MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SECONDARY –14TH JUNE 2019

Dear Students, Parents and Colleagues,

Last week saw us host our fifth, and final, Parent Forum. We had 121 parents attend overall, and their feedback will add to the almost 300 parental returns from the recent parent survey. Staff and students receive similar surveys and we combine the information to gauge how we are doing as a school. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that you value our teacher-student relationships, supportive community and the opportunities we give students. You want us to keep focused on maintaining our high academic standards and improve the depth of support we can give relating to careers and university aspirations. You will be pleased to know that we will always place academic excellence at the forefront of what we do and invest heavily in professional development for our staff every year. We have also taken steps to offer more student careers/university guidance with the appointment of two extra staff. One will focus on Thailand Universities and the other will lead on careers and student pathways.

Excitement is definitely mounting in school as we prepare for our performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Over 100 students across all the school will be taking part and Mr Conway has taken on the mantle of Producer/Director, ably assisted by Ms Hullock and Ms Kellner. I already have my tickets reserved and I recommend you secure yourselves some via the school shop as soon as possible! We have two shows on Thursday and Friday 20/21st June. Once the first show goes, out there is likely to be a rush on Friday night’s tickets!

FOBP have once again offered to support the performance with refreshments and also provided staff with yet another ‘Staff Appreciation Lunch’ this week. Each year I cannot imagine it getting any better, but yet again, parent supporters in FOBP ensured staff knew they were appreciated by the wide selection of tasty food from around the world. The appreciation is mutual; we know that parental support is vital in building our learning community and student success.

Next week out Y12 students return from their AS examinations and have a wide selection of activities and events planned. Continuing our theme of well-being, will be our random act of kindness week (RAK) where we encourage students and staff to do something supportive and appreciative to anyone in the community. In our busy lives it is often easy to forget that we all have a whirlwind of ideas and emotions going through our minds each day, stopping to appreciate and enjoy the simple act of connecting with one another can be incredibly powerful socially and mentally for both parties.

Have a good weekend and maybe think about your own RAK act!

Nigel Wilsonlock

Head of Secondary School