You will know from this blog, that I take a huge amount of pleasure from sport. I was never much of a sportsman unfortunately, but I stay active through running and the very occasional game of golf. That’s as much sport as I can find the time for now. But I love watching it, especially when I can do so with my son. We both have season tickets for Hull FC and try to get to a handful of Yorkshire cricket matches each year if we can. And Sky Sports is an almost permanent fixture on our TV screen. 

My son is a much better sportsman than me and – at 13 – already shows enough focus, and a bit of talent, to be able to play sport at a social level for as long as he wishes to do so. He plays football for Hessle Sporting, alongside a number of Hessle students, as well as being a keen all-round cricketer for Kirkella CC. He has hung up his tennis racket in exchange for the golf course in recent months and has good enough hand-eye coordination to be decent at that too. I stopped ‘letting him win’ many years ago and so our kick-arounds, cricket nets and golf games are strictly competitive, and I love it.  

One regret from the career path that I have chosen is that I rarely find the time to be able to watch our Hessle students in sporting action. I went quickly into management which squeezed out the chance to spend time on the touchline, or courtside. But I am always delighted to hear how well our students are doing. 

We have a decent track record of success but this term, so far, has been beyond belief. I keep getting updates on this victory or that success and, at the moment, can barely keep track of them. A few weeks ago, Hessle sports teams had won sixteen out of seventeen competitive sports fixtures that had been played this term; and the success goes on. 

On Wednesday, we entered two teams into a girl's football tournament organised by the Tigers’ Trust. The teams comprised girls in Years 7 to 9 and the two teams were drawn in separate groups. Both teams qualified comfortably from their groups and went into the knock-out stage where, again, both sides got through those games easily. In the semi-finals, they were drawn apart again and our ‘A’ team beat Driffield 4-1, while the ‘B’ team triumphed 1-0 over Wolfreton. And so, it was an all-Hessle final! For the record, the A team won the final, but all the girls had done fantastically well and were an absolute credit to the school and the staff that took them. 

This year, we are delighted to have such a strong team of staff who are passionate about sport and giving our students the opportunity to take part in so many fixtures. Thank you to Carrie Leckenby, Rachael Shiels, Ed Griffiths, Carl Hazel and Nathan Parkin for their time and commitment, as well as to the many other non-PE staff who also run teams and support the students in fixtures. I’m sure that those of you whose children benefit from these opportunities also appreciate it greatly. 

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It has been a good week for Year 11 students and their first round of mock exams. The start of these exams always brings an extra level of educational maturity to the group and the earlier start this year has also been beneficial. We are trying everything we can to help you to also support the students and I was pleased to see how many parents/carers of Year 11 students accessed our new Success Bulletin (over 400 downloads). This will be sent out fortnightly and is aimed at keeping you fully informed of all the support available to your child in school as they navigate their way through Year 11. Please let us know what you think of it. The next one will arrive with you on November 10th. 

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PLEASE NOTE – we are currently changing online payment providers as mentioned in correspondence to you recently. ParentPay will cease taking payments on Thursday 26 October at 2pm. After this time, payment can only be made via ArborPay. Please do this by logging into your parent account. 

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Finally, half term is upon us, and I am ready for a rest. It has been a busy but successful eight weeks laying a platform for the rest of the year. We will mostly be at home next week, but I am looking forward to taking my mum to London on Saturday for the day. She doesn’t know what we are doing yet but I’m sure we will also find some time to try a few of the old London pubs which we both love. 

Whatever you are doing over the weekend and next week, take care and thank you again for all the support you have given to my staff over the last half term. 

Mr Groak

Headteacher