Although school opens at 8:20am each morning, if it is raining we always welcome students into the halls before 8:20, and make sure they stay dry before their form tutors arrive at their rooms. The forecast is for a drier and warmer week after the weekend, so hopefully, we won’t need to do this too often.

On Monday morning, I spoke to all students in Years 7 to 11 in an online assembly. I spoke about how some adults make resolutions for the new year, and how these can be quite large and fall by the wayside early in January. What I recommended was making small steps, that have a chance of being repeated, to see real developments. At the start of term, that includes ‘small steps’, such as regular homework completion, day by day.

Homework

This is the most straightforward small step. Completing homework day by day makes small moves forwards, so it is a really important step in being successful. Here are the homework habits our students should be following each week:

 

Assessment weeks for students in Year 7, 8 and 9

Next week (w/b Monday 13th January) is Assessment Week for Year 9. Students in Year 7 have their assessments the next week (w/b 20th January) and Year 8 have theirs the week after (w/b 27th January).

I never want our students to only perform in school for test scores. These are important, but it is the school’s responsibility to create a love of learning for its own sake. However, I know that our students feel good when they are successful, so there are activities that they can do. If students choose their ‘Assessment’ page on their Frog account, each student, in each year group, can see guidance on what to prepare and how to do well. I wish all students in Years 7, 8 and 9 the best of luck in the coming weeks.

Students of the week

It has been a very smooth start this week with students settling in very straightforwardly. Congratulations to these students who, in particular, have made a stellar start to 2025. Well done to each one of them for their combination of hard work, community spirit and great social contributions.

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11	Sixth Form
tbc	Emilia	Millie	Dhivyan	Astha	Izel, Freddie, Venthan

Mr N House, Headteacher