Welcome to the second newsletter of this academic year. This half term has been a hugely successful one with fantastic work taking place in lessons, huge numbers of trips, visits and events, as well as some brilliant work happening in our clubs.

The focus and engagement that has been seen in lessons has been spectacular. Students are really focused and working on their subjects, developing their knowledge and showing excellent levels of participation. For our students in Years 7 – 10, this is preparing them brilliantly for their upcoming assessments, which will take place next half term. Our Year 11 students have completed their first rounds of PPEs (pre-public examinations). The commitment that the Year 11 students showed during these exams was fantastic and is really establishing a foundation for their real GCSE exams.

During this half term, students experienced a wide variety of trips and visits which enriched their learning, developed their character and widened their horizons.

We were delighted to welcome the author Chris Bradford, who also gave an engaging presentation to Years 7 and 8. Years 9 and 10 met the author Tanya Landman who also shared her personal story of how she became a writer. All students gained a much deeper understanding of the writing process and how to develop a story which will become vital as they progress through their studies.

I wish all our students, staff and their families a happy and safe Christmas break. We have an Inset day on Monday 6th January, but we look forward to welcoming all year groups back on Tuesday 7th January.