It has been a really good week in school. Our Year 10 students have continued the second week of their examinations and their approach to them has been fantastic. Year 12 have now started their examinations and I would particularly like to commend them on their approach to private study in school since half-term – it has been absolutely first-class and they seem to have really appreciated being able to have this time back in school to work in a focused, quiet way. Equally, I have popped into a huge number of Key Stage 3 lessons during the week and the focus on work and enthusiasm for learning at the end of a long school year have been common themes. A huge well done to everyone.
Our school values are encompassed in the words “able and qualified” and examinations focus on the latter. In terms of being “able” – supporting our young people with their personal development – we also have a lot going on. The school’s approach to Pride Week has been very impressive. We are committed to being an inclusive community and the mature reflection around some of the issues which have been considered in school is characteristic of our school community. We are also out and about again in the Bullcroft on Friday morning – I will be there - with our Year 7 students learning about local history and respecting their environment which we think is really important.
We are all looking forward to our Enrichment Week from Monday 12th July with particular highlights being Sports Day and the Sponsored Walk. Sports Day in particular will be a great opportunity to drive participation and competition through the House system and we look forward to even more House activities across a broad range of activities and events next year. We have appointed new staff House Leaders this week and they will be leading House assemblies to galvanise their teams ahead of Sports Day.
The school uniform survey which I have previously mentioned is now open - https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KFN6MD3 - and it would be great to get as many parents and carers completing it so that we get as full a picture as possible; it is deliberately short for this reason although further comments are very much welcome.
Finally, the construction of the new teaching block at the front of school has passed a milestone this week with the start of the assembly of the steel frame – it’s great to see and we very much look forward to great teaching and learning kicking off in the new building in 2022.