Headteacher Blogs

Dear Parents and carers, 

The Local Governing Body meeting on Tuesday evening was a positive one because of our outcomes and all the work we achieved last year, though we all recognise there is still a lot to do. It was the last meeting for one of our Governors, Matt Benson who has stepped down and is now on the Trust Board. I have only known Matt for a short while but during that time, I have been extremely impressed with this knowledge and incisive questioning. My personal thanks to him for his dedication to the school over a number of years. 

The school at the end of the day is extremely busy with buses, cars, and taxis and, whilst it may look like we have plenty of car parking space, it is in fact very limited. There have been electric car charging points installed – this is a Government initiative across schools – but due to limited space, any car can park there, especially at the end of the day. Please do not use the spaces in front of reception unless there is a specific reason that we know about as a school. This is for the safety of all our children who are leaving at the end of the day. Also please do not drop off in the bus area.  

Mark Brown, Executive Director of Education, visited yesterday and following a conversation about where we are as a school, all of which was positive, we dropped into a few Year 11 and Year 7 lessons. There was a real sense of ambition in some of the lessons with students finding the work challenging and a palpable culture of “we can do even better” which was great to see. Presentation in books was good; some quite exceptional. I always appreciate the warm welcome I get when going into lessons, not only from the staff but the students as well.  

Open evening Thursday was a brilliant event. It is one of the most important evenings in the calendar. I thoroughly enjoyed walking round seeing the different areas and watching both staff and students speak so highly about our school. I admit to my bias, but it will come as no surprise that my highlight of the evening was listening to Aiden Standley playing the bagpipes. This was my first ever experience of hearing that sound in school, including 18 years in Scotland. I would also like to publicly thank Ella and Charlie whose speeches were the highlight of the presentation. The hall was absolutely packed for both presentations, so much so that on the second one, parents were having to stand outside the door. This despite us having put out extra seating and numerous parents standing at the front as well. My thanks to you as parents and carers for allowing your child to take part in the evening. They were fantastic. There was a real buzz about the school, and I felt very privileged to be part of it.  

 Have a great weekend.

Mr Nixon

Headteacher