Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you and your families are well.
Easter is fast approaching and it's that time of year where we are focusing on key transition points. Our Year 11s are so close to the start of their GCSEs and are looking forward to starting the next stage of their journey at college or on an apprenticeship. Year 9 have started their options choices and Year 6 will very soon start their induction days with us. Change can be daunting for us all but is also an exciting time. I can sense there is trepidation around transition amongst some of our pupils currently. If your child is worried or anxious about this, please do encourage them to come and talk to us about it. We will do all we can to reassure them that this is perfectly normal, provide them with strategies to overcome these emotions and support them to take the next steps.
Many thanks to those parents and carers who attended our Yr 9 Options evening on Thursday, we hope it was a useful evening and will help inform your child's choices for next year. We have a few members of staff off ill at the moment, apologies for this. If you didn't manage to speak to all the teachers you wanted to, please feel free to email them for advice once they return.
We've now closed our consultation on the use of mobile phones in school, your feedback was most valuable. As a result of your feedback, our research and discussion, we will be moving to mobile lockers once we return from Easter break. All phones will be locked in secure mobile lockers in the morning and will be collected at the end of the day. If the teacher plans for pupils to carry our independent research during their lesson, they will book out a computer suit or laptops. We hope having a digital detox will help to improve pupil focus, engagement, mental health, communication skills and outcomes. I hope you will support us with this.
I have noticed more trainers starting to creep in, we have shared our uniform policy with parents, carers and pupils a number of times. Trainers are not part of our uniform policy, unless there is medical evidence to support this. Once again, here is our uniform policy link. We need your support us with this please. We have given out a large number of new pairs of shoes, please can pupils return these once you have replaced their shoes. If there are financial issues, please do let us know and we will support where we can.
Congratulations to Benji Martin for winning 2 Golds at the British Judo Championships, such a fantastic achievement. Many thanks for all the hard work 'The Judo Company' put in and train so many of our pupils, it's incredible to see so many young people training in the evenings. Well done to our Year 7 Netball Team, this week they played Wellington Academy and won 5-3, still undefeated in the district!
Our wonderful PTA are holding a Jumble Sale in Broughton Village Hall on 22nd March, I hear it's always a brilliant fund raiser. We are hugely grateful to the PTA for supporting Danebury with the funds they raise this year. If you're having a spring clear out, please feel free to send your unwanted items into school in a bag by Friday morning of the 21st March. Items need to be placed on the stage and will be transported on the afternoon of the 21st March. All proceeds will go towards improving the children's experiences at school.
Have a good weekend when it arrives.
Warm wishes,
Nicky Goodridge, Head of School
