This term has been one to be proud of and is ending on a high. It was brilliant to meet so many Year 11 students and families on Wednesday night, share their predicted GCSE grades and let families know how we will continue to support our students until their final public examinations. On Wednesday morning, all Year 11 students in English sat an extended writing practice task, preceded by a ‘warm up’ that gave our students last-minute advice and helped them get their thoughts organised.

As I said to you last week, lessons do continue fully until the end of any school term and that has certainly been the case this week. With the exception of lessons for Year 10, as these lessons were suspended this week while the students went off to work…

Work experience

Education is really important, and what happens in the classroom can unlock the doors to the next phase of students’ lives. But it is also really important that schools work together with business, industry, retail, finance, entertainment, health and all sectors that will employ our pupils as they progress into work. In all year groups, we help our students think about the world of work, and what they may need to know more about to progress into different pathways.

At Greenshaw, we run a week of work experience in Year 10 and then one again in Year 12. Sometimes this can be time spent in an area that matches what students want to do for work, where this is known, but not all of our children are clear on that at the age of fourteen or fifteen. For all students, work experience definitely introduces a new way of thinking about their daily routines, like using public transport to get to a new location on time. It also gets students to understand about how expectations in the workplace might be very similar to school, or different in some cases.

This week, our Year 10 students attended placements at a wide range of locations, including design agencies, primary schools, accountants, solicitors and pharmacies. Some of these placements may have confirmed an area of interest for a student, some may lead students to reconsider an assumed pathway. Either way, I hope that this experience brings our Year 10 students back next term, understanding a bit more about how their school studies prepare them for the next phase.

Students of the term

At the end of term, we celebrate the work and efforts of our very finest in each year group. So huge congratulations to the students listed below for being absolutely brilliant.

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11	Sixth Form
Manasri	Kabisha	Ella	tbc	tbc	Alex / Isaac

I look forward to presenting our students of the spring term with their certificates in the first week back. I have also this term met over one hundred students who have reached 50 achievement points. One of the best parts of my job is hearing about these students’ achievements, in and out of school, and what they are enjoying most.

Support while school is closed

At Greenshaw, we work closely with a variety of agencies, including the London Borough of Sutton, volunteer groups and the NHS. Please be aware that our website has many signposts to support agencies in the section ‘Care & Support’ as needed.  Our Help for the Holidays leaflet can also be found here.

Start of the summer term, Monday 15th April

School starts back as normal in two weeks. The gates are open at 8:20am for Years 7 to 10 with Year 11 able to start ‘Early 30’ from 7:45am. Sixth Form students can sign themselves in and study in the SRC as normal. It will be Week 2.

For our students in Years 11 and 13 there will necessarily be some time studying, readying for the GCSE and A level exams next term, but I hope that all students and families enjoy the break.

Nick House, Headteacher