the media about the industrial action being taken by the NEU over the coming months. We will be sending you a letter on Monday, sharing details of how we will be managing these days.

This week and next week, has seen and will see a variety of experiences being offered outside of the classroom, from a Marine Engineering Stem workshop for Year 7 to Strings instrumental taster sessions as well as our usual extra-curricular offer. I also enjoyed watching a fantastic Rubik’s cube competition this week between five students. The winning time was an amazing 33 seconds. Truly impressive!

The Careers page on our website provides not only useful information about our Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) programme but also has a ‘Careers News’ section which reviews the many activities and events that the team arrange as well as advertising careers related information, open days and opportunities. The page can be found here. The more the students are aware of the opportunities open to them when they leave school, the more it may help engage them with their learning now.

Next week sees the start of assemblies being delivered to Year 9 regarding the Pathways process and the subjects that may be available to them to study at GCSE level in Year 10 and Year 11. It is important that students and parents/carers engage in the whole process as the decisions they make now, will potentially help them secure further education or employment opportunities in the future. There will be a Year 9 Parents’ Evening, followed by a Pathways Evening. Details will be shared with you in more detail soon.

Year 11 parents/carers will be receiving notification of Parents’ Evening next week, please ensure that you book appointments to speak to subject teachers at this very important time in their academic year.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Welcome to the newsletter for this week.

Year 11 have had their trial exams this week and I can say I am very proud of how they have managed themselves. They have approached them with maturity and their behaviour during them has been commendable. From a logistical point of view, they know exactly what to expect in the summer now and the routines they have been in this week will just be repeated in each and every exam. Their teachers will be going through their papers with them and revisiting any areas where there are gaps in their learning, but they will not be sharing their grades in lessons. We will be holding a trial results day so that students receive their grades in the way that they will in the summer. We have found this has more of an impact and helps the students see easily how they are progressing overall.

Our extra-curricular offer at lunchtime and after school is very popular, with a wide range of opportunities available. It is important that students do take part in some activities outside of the classroom, as more of a personal interest. We are here not only to teach the students the curriculum but also to help them to become rounded individuals. Sharing interests is really important and clubs encourage students who would not necessarily usually work together, to do so. If your child does not take part in any of these, please have a look at our social media sites for details and talk to them about joining one.

Online safety is really important for everyone but especially important for our young people. There are many many resources available online, and we have a page of our website dedicated to digital safety, as well as another page for safeguarding children in general. Please take a look and look at the linked resources available as it may help you support your child and help them to be as safe as possible.

Thank you for your support in encouraging your children to be on time to school, it is appreciated. Attendance at school every day, in every lesson for every student is vital.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2023. I hope that everyone managed to enjoy an element of the festive period.

Year 11 students have their trial exams next week. Yesterday they had an assembly covering exam logistics and protocols. It was a re-cap of information they are already aware of including making sure mobile phones and watches are switched off and in their bags, water bottles are clear and do not have any labels, their pockets are empty and they remain in silence throughout their exam from the time they walk in the door to the time they leave. These are the most very basic of expectations but must be adhered to. We have a duty to report malpractice, and we will, in order to ensure the integrity of our centres. There are a significant number of exams staff on hand to support students through this, as well as their pastoral leads, we just need to make sure that they prepare appropriately and make every mark count, not losing any through an avoidable mistake. Morning exams start at 9am, students need to be lined up by 8.45am, please ensure your children are on time to school. If you have any concerns, please contact your child’s tutor or Head of Year in the first instance.

I delivered assemblies to other year groups this week about the ‘Success’ element of our ASPIRE core values. This asked, what is success and how do you get it? I explained that success can be achieved following five principles, ABCDE. Attendance – ‘You should be here every single day. This is the MOST important thing you can do to be successful’, Behaviour – ‘You control this. You decide how you act and all the decisions you make. NO ONE else makes these decisions’. Classwork – ‘This is why you are here so you need to put in the maximum effort to get the best results’. Dress Code – ‘We have a simple uniform – stick to it each and every day’. Expectations – ‘I believe in you, your teachers believe in you – you need to have the highest expectations possible if you want to be successful’. Please reinforce these messages with your children.

This term will be important for our Year 9 students as we will be starting to explore the Keystage 4 Pathways process with them.

Thank you to all of our students who returned to school in full uniform and prepared to learn, it has been great to see smart, enthusiastic, happy faces this week.

I hope you have a good weekend.