This has been a very successful and productive year, with improvements being made in all aspects of school life. My thanks to staff, students, governors and parents for all their support.

Governors have approved the changes to the timing of the school day from September, as previously outlined. During the consultation with parents over the changes the one issue which arose was the long gap between the start of school (8.40 am) and Lunch (1.30 pm). One way of addressing this concern would be to swap the current ‘Break’ and ‘Lunch’ services around, serving full plated meals (as per the current lunch-time service) during first break (11.00 am – 11.30 am) and providing the more snack-based service (as per current mid-morning break) during second break (1.30 pm – 2.00 pm). Students are likely to be better nourished, and therefore better able to concentrate, if they have a proper meal around the mid-point of their day rather than snacks. This idea is currently under discussion, with a final decision to be made by the start of next term.

 

All Change for September…

Governors have also approved the proposed changes to school uniform. From September, therefore:

a) Students in all year groups (Years 7 -11) all year round will move to wearing the school polo shirt under their blazer, removing the current white shirt and tie from the uniform.

b) Each year group will adopt a different colour polo shirt, which will  stay with the year group as it moves up through the school.

All other uniform items remain the same.

During the consultation, concerns were raised about cost. I am pleased to say that I have negotiated a reduction in price from £10.50 to £7.25. At the same time we have improved the quality, with the new shirts having 50% cotton instead of the old 35%.

Students in all years may continue to wear the current light blue polo for the whole of next academic year, so that any recently-bought polos can be fully used.

Roger Leighton, Headteacher