Headteacher's Fortnightly Update - 4th April

I am so pleased to begin by congratulating our Year 7 football team on reaching the Newport Cup Final, following a penalty shootout win in the semi final this week.  They will now face a tough Caldicot team in the final and we all wish them the best of luck.

I am also pleased to be able to pass on some messages from the local authority following a visit this week.  They noted how polite and happy pupils were, how the quality of their books impressed them as well as being impressed by how engaged they were with their learning and the progress they are making.  It is very noticeable the positive impact that the mobile device ban has had on creating a positive environment as well as our continued, No Movement’ approach.  I’m sure many of you have been watching Adolescence, which reinforces the negative impact of mobile devices and particularly social media on young people. 

Another positive message for us is the improvement in our school attendance. Every month our attendance has been better than last year which is excellent for us.  We have a long way to go to get our attendance to where it needs to be but we, along with your support, are going in the right direction.

I would like to congratulate our Year 8 pupils who have approached the current assessment window in a mature and determined fashion.  They have relished the experience of completing assessments in the school hall and have demonstrated excellent resilience to perform to their best ability in that environment. 

Over the last few months uniform has definitely deteriorated in standard.  We realise that the current uniform expectations are unfairly expensive and we have therefore not challenged uniform standards in the traditional way.  We will be sharing uniform expectations with pupils next week as we approach the summer term and pupils will want to wear shorts etc to school.  We hope the summer approach will be supportive to everyone while allowing us to have a high standard of uniform.

Boys

• Black shorts (a small logo is acceptable but no colour otherwise) or trousers (no tracksuit bottoms)
• White shirt
• Tie
• blazer or jumper optional but no other tops to be worn in lessons. (no hoodies, including zipped ones)

Girls

• Plain black shorts/trousers/skirt (no leggings/sport leggings) (no tracksuit bottoms)
• White shirt
• Tie
• Blazer/ jumper / cardigan optional but no other tops to be worn. (No hoodies, including zipped ones)
• Socks or tights

With one week to go of this term I would like to finish by wishing you all a relaxing Easter break with hopefully some fine weather to enjoy.  Thank you again for your ongoing support and commitment to the school.