The penultimate week of the academic year is complete. A week that began with England’s victory over Mexico, which sets them up for Saturday’s quarter-final against Norway. Dare we begin to dream!!?

I was concerned about the potential impact on attendance following the scheduling of the Mexico fixture. That was certainly the case nationally, where secondary school attendance fell to 83%. I was delighted to see our attendance was so much better, at over 91.5%. That continues a trend we have seen all year of much stronger attendance. Our figure is now well above the national average. Given the importance of attendance on outcomes, this means our students are in a better position than those in other schools. That is brilliant to see. It is a result of the commitment of our students, of you, and of the support mechanisms we have put in place. I am enormously grateful for your continued support and look forward to even more improvements in this area next year.  

It has been another hot week, with temperatures peaking on Thursday and Friday. Despite this, it has been an incredibly busy week with a variety of activities taking place for the students. On Monday, we hosted our symposium for the students of the Critical Research Project. This group of Year 10s have spent the school year engaged with this project. They were asked to find a topic that interested them and to research its cultural and social significance, both historically and presently. The essays have been printed in the pamphlet, But Why? Volume 2 and show a breadth of interests and projects conducted with maturity and critical curiosity. Hearing them read their essays demonstrated how passionate, articulate and curious our students are and, when given an opportunity to, how powerful their writing can be. 

On Tuesday, we welcomed over 300 guests to the Sports Presentation Evening to celebrate the achievements of more than 120 students, who received awards including Half Colours, Full Colours, Sporting Achievement Awards and several major individual honours. The evening is always a highlight of the sporting calendar, and provides a wonderful opportunity to recognise the dedication, commitment and enthusiasm shown by our students throughout the year. It is also a chance to acknowledge the incredible support provided by parents and families, whose encouragement helps make these achievements possible.

It was then the turn of our Summer Concert. Wednesday evening saw a range of performers drawn for all year groups perform in the Main Hall. It was great to see a combination of well-established performers and some new performers. It was also very evident how hard the students had been working to practise their pieces, and how fabulously they supported each other through the evening. Thank you to all who took part, and to the Music Department for supporting the performers.

We also held our annual exhibition of artwork produced by our GCSE Art and Design students this week. Once again, the quality of work on display was fantastic, and demonstrated to our other students the standards that they can aspire to achieve. It has also been a pleasure to share with our parents and the Year 11s who have come back to school to see their work on display.  

Our Year 10 GCSE Geographers travelled to Minehead for their GCSE coastal field work this week. Now in its fifth year, it has become a familiar location to conduct data collection, which supports students in answering questions for their Paper 2 exam. Their investigation into how coastal defences impact on beach morphology and sediment characteristics, requires the students to work in teams to gather necessary data. I know that staff supporting the students were incredibly proud of how well they worked together. The sun shone, the tide was in, ice creams eaten, and memories created. All in all, two lovely days.

On Thursday we held our annual Awards Evening. This is our opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our students across the curriculum in Years 7 – 10. The success these students and their families were celebrating do not come about by chance. They are the result of lots of hard work and dedication. It was a pleasure to recognise this and to see so many parents able to share in this celebration with their children.

As always, I end with my weekly reminder about Free School Meals eligibility. From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, eligibility is being expanded to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit regardless of household earnings. This widens the scope of eligibility and means many more families should now qualify. Please do check the updated information, which can also be found here, to see if that includes you.

The weather forecast suggests the hot spell will continue next week. Given that, we have decided to stick with PE kit for the rest of the term. Let’s hope that the fabulous weather extends into the summer holidays.

I do hope you have a great weekend.

Regards

Richard Johnson
Headteacher