It has been a pleasure to welcome our new Year 7s to the school and to welcome back our Year 8 – 11s this week. The new Year 7s have settled in very well and have made a really positive first impression on the staff. Our Year 8 – 11 students have returned with an excellent attitude, and I am confident that we have the ingredients in place for another very successful academic year.

Talking of success brings me to news of the exam results for the class of 2026. I am delighted to report that they did fantastically well, delivering the best results in the school’s history. In terms of the key benchmark figures, 71% of the students achieved 4+ grades in English and Maths, with 50% achieving at least a grade 5 in these subjects. Both of these figures are well above the national average. I was particularly pleased to see that 1 in 2 students achieved at least 1 top grade 7+, with 1 in 4 of the students achieving at least 3 of these top grades. We wish the Class of 2026 all the best for the next steps in their education and training. 

A key factor in their amazing success was their attendance, which was well above the national average for Year 11s. Given the importance of attendance on outcomes, this put them in a better position than those in other schools. Last year we saw a strong improvement in our attendance across all year groups, and ended the year with a figure above the national average. That was brilliant to see. These improvements in attendance are the 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 during this academic year. 

We know that not all students find maintaining regular attendance easy. It is why I have ensured the school has invested a significant amount to providing support. We have a brilliant attendance team led by our Attendance Improvement Manager, Kelly Tucker. Please do reach out to her if you feel your child would benefit from support.

In assemblies this week, we challenged all our students to “Be Your Best”. We know that to support our students to be their best, we have to have high expectations of them. It is why we will have high expectations of their uniform, their punctuality, their attendance, their behaviour and, most importantly, their learning. When those high expectations are combined with the excellent quality of our teaching and support staff, it means that our students can and do achieve great things. Thank you for your support in enabling our students to meet those high expectations. 

A key change for the students has been the introduction of our mobile phone pouches. These have been introduced to ensure our school can be a genuinely phone-free environment. We know that a mobile phone free school will be better educationally and in terms of our students’ wellbeing. Thank you in advance for your support with this.

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.  

I do hope you have a great weekend.  

Regards  

Richard Johnson 
Headteacher