News & Headteacher Blogs

It’s has already been a jam packed year and we are only at the end of the first term. The excitement (and good weather) of the Sponsored Walk seems ages ago now and we’re all getting ready for a well-earned Christmas break.

Year 9 have made a fantastic start to a very important year and continue to involve themselves in all aspects of school life. We had some wonderful performances in House Music with George and Theo throwing themselves into a Wham inspired dance routine and Kat belting it as one of the Six Queens. PDP covered a tough topic of Internet Safety and Grooming but the whole year group approached it with maturity and resilience, with some amazing presentations at the end. A good mix of creative, informative and engaging. House Matches were traditionally cold and slightly damp but again students threw themselves in and seemed to enjoy covering themselves in mud – I’m sure parents weren’t so pleased!

Mrs Allum has been arranging lots of exciting opportunities in regards to careers and future plans for Year 9 and there are many still to come. Well done to the whole year group for the way you behaved during the Careers event in December and to those involved in the Developing Workskills session and the Rosalind Franklin Project, I’m looking forward to seeing how you get on with the rest of the project. If students have any questions about Careers or Enterprise then Mrs Allum is the lady to speak to!

Despite it being a long, busy term we have finished on some real positives too. It was lovely to see all the smiling faces at Praise Breakfast. It was a great opportunity to recognise the hard work and effort that students are putting in to their studies, but also as members of the school community. I launched the Year 9 Community Challenge Cards at the start of term and I’m sure I’m going to see a lot of them coming back for rewards and prizes in the new year when students have participated in the options process. Alex, Flynn and Robert gave some amazing EEP presentations and certainly taught me a lot about Black Holes, Relativity and Rugby! It was a joy to just sit and watch students enthuse about topics they are passionate about.

Finally, I want to remind Year 9 to please make sure during the Christmas break that you have a good balance between rest, enjoyment and getting ready for the exam week in January. It’s not something to stress or worry about, especially if you prepare properly so speak to your subject teachers about how you can prepare for each of the papers. Remember, it’s meant to help you with making decisions for your options and you are going to have lots of information given to you in January. Dates for the diary are: January 23^rd Options Evening, January 30^th Mentoring Day and Parent’s Evening and then February 3^rd is the day for handing back in the options forms.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Mrs S Wilding