Principal's Weekly Update
Hello everyone, and welcome to this week’s blog!
We are bringing you this update from a Year 10 science lesson, where students are working hard towards their GCSE science exams. This week, we are focusing on three key themes:
- Student Safety
- Attendance and Punctuality
- Science Week and the Curriculum
Student Safety – A Shared Responsibility
Keeping students safe is the most important part of my role as principal. It is something I think about constantly, and we do everything possible as a school to ensure students are safe both inside and outside of school.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote to parents about safety concerns, and we hope you have taken on board those messages and shared them with your child. Unfortunately, we have had a few incidents in the last couple of weeks, particularly on students’ journeys to and from school. Please continue to remind your child to stay aware and look after their safety during their commute.
Thank you to parents who have alerted us to concerns—we always follow these up, but we also ask that you take additional steps at home. Check school bags, monitor phone use, and ensure your child is not engaging in anything that could put them at risk. These simple actions help us reinforce the messages we promote through our curriculum and pastoral care.
Attendance and Punctuality – Setting Up for Success
Regular attendance and punctuality are essential for students to succeed, both academically and in life beyond school. We encourage students to reflect on our PROUD values, particularly positivity, respect, and determination, to help motivate them to attend school and arrive on time.
Take respect, for example: arriving promptly to lessons is a sign of respect for the teacher who has carefully planned the session and for classmates who are ready to learn.
Punctuality expectations: the bell system
To support students, we have a bell system in place:
- The first bell signals that students should be making their way to lessons (particularly at the end of break and lunch).
- The second bell means students should already be seated and working on their “Do Now” activity.
Most students follow this system excellently, ensuring a positive start to every lesson. However, we will now start monitoring the number of minutes students are late after the second bell. If lateness becomes a persistent issue, tutors will review registers at the end of the day and may hold students back to make up for the lost learning time.
We are sharing this with parents now so you can discuss it at home and help reinforce the importance of punctuality.
Science Week – Bringing Learning to Life
Over the past few weeks, we have talked a lot about our curriculum, and Year 9 parents will have received the preference form for building their curriculum. In addition to classroom learning, we run a wide range of enrichment activities to support student engagement in different subjects.
This week, we have been celebrating Science Week, and I’ll now hand over to Mr Hurst, Curriculum Leader for Science, to share some of the fantastic activities that have taken place.
A message from Mr Hurst – Science Week highlights
This week, we’ve had lots of exciting activities across all year groups. Students have had hands-on experiences with dry ice experiments, maggots, the science of colour, Van De Graaf, and other engaging investigations.
Additionally, we’ve run extra workshops for Years 7, 8, and 9, giving them the chance to explore scientific concepts that go beyond their usual curriculum. It’s been brilliant to see students so enthusiastic about science and engaging in experiments that they wouldn’t normally get to experience in their everyday lessons.
The Power of Enrichment Activities
As with all of our events, whether it’s International Women’s Day, World Book Day, or Science Week. We aim to spark students' curiosity beyond the classroom. On Friday, we will also celebrate Pi Day, another opportunity to inspire students through interactive learning.
We strongly believe that these wider opportunities help students develop a love for learning, explore new interests, and grow into well-rounded individuals. Thank you to all staff who have made these events possible and to students for engaging so positively.
Looking Ahead
There is lots to look forward to in the coming weeks, with music and drama trips, plus a range of extra-curricular activities continuing throughout the term. Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support.
We hope you all have a fantastic weekend, and we will see you next week for another update!
Best regards,
Ms Seymour