Illness and absence

Attendance at school has been excellent for the vast majority of students this term. Attendance at Greenshaw is significantly ahead of the national average, and also ahead of the London average –London being the region with the highest attendance figures. However, this week has seen a significant drop in attendance, lower than any other week this term.

From speaking with staff in other Sutton schools, I know there has been a nasty cough and cold bug going around. We also know this from your phone calls and messages, and I thank you for letting us know. As the dad of two school-aged children, I know that when a young person is ill it is important for them to rest and recover. It is also important for the rest of their classes that they do not pass the germs around to their friends! However, I would also ask for your support in making sure that students do return to school as soon as they are able to. 

Students of the Week

Congratulations to our stars of the last five days who have demonstrated something special in their attitude to their peers, the community or their learning. Well done to each and every one of them.

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11	Sixth Form
Riley	Tyler-Lee	Jake	Elijah	tbc	Nana / Mahdi

National Christmas Jumper Day (Thursday 7th December)

Students who would like to be involved are invited to wear a Christmas-style jumper in place of their normal school jumper on Thursday 7th December. Students are expected to wear the rest of their uniform as they would normally without any further clothing accessories. Christmas jumpers may include a wintery pattern or an image linked to Christmas or the colours red or green. Students choosing to participate will be asked to donate £1.00, all of which will go directly to Save the Children. This donation can be paid through the My Child at School app, also known as ‘MCAS’.

Safeguarding update

We have been selling and wearing white ribbons at Greenshaw to promote White Ribbon Day (which was on Saturday 25th November) and to demonstrate our commitment to #ChangeTheStory for women and girls. White Ribbon UK is a charitable organisation whose mission is to prevent male violence against women and girls by addressing its root causes. The root causes are long-established attitudes, behaviours and systems around masculinity that reinforce gender inequality. To reduce violence against women and girls, a change of culture is required – this cannot happen overnight, but it starts with challenging seemingly 'harmless' attitudes and behaviours that can contribute to a culture where such views are normalised which can then lead to more extreme behaviours.  

Males are also victims of violent crime, but the majority of violent crime are committed by males –approximately 80% of violent crime and a bigger proportion of sex offences. Women are more likely to be victims of domestic abuse and a recent Femicide Census found that over the past ten years a woman was killed by a man every three days, and a woman is killed by a former or current partner every four days in the UK.  

At Greenshaw, we have already taken action over the last couple of years. For example, through our training of staff and through PSHE lessons for students. The PSHE Social Action group, led by Sallie Webb (Assistant Headteacher), are delivering some student-led assemblies over the next couple of weeks to promote the idea that we can all contribute to change by just committing to taking one small action. If you would like to find out more, White Ribbon has some great resources that you might want to have a look at White Ribbon Day 2023.  In addition, we have a domestic abuse ambassador (Annabel Ashworth) and a sexual misconduct lead (Linda Radwan) as part of our safeguarding team, who can offer support and guidance.

Lynda Wallace, Designated Safeguarding Lead

Important privacy update for iPhone users

If you have an iPhone and have completed the recent iOS 17 update, they have installed a feature called NameDrop. This feature allows you to easily share contact information and photos to another iPhone by just holding the phones close together. This feature is defaulted to ‘ON’. To shut this feature off, go to Settings, General, AirDrop, Bringing Devices Together and change to ‘OFF’.

Wishing you all restful weekends, and hoping you can all stay warm over this colder period.
All the best,

Mr House, Headteacher