Another two weeks have flown by with lots of fantastic achievements to report. Most importantly we continue to see excellent learning behaviour from our students throughout the school. The students have responded superbly to our higher expectations and behaviour in lessons is the best we have ever seen. It is a joy going around the tutor groups in the morning and seeing the students benefit from our guided reading programme. All students in KS3 are now encountering great literature daily. We know this will benefit their own reading and will help them develop their wider knowledge.

I have been particularly impressed with the mature and purposeful start to the year made by our Year 11 students. They are using their “prep” sessions intelligently; taking advantage of the numerous after school lessons (over 90 students at the most recent English sessions!) and raising their expectations of what they can achieve. We know they are capable of great things and it is very heartening to see that they are putting in their hard yards needed to deliver on that potential.

We have had our first Spelling Bee which was a joy to watch. Keenly fought for, congratulations go to Millie Maycock, our winner, who is wearing her Bee badge with pride. A second Spelling Bee will take place in term 2 and I know a lot of students have their eyes on Millie’s crown (and badge). Our sports clubs are in full swing and we are seeing over 250 students a week taking part in the wide variety of sports on offer both at lunch and after school. On Friday 20^th September a group of Year 10 and 11 students went to Cheltenham to watch the Studio Orchestra perform a repertoire of music by the composer John Williams.  A great evening was had by all with a highlight being the fact that our own Mr Khokher was playing the bass trombone with the Studio Orchestra.

A real highlight for me of the last two weeks was our Year 6 open evening.  We had well over 300 students representing the school on the night, supporting departments and answering questions from visiting parents and their children. The school was packed with well over 700 visitors on the evening. The feedback we received was so positive. Every individual I spoke to commented on the passion from the staff and the confidence, enthusiasm and pride demonstrated by our wonderful students.

We do believe in partnership working and are always looking for ways in which we can give parents the knowledge and skills to help them support their children through the critical GCSE years.  A key part of this is our Supporting Your Child Through KS4 evening.  It will take place on 3^rd October with the Year 10 event running from 6.00 – 7.00pm and the Year 11 event from 7.15 – 8.15pm. Last year’s event was hugely well supported. It would be great to see all of our KS4 parents there. 

Have a wonderful weekend.

Richard Johnson
Headteacher