WLD Update Sunday 29th October 2019

Close to the start of the new school year, I have some concerns about homework which I am with raising staff, students and parents/carers. We are very clear about our reasons for setting homework - they are described on the website here and we publish our homework policy for each subject here.  Fundamentally, students are not going to succeed at GCSE level unless they have the ability to study independently outside lessons.  They need to build up their skills throughout their time at school. We value all the things that our young people do outside school, but some time each day must be set aside for study.  National research in the UK says that completion of homework helps secondary students achieve.  We have found at the start of this year that some students are finding it hard to get into the pattern of regular study at home.  I am insisting that teachers set regular homework according to their departmental policy; please can I ask you, as parents and carers, to ensure that your son or daughter completes their homework and any independent study that they need to do each evening and at the weekend.

On a more cheerful note, the Macmillan Coffee "morning" - which lasted in various forms all day - was a huge success.  The cakes that were entered for the MFL Languages Week cake competition were absolutely amazing!  Have a look at some of the photos here...

As always, please keep an eye on the school calendar - it contains some "internal" school events as well.  Please note that our "Introduction to GCSE evening" for Year 10 is on Wednesday (2nd October) - the invitation letter is here. 

Our Career of the Week is "Robotics Engineer" and our weekly student bulletins are now on the website here...

Have a great week!

James Harris

Headteacher