Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy New Year to you and your family and I hope 2026 has started well for you! I am writing to share a number of updates with you:

We hereby declare …

… our Community Kitchen open! Yesterday morning saw the ribbon-cutting ceremony by none other than Prue Leith who complimented us on the design and execution of a ‘proper teaching kitchen’.There are few activities that are as communal as the experience of preparing and sharing food together so we would like to thank everyone who contributed: I would like to particularly thank River Learning Trust, Evenlode Investment, our PTA and my predecessor Barry Doherty who – together with our School Business Manager Louise Trimmer – saw this through from dream to reality. I look forward to sharing images of this fantastic space in action with you in future letters.

Behaviour Framework

In our continued effort to share relevant information with you, we have extended our use of SatchelOne: You can now see ‘Behaviours’, logged by staff (alongside Homework, Detentions, Rewards Points and Badges). Where behaviours trigger a detention, these will be set by your child’s Senior Pastoral Lead so appear in their name. However, please refer to the initial behaviour that led to this consequence for background information.

Uniform consultation

Thank you to all parents who have completed our Uniform consultation. We are in the final stages of confirming the changes for next academic year and I will share the outcome in my letter next Friday 16 January.

‘Doing the right thing when no one is looking’

I have started 2026 with a series of Values Assemblies to all year groups this week. The purpose of these is to widen students’ understanding and application of our four values in a regular school day. Our aim is that all our students leave as compassionate, curious, creative and courageous young adults, able to navigate the widest possible range of social situations and make good decisions for themselves and others. We are reviewing our curriculum offer regarding personal development as we would like to include the ambitions of staff, students and parents/carers. To this end, I would like to invite you to complete this brief survey which requires one response only to the following stimulus:

What behaviours would you like your child to leave school with? For example, what scenarios or social situations would you like them to be able to navigate confidently?

Please complete this survey by Friday 16 January. The same question has been sent to students via SatchelOne so please discuss this question with your child as well.

Stay warm and safe this weekend!

Yours faithfully,
Bertram Richter
Headteacher

Key dates:

Mon 12 Jan       Extra Time Clubs start (10 x weeks)

Tue 13 Jan        GCSE exam evening for parents (Y11 parents only) – 6pm

Thu 15 Jan        Y11 Parents Evening

Thu 22 Jan        Y13 Parents Evening

Wed 4 Feb        KS3 Solo Evening

Thu 5 Feb         Year 9 Options Evening

Fri 13 Feb         Non-uniform day

Thu 26 Feb       Mental Health Support Evening