News

Monday 15th December 2025

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome to our newsletter for the fifteenth and final week of the autumn term 2025. It is week A, and I will be leading our whole school assemblies with the theme of reflection on the successes of the term and the Christmas story and its relevance in 2025.

Year 10 began their pre-public exams on Monday and feedback so far has been positive about their attitude and demeanour. It was great to see so many year 11 families at last week’s all important first parents’ evening for the students in this crucial year.

Term ends for all students at 12.30 on Friday 19th December. Lessons continue right up until that point, so 100% attendance is essential; every minute of learning counts. 

My thanks to you all for your continued support for the school throughout 2025 and best wishes for the holiday and a successful 2026.

The Spring Term starts with Registration at 10.00 on Monday 5th January 2026 with the normal week A timetable being followed for the rest of the day. 

With best wishes,

Stephen Davis

Headteacher

 

Online safety

Over the holidays, please ensure you speak to your children about the online world. It is something we have been discussing through assemblies, tutor period and in PSHE lessons. Through no fault of their own they are being exposed to sexually explicit material, violence and possible grooming online. Please have open discussions with your children about what they view online and how it affects them. It can severely affect their mental health. Please look at this website for further information. https://saferinternet.org.uk/guide-and-resource/parents-and-carers

Deciding what’s right for you as a family

Creating a family agreement allows you to have conversations about setting boundaries. It is important that you involve yourself in your child’s online world, so as a simple starting point you could ask them what their favourite websites or games are, and why they like them. The filtering options that you put in place may also change over time, as your children get older and more independent, and their technology use changes too.

Checking your settings regularly

Children can become accomplished users of technology and may learn how to disable or bypass the parental controls in place. Therefore, it is important to talk to your children about why the settings are there, and the importance of respecting them. Regularly checking the filtering on your family’s devices could also form part of your agreement.

Parental controls

If you have parental controls from your internet provider on your home WiFi, these will not cover the use of 3G, 4G or 5G at home. Similarly, if your child goes to a friend’s house where there are no controls in place, they may be able to access unrestricted content. For these reasons, it is important to educate your child about the potential risks online and establish rules concerning the sites that are suitable or inappropriate to visit.

 

Attendance

Please make sure you are here for the first day back! We have a late start on Monday 5th January. Your child needs to come on time, with all their equipment including a whiteboard and full uniform (no jewellery and a black coat) at 10.10. They should go straight to the class in which they have their period 1 lesson. Please make sure they have packed their bags the night before and are ready for school and the new year. We look forward to welcoming them back in 2026 on time and here for all their lessons. If there are any issues of concerns about attendance, please contact our absence email or our absence telephone number. We will need all the appropriate information and evidence for any students that are absent. 

 

Dental Care

Don’t suffer with dental pain – help is available 24/7 through NHS 111
If a child or adult has knocked a tooth out, severe pain disrupting sleep or swelling/lumps in the mouth, NHS 111 is the fast track to urgent dental care, day or night.

NHS 111 can:

• advise where to get seen
• arrange emergency dental appointments (at a nearby practice, even if you don’t have a regular dentist

What to do if you need help:

• Contact your regular dentist first if they have one – if they cannot help or you do not have a dentist
• call 111 or visit 111.nhs.uk