Students at Marple Hall School have a great record when it comes to exams and qualifications. We’re a successful school, we know what works and how to support our young people to do their very best. It’s not just about lessons and homework, but also about showing students different ways to revise, organise their knowledge and practice their skills. At the moment our Year 11 cohort have been looking at these skills again in their form times, and on Wednesday this week we had our first Pomodoro session of the year. Pomodoro is a technique whereby a student focuses on a particular piece of work or revision for blocks of 25 minutes at a time, with short breaks in between. We’ve been running collective Pomodoro sessions in school in the lead up to Trial exams for many years now, and it’s a great way to show students what effective revision looks like. I think when we first ran the after school sessions we perhaps had 40 or 50 students turning up…but this week we topped 160 on week one, which is a fantastic indicator of how much students in the class of 2024 want to succeed.

But…and this is the key point. Attending Pomodoro for two hours on a Wednesday night is just the start. Anyone in year 11 who thinks that they can tick the revision box by doing this one thing will be disappointed in the summer on results day. Pomodoro is there to show the way, but it is not the destination. Successful Year 11 students will be doing their own work regularly each week – whether creating revision notes, testing their own knowledge or (best of all) completing past papers and practice questions. Anyone can do these things, it just takes a bit of planning and determination. When it comes to successful GCSE results we know one thing for certain: Effort pay off.

Have a great weekend,

Joe Barker

I’m writing this later than usual on a Thursday night, having just come home from this year’s Open Evening. I’m still buzzing from the event and so as I won’t sleep for a while I thought I’d write this week’s blog now. I really enjoy Open Evening. It’s the one occasion in the year that we get to show off our school to the outside world, and it never fails to amaze me how positive the evening always is. Firstly, we were very busy tonight – and that is always a good sign. We know that Marple Hall is a heavily over-subscribed school but we never take that for granted, and I am always humbled by how many people want to come and see the school for themselves. It’s a real honour to be able to speak to so many visitors over the three formal talks, and especially so to be able to share the floor with Rachel and Freddie, our fantastic Head Girl and Head Boy. I hope that between us we were able to get across a little bit about what makes MHS special.

Secondly, I love walking around the school and seeing the staff taking an obvious pride in their work. We are blessed with a great team of experts here, whether that be expert teachers or expert members of support staff, and seeing everyone pull together to showcase our school is wonderful.

Thirdly, it is great to be able to chat to parents and carers of prospective future students. There is always a mix of people from those for whom this is their first time looking into secondary schools, where the information can be a little overwhelming, to many familiar faces who have been through the process once, twice or many times before. And then of course there are plenty who came to MHS as children themselves, talking about what subjects used to be where and who used to sneak off round the back for a cigarette…! Whatever the circumstances I really enjoy chatting to parents and carers, answering questions and hopefully reassuring them that MHS is a great place for students to thrive.

Finally, and most importantly, I love seeing current students volunteering to help out at Open Evening. We are never short of offers and tonight was no exception. Students of all ages were in school in great number – too many to count – and their pride in the school was clear to see. It is an absolute pleasure to work with such fantastic young people and I have never been prouder to be the Headteacher at MHS.

One more day to go then a well deserved weekend awaits.

Best wishes

Joe Barker

The start to the new school year continues to go well here at MHS. I’ve enjoyed walking around school, visiting lessons and speaking to students and staff. It’s been great to see how positive and enthusiastic everyone is, a real testament to the ethos of our school.

One of the things that I’m always keen to see at the start of the term is how well students are attending school, especially early on. There’s been some really interesting research recently that suggests that if students take time off in the first few days September, then they are MUCH more likely to have low attendance by the end of the year compared to everyone else. I don’t understand the reasons why, but the trend is pretty strong. Of course it won’t always apply if the reason for the absence is something like a one-off planned medical appointment. However if students don’t come in when they probably could have done, then that could indicate a problem for the longer term.

Bearing this in mind, I was both pleased and concerned to see that our attendance for the first week was around 96.5%. When you compare that to the overall national attendance rate for secondary schools for last year of 90.8% it looks great, but it still means that quite a few students have missed sessions. Some of these will be for genuine reasons, but quite a few won’t be…and I’d be neglecting my duty if I didn’t point it out.

In my assemblies this week and last, I have been speaking to students in years 9, 10 and 11 on the direct impact of attendance on a student’s academic progress. The connection is clear. If you take two students with the same ability, attitude, support etc but one attends school more than the other, then the student who attends more will do better. I guess the reason is probably that no matter how hard they try (assuming they do!), catching up on missed lessons is really hard.

I know there are lots of pressures on families and for some, getting their child to attend school can be a real struggle. We understand this and we have people who can help, so please be in touch if you are worried. Being a teenager is a challenging time, almost as hard as parenting a teenager, but if we can keep promoting good attendance for all our young people then everyone wins.

Have a great weekend, warmer weather is coming!

Joe Barker

Welcome back to the MHS community for the start of a new school year. It’s always great to see the school come alive again after the summer break, with students and staff alike powered by a fresh enthusiasm for the year ahead. I thoroughly enjoy being able to speak to students for the first assembly of the year, even if this year I could only see Years 7 and Years 11 face to face. Being able to talk to so many young people is a privilege that I do not take for granted.

Unsurprisingly my ‘start of term’ messages often centre around students making the most of their opportunities. Showing the Marple Hall Spirit, turning up to school, being on time to lessons, being organised, working hard, looking after one another. However, the best bit is then seeing the students go out around school and doing exactly that, and I have to say that this year has been exceptional. We have had very high levels of attendance this week, a fantastic attitude on show from the overwhelming majority of students, a great work ethic in classes and so many examples of older students looking after the new year sevens, I couldn’t even being to cover them. Seeing staff and students working so well together, it makes me very proud to be the Headteacher of MHS!

Thank you to all the parents and carers out there making sure students are well prepared and well supported for the school day, it is very much appreciated. I hope that the first week has been positive for everyone in school, and that you all enjoy a well deserved weekend.

Take care,

Joe Barker