So near…

As we reach the end of a busy and purposeful half term, I wanted to take a moment to look back on the past few weeks. Our Year 11 students deserve particular praise. Their approach to the recent trial exams has been outstanding: calm, focused and mature. Seeing the students in action it was clear just how seriously they are taking this important stage of their school journey, and staff have been genuinely impressed with their determination. Massive thanks too to all my colleagues who will be dedicating hours of time, often over the coming break, marking and preparing to give high quality feedback to students when we return.

Likewise, a huge well done to our Year 9 linguists, who tackled their own assessments with real positivity. Languages can be a challenge, but the effort and ambition shown by so many students has been a real highlight of the term. As ever, none of this happens in isolation. My thanks go to parents and carers for the encouragement, patience and support you provide at home. It makes an enormous difference which we never take it for granted.

Finally, because no half‑term would be complete without at least one setback, our brand new toilet block in the brand new Oakwood building enjoyed a magnificent two‑hour opening on Thursday… before an unexpected water issue forced an abrupt closure. A textbook case of “so near and yet so far”… but we’ll get there!

Have a restful break,

Joe Barker

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