Message From The Principal

Thank you for your support in helping your children get to school so regularly. We know that attendance and punctuality are the biggest predictors of academic attainment – much more than intelligence, and this has been a huge contributor to our GCSE and A Level success. You will remember that we were commended by the Department for Education and by Fischer Family Trust for being in the top 10% nationally earlier in the year. The absences at Eid always have a big impact, and this year reduced our overall attendance by 0.5%, which has meant that we slipped out of the top 10% for all schools, although we remain in the top 10% of similar schools. We think that the recent good attendance might have pushed us back up, and if we have an excellent last half-term we can securely be in the top 10% of all schools for the year – something we have not achieved previously.

We spend a great deal of time developing cultural capital, described as ‘all the things young people should know outside of lessons’, which helps prepare them to be successful adults. I am delighted to inform you that we have run over 100 educational visits so far this year. An analysis of Year 11 pupils attending educational visits shows that two pupils have been on 52 visits in the last three years, with the majority of pupils in that year attending at least 25 over the period. These visits, along with our relentless focus on the school’s values, other enrichment and curriculum opportunities linked to our ‘Character Education’ – you can read more about the latest Making Memories day on the website.

In the last week of this half-term we hosted a film crew for a day, who were creating a film for PiXL (Partners in Excellence). PiXL is an organisation that includes hundreds of schools across the country who collaborate to support each other and share ideas. The film they are creating focuses on our approach to Character Education and all we do to embed the values and help prepare pupils for what will come after school. We look forward to sharing it with you when it is published.

I hope you have a wonderful break, and look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday 1 June.

Doctor Stevens