It’s a Thursday afternoon blog for me this week, a few hours before the Year 11 prom. Earlier this week we had the final assembly and the now standard foam fight, although the mist and rain definitely dampened that down a little…which was fine by me! Thankfully the weather is looking better than it did this morning, and no doubt preparations will be in full swing for the big entrance that I know students will be planning. It’s always fun to see everyone arrive – I wonder how many tractors there’ll be, whether we’ll see a fire engine and of course the obligatory stretch Hummers and the like. I’m looking forward to spending the evening with the Class of 2025, and probably upwards of 50 staff, who will join me in seeing the year group off in style.

Also this week we had a brilliant turn out to the Post 16 Careers and Futures event on Wednesday afternoon. We had stalls from 35 employers, apprenticeship providers and colleges representing a wide range of careers and opportunities, such as animal hydrotherapy and construction to healthcare, performing arts, finance, and the armed forces amongst many others.

Finally, a reminder that our Summer performance this year will be the Spark Night event on Thursday 10th July 6pm to 8.30pm. We have tickets available, please snap them up here: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/87186

Have a great weekend everyone,

Best wishes

Joe Barker

I’m sending my blog early this week to update parents, carers and families on a couple of developments in school. This follows on from me speaking to all the students and staff yesterday afternoon, and I didn’t want to keep the rest of the community in the dark all week.

Firstly, we have some building work taking place starting on Monday 23rd June, lasting until Christmas 2025. This is part of a Stockport Council funded project to improve facilities at MHS, agreed a few years ago, and will see the addition of four more classrooms, two new PE changing rooms and a large new set of student toilets. The work will be a bit disruptive but will be well worth it. A picture of how the new building will look is at the end of this blog. Not only that but thanks to becoming an Academy in March, we have been able to bid for grants to help with some essential maintenance work – and we were successful! In total a further £1.5 million will be invested in fixing our leaky 75 year old roofs and replacing our internal and external doors. Again, this work is due to start soon.

Secondly, I’m writing this asking for your help to support our provision of sports and PE in school. The building work mentioned above is fantastic, but the way that funding works means that none of that money can be used on the day to day costs of running the school. Long time readers will know that I have long campaigned for fairer funding for schools like MHS, which is officially one of the very poorest funded schools in the whole country. We deliver the same curriculum as everyone else, have the same costs, but schools like ours elsewhere in England enjoy significantly more money year on year. It’s a broken system and I’ve been right to the heart of Government myself to argue the case…but so far nothing has changed.

The amazing success of our Under 15 girls football team, the first ever national finalists in the school’s history (we think!), has prompted us to launch a fundraising drive for all things PE. Firstly, we’d like to try to cover some of the costs of the team travelling to the final, which is likely to be in the midlands. Then, we’d like to invest further in sport and PE in general. Therefore we’re trying to raise a bit of money to make this happen.

Parents/carers – if you’re able to make a small donation then that would be wonderful. You can do this via school gateway, minimum £1, by selecting this option:

Students will be able to contribute in a few ways, for example buying ice pops on Thursday for 50p, cakes on Friday for 50p, or bringing in any loose change next Mon-Thurs.

It would be amazing to raise a bit of money to support our extra-curricular sports, and to get right behind Madison and her fantastic U15 team.

Thanks!

Joe Barker

I have three important things to share in this week’s headteacher blog, so I’ll get straight to it.

Firstly, Spark Day tokens. Like last year, this year’s Spark Day (11th July) will be a cashless event. That means that students will need tokens to take part in the fun stalls and activities, and tokens need to be bought in advance. I’ve included an image below with all the necessary information, but in short the 50p tokens can be bought via school gateway in bundles of £2 or £5. The deadline to order tokens in Friday 4th July, so please don’t delay.

Second, every few years we consult with parents and carers on the SRE (Sex and Relationships) aspect of our PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic) curriculum. We therefore invite all parents and guardians to view the updated policy here, and to share any feedback using this short form: LINK TO FORM. If you would like to review the teaching materials we use for RSE, please contact school via this email lyn.lawton@marplehall.stockport.sch.uk by Friday 27th June.

Finally, huge congratulations to the Under 15 girls football team who yesterday overcame Kepier Academy in County Durham to reach the FINAL of the ENGLISH SCHOOLS FA CUP! This is a truly amazing achievement for the team, and I am sure everyone will me in sending them most positive vibes possible for the final. Come on MHS!

Have a lovely weekend,

Joe Barker

The final half term is well under way and as always it’s been lovely to welcome the community back together. Our examination students – year eleven of course but also some year nines – are now well into the exam season and can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The class of 2025 are a fantastic bunch, and that has been shown with their continued excellent attendance to lessons even during the exam window. In fact, the national average rate of attendance for Year 11s in the week before half term was 83%, but at MHS we hit 90.5%. This is testament to the dedication shown by our students and they deserve the very best success because of it.

Also this week we had the auditions for the next whole school production of Sister Act the Musical. On Wednesday afternoon 80 hopefuls turned up hoping to be selected which is fantastic. Rehearsals start soon for the performances that take place in the Autumn.

Yesterday we received notice that our Duke of Edinburgh students have together racked up 598 hours of volunteering in the community; whether supporting in soup kitchens, running sports coaching for infants, helping the elderly with odd jobs or much more. It’s a great scheme and we’re aware that we have so many students who want to take part, so we’re always looking at ways to expand the provision. For now though, well done to those involved!

Finally, maybe you’re not a teacher but quite fancy working in a school? If so, why not work at MHS? We’re an ambitious and positive place to work, and there are always opportunities for a wide range of roles. If you’ve thought about working in a school and making a difference but not known what jobs might be available, then come along to our drop in recruitment event on Monday 16th June, details here! MHS Recruitment Event – Marple Hall School

Have a great weekend,

Joe Barker