Dear Parents/Carers,
Welcome back to the 2022/23 academic year. I know that the news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing yesterday is a sad occasion for the nation; our community is no exception. Our pupils discussed the life and death of the Queen this morning in form time and then the whole school stood in silence to pay tribute to her memory. It was a lovely moment. Pupils will have an opportunity next week to delve deeper into the Queen’s service to our country in EE lessons as we continue to observe the official 10 days of mourning.
Community
Our new Year 7 cohort are beautiful. I would like to thank you and their primary schools for shaping such wonderful young people and for gifting us with the privilege of passing that baton to us. I am already very impressed with them. Of course, our Years 8 – 11 are also beautiful and it has been lovely to welcome them all back this week. I am particularly proud of our Year 11 Prefects, sporting their prefect ties this week, as they step up as the Senior Student Leaders across the school.
Looking after our environment is something we take very seriously here at SHS. We have already converted all lighting to LED; we only use fully green energy suppliers; we are nearly there on our quest to become a plastic free school; we have had all of our windows upgraded to triple glazing, over the summer we have had 45 solar panels installed and we will be having a air source heat pump installed in October. Thank you to our Student Council who have been championing these moves – their voice is very powerful in our ‘go green’ journey.
Feedback from Parent/Carer voice told us that we could be better in communicating school news with you. I agree that this is something we have neglected since Covid and I want to thank you for flagging this up to us. This year we will be sending out regular news bulletins and using Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as well as MyEd to improve our communication with you. Feedback like this from Parent Voice surveys and Forums is very welcome, so please let us know your views.
Aspiration
It seems like only yesterday that the Class of 2022 were in Year 7 and here we are now with their GCSE results in their pockets and they are off to 6th form, colleges and apprenticeships. Their results are a credit to them, their families and the school. 71% of our pupils achieved Grades 9-4 in both English and maths and 53% of our pupils achieved Grades 9-5 in both English and maths! Indeed, all performance measures are higher than the outcomes of 2019 – the last time pupils sat external exams. Well done to each and every one of them!
The support and guidance our pupils get at home is truly heart-warming. I look forward to parents /carers coming to school this half term as we continue to work together in the best interests of our children. Some key dates for you are:
| When? | What? Why is it important to attend? |
| 22nd September 4-7.00 pm | Year 11 Parent’s Evening You AND your child can speak to teachers about their progress and what they need to do to achieve their potential. |
| 13th October 6-7.00 pm | Year 11 Core Information Heads of English, Maths and Science will share key night information about how you can support your child over this very important year. |
| 13th October 4-7.00 pm | Year 7 Check in Parents/carers are invited to school to meet with their child’s Learning Tutor. This is an opportunity for you to discuss how your child is settling into school and share any information you think we need to know |
| 20th October 4.30- 7.00 pm | Open Evening Prospective parents/carers and students are welcome to come to school to get to know us as they are making the very important decision of which school is best for them. |
| 21st October | Half term break Family time! Enjoy. |
Resilience
Helping our children to be resilient in difficult situations is one of our main priorities here at SHS. The past 2 years has certainly shown how important it is for all of us to practice conscious resilience. We know that there are times when children may struggle with their emotions and this may result in them being issued with a C3 consequence. If a child has a C3 consequence, you will be notified by text that they will be attending the C3 Reflection Room at the end of the day. They will be met there by the member of staff who issued the C3 and they will both sit together to discuss what happened to lead to the C3, why this might have been the case and what they can both do to help them to avoid this in the future. This restorative conversation is so important in putting the relationship between adult and child right as we know that this helps every child to feel safe and learn at their best. We also know that the relationship between school, child and home is paramount to the success of our children. Therefore, this year, if your child receives two C3s in a half term from the same member of staff, we will invite you into school to join the restorative conversation to help everyone to get back on the right track.
Education
I want to share a little piece of data which might interest you. It won’t be news to anyone that good attendance results in good academic outcomes. However, our school data shows us that students in this school who have 95% + attendance achieved over 0.7 of a grade (nearly a full grade!) higher than similar pupils of the same ability across the country. My mother used to say ‘you have to be in it, to win it’ and that definitely applies here. Of course, when a child is ill, they must stay home to recover. However, whenever possible, children should be in school, on time and they will learn well!
I will be holding an open office on Thursday 6th October 4.30-6.30pm. Please contact my PA Mrs Donna Howard on [email protected] to reserve a slot should you wish to meet with me.
Take care,
Nicola Doward, Headteacher
