MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD OF SECONDARY – 15TH FEBRUARY 2019

Dear Students, Parents and Colleagues,

We were pleased to be able to host our Secondary Sports Day today and enjoy our Campus facilities to the full. Mr Cantrill and his team did an excellent job in organising the event, ensuring the day ran smoothly with lots of fair play and good-natured competition. The ‘water-fans’ offered a welcome respite from the heat and the air was of sufficient quality not to overly concern. Some school records were broken, but more importantly, an increased number of competitors were involved to support their Houses. I will let you find out who won from your children!

Year 12/13 students were breathing a collective sigh of relief today as the seven days of Mock Examinations came to an end. They now have the agonising wait for their results. These exams are crucial to teachers to help them intervene and support students in the build up to the real things in May/June. Our main message will be to work ‘smarter’ as opposed to just ‘harder’. Good preparation is key, good learning and exam preparation should be thought of as running a marathon as opposed to a last minute sprint.

On Monday Mrs Cantrill and her team welcomed the Y6 students over for their Transition Day of lessons and orientation with the Campus – Y6 students were easy to spot, they were the ones running around full of excitement! I don’t know how our Primary colleagues cope with all that energy! Apparently the Humanities and Science lessons were a great hit with the students.

In the first week back after Half Term we will have our Y7 Student Led Conference.  We are trialing a new format aimed at giving parents more quality time with teachers to underpin student learning. We are also introducing an online appointment system to make the booking process easier for parents and teachers. We will be looking for feedback on how it all went, but believe all changes will improve what is always a very busy evening. Allowing everyone to focus on the feedback itself rather than the complications of being in the right place at the right time.

Please also note that in the first week back after Half Term (Monday-Wednesday), we will be having our official school photographs. Please help by making sure your child is in the correct uniform and comes to school with a smile!

Our Term 3 calendar will be published on 29 March, but you may want to know that our Graduation Ceremony is provisionally scheduled for Friday 31 May 2019. More details will follow nearer the time.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a well-earned rest during the Half Term holiday next week and look forward to welcoming everyone back at the usual time of 08:00am on Monday 25th February.

Kind regards

Nigel Wilsonlock

Head of Secondary