Skip to content ↓

Hessle High School

Headteacher Blog

Welcome

On this page you will find a weekly informative blog from Mr Groak, Headteacher.

November 2023

Archive

  • WEEK 11 - Friday 24 November 2023

    Published 24/11/23

    We all know that attendance of students to school is still a long way short of where it was before the pandemic and we are only now beginning to understand some of the complex reasons behind this apparent breakdown in the social contract between home and school. Amanda Spielman addressed this issue in her annual Ofsted report yesterday before she steps down as HMCI. At Hessle, our attendance is also stubborn and still lags behind where it was back in 2019. Roughly speaking, it has fallen from 95% to a little over 90% which doesn’t seem like much but is essentially a doubling of absence, and a doubling of all of the consequences of student absence. 

    And the consequences of not attending school are huge. 

    Firstly, there is the academic impact; students with attendance below 90% (just one day off per fortnight) are three times as likely to miss their targets as those students with good attendance. This closes the door on a range of educational opportunities and means that young people can be playing ‘catch up’ for years to acquire the skills and qualifications they need to secure good and rewarding employment. 

    Secondly, there is the social and emotional impact. Students who regularly miss school, also miss their friends, classmates and teachers. A break from the social norms causes young people anxiety – they've missed out on conversations, gossip and the twists and turns of being a teenage student in school. This then makes them more likely to miss school again and becomes a downward spiral of absence and anxiety. 

    And finally, attendance – or non-attendance – becomes a habit. If you do not create the expectation that you will start the day positively and with structure and routine, you will find it a difficult thing to create later in life. We seek to instil these habits in our students and thank you for your support in doing so. 

    To tackle this ‘doubling of absence’, we are doing our best to increase our capacity. We have recruited two additional staff on a part-time morning basis to handle calls, chase up absent students and to make home visits. We are funding this from the last year of the Government’s Recovery Premium and it is beginning to take effect. 

    If you feel you would benefit from support to help your child attend school more regularly or you are finding it harder to support them to school, please contact us as soon as possible. 

    ***  

    As I write this on Thursday afternoon, one of the smaller School Christmas Trees has just been taken from its store cupboard near my office – the first sign that we are getting nearer to yet another Christmas season. We finish school late this term (last day is Thursday 21 December) so there is still a long way to go but the weekends are fast disappearing and school events are taking on a more seasonal flavour. The staff at Hessle are very much in two camps; those that are putting their tree up this weekend, or those that are waiting until next weekend. The Groaks are definitely in the latter camp and ours will be going up next Sunday afternoon after Mrs Groak returns from the school trip to Lille.  

    Have a lovely weekend and thank you for your ongoing support.  

    Mr Groak

    Headteacher

    Read More

  • WEEK 10 - Friday 17 November 2023

    Published 17/11/23

    This week’s cabinet reshuffle may have hit the headlines because of David Cameron’s return as Foreign Secretary; but the biggest surprise was probably the fact that Gillian Keegan ended the day still in post as Education Secretary! Keegan has now been in post for thirteen months and is probably due for a long service award by now.  

    Since Michael Gove was fired in 2014 after four years in charge, none of the other eight (8!) Education Secretaries have managed two years. But at least Zahawi (10 months), Cleverly (2 months) and Malthouse (7 weeks) would have had time to chair a meeting or maybe even a visit a school, whereas poor old Michelle Donelan probably didn’t have time to make a coffee in the 36 hours she lasted in the Truss-chaos of last July! 

    It’s crazy, isn’t it? How do they expect to be taken seriously?  

    But, if it’s good enough for those running the country, I have begun to consider whether we might have a reshuffle amongst our middle leaders here at Hessle. Mr Willson has had quite a stint as Head of Maths; I wonder if it might be time to move him to Art? That would allow me to move Miss Lewis to PE (she likes her football) and then Mrs Leckenby can move off the field to an indoor job as Head of Music. If there’s still a vacancy after all of that, maybe I’ll drag Mr Jolley out of retirement? 

    Of course, it would be ridiculous, and you would rightly ask me what on earth was going on at the school. Anyway, thankfully we don’t have a new Education leader this week and so, for the moment, we can just get on with the job and this week has been a great one for our learners to enjoy experiences outside of the classroom. 

    Last Saturday, Mr Sellers and Miss Burrows took a group of Sixth Form Physicists to the Diamond Light Source venue in Oxfordshire to learn more about the UK’s national synchrotron and how it is used. We are very proud of our Physics team here at Hessle. Physics teachers are the single most difficult specialists to recruit into schools nationally and many schools do not have a single specialist Physicist on their staff; we have three, which is a testament to the Science team and their commitment to developing the next generation of scientists, so that they can work in mind-bending places like the one they visited on Saturday. 

    On Wednesday, Year 7 students enjoyed ‘All About Me’ Day – a great opportunity for them to hear from guest speakers, specialist staff and others and to reflect on their own future. This involved a day off timetable, which created great excitement, but which also led to some really mature discussions about their futures and the great things they want to achieve with their lives. 

    Also, on Wednesday, a group of Year 9 students took to the road and spent the day at Yorkshire Wildlife Park on a Geography Field Trip. If you have been to this venue, you will know how lucky we are to have this practically on our doorstep and the students really enjoyed the visit whilst also learning a great deal about tourism and how land can be repurposed for different uses. Mr Carlin led the trip, and he could not praise the students highly enough for their behaviour and maturity. 

    And our older students have also been out and about with the Year 12 Spanish class enjoying a meal at El Toro restaurant on Wednesday night. Spanish is a new A Level for us at Hessle and their teachers, Miss Oddell and Mrs Groak, have been keen to provide students with the full experience of learning the language and culture, hence the trip to experience food and the tapas way of eating.  

    Finally, we also welcomed parents and carers of those students who participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme to school this week for their annual celebration event. This programme continues to be a real success for the school and for students, who start to participate from Year 9 onwards. This week, thirty students received their Bronze Award and a further fifteen received their Silver Award. Ella Whiting and Kieran Hudson were chosen to receive the special awards for outstanding achievement. My thanks to Miss Moore who leads the programme for us in school, and to Mrs Edwards and Mr Scott who support her with expeditions and much else besides. 

    This is just a flavour of the wide range of opportunities that our students have benefited from this week, thanks to the commitment of the staff to broaden horizons and raise cultural awareness. 

    I spent a few moments checking the Groak family calendar last night and realised that this coming weekend is the last one of the year that does not involve some form of family gathering or social get together. As good as they will be, I am looking forward to enjoying the weekend at as slow a pace as possible, finish my book and watching some TV with the kids. 

    Whatever you are doing, have a lovely weekend and thank you for your ongoing support. 

    Mr Groak

    Headteacher

    Read More

  • WEEK 9 - Friday 10 November 2023

    Published 10/11/23

    Just before half term, and just after the students had left the site for the day, an alert came through on our walkie-talkies that one of the school buses had broken down on Heads Lane, students were getting off it and the road was blocked. “It’s carnage,” was the phrase used by a passer-by. A number of colleagues and me, dashed out to the scene to discover that, actually, there wasn’t carnage but merely a group of young people, some motorists and a bus driver trying to resolve an unexpected issue that had occurred. Noone was in real control but everyone was doing their best to stay safe and figure it out.  

    Quickly, we held the traffic, ensured that the students were safely off the bus, and on the footpath either to walk home or head back to school to wait for a replacement bus. The driver was given the help he needed and, within a few minutes, all was calm. It probably would have been even if we hadn’t responded but it might have taken a little longer, with a little more risk. 

    “That was chaos,” said one of my pastoral leaders as we walked back to school. Indeed it was. Until we brought order to it. And then it wasn’t. Chaos is defined as a ‘formless, jumbled, disorganized mass’. It can infer some malign intent but it is more likely the outcome of a number of individuals trying to pursue their own self-interest in an environment without clear parameters, rules or leadership. 

    On any given day, there are around 1500 children, young people and adults on our site and, at a few seconds past 12.15, it seems like they’re all headed into the canteen for their lunch. By 12.30, most of them have got their food and are sitting eating, chatting to their friends or they have left and gone outside for some fresh air. It is a miracle of organisation, collective purpose and planning.  

    Whilst we teach the students to self-regulate themselves during this time (apart from having to queue and observe normal etiquette for a dining space, they can choose where to eat, where to sit and what to do with their lunch time), this period of time still requires supervision. There are 84 individual duty points across the two break and lunch sittings covering the entire site. That’s every day. These are mostly carried out by senior leaders, pastoral staff and the voluntary efforts of a number of other staff who help to maintain order - and prevent chaos. 

    Making sure this works becomes a study in managing the flow of people. The reason why students have to move one way down a corridor, or leave the building by a particular door is not because we like to introduce a petty rule; it is to ensure that hundreds of people are moving smoothly with as little disruption or risk as possible. I never imagined – when I became Headteacher – that I would spend so much of my time thinking about these seemingly trivial things; but I have grown to realise that these are not trivial at all – they are integral to creating a strong positive culture within school. If students know what is expected of them and they live up to these expectations, they are showing respect for themselves, their peers and the school community. These are values we need them to have when they go into society as adults. 

    So it is vital that we can provide them with routine, order - and, yes, queues - so they can learn these skills of how to be a good citizen. If we do not, we allow ‘chaos’ (in its literal term, rather than being ‘out of control’) to take hold which has a damaging effect on our culture and on student development. 

    That is a roundabout way to tell you that I spent one day of the holidays in school with my Deputy, Mr Chapman, and Mr Owen, our Facilities Manager, ensuring we have our common spaces, such as the canteen, laid out as smartly as we can. As the weather gets colder and more students wish to stay inside the building, this is crucial. We made some changes, we will make more and I am confident, the students will be able to stay warm and comfortable through the colder months. 

    I also spent some time during half term reacting to the latest release of Bruce Springsteen concert dates and managed to secure tickets for a couple of shows, and then to book hotels. I have been expecting, since 2016, that ‘this will be the last tour’ but he and his band just keep on going, and so will I next Spring. I can’t wait. 

    Finally, as I put the finishing touches to this blog, we are nearing 11am and our Two-Minute Silence. I am very proud of how our students always respond to this, showing their respect to those generations, old and not so old, who have performed a duty far more important than ours and made the ultimate sacrifice for others. We will all remember them. 

    Have a lovely weekend and thank you for your support.   

    Mr Groak 

    Headteacher

    Read More
The Consortium Academy Trust
Cookie Policy