Dear Danebury School Community,
I hope you’re well and have had a positive week.
Our School Improvement Priorities for 2025-2026 are focused on four key areas that will drive our continued growth and success:
Priority 1: Curriculum and Teaching
To ensure all teachers use the Danebury Teaching and Learning Principles to strengthen the quality and consistency of their planning, ultimately improving outcomes for all learners.
Priority 2: Attendance and Behaviour
To improve whole-school attendance, with a particular focus on supporting our vulnerable pupils to build a sense of belonging and to meet or exceed National attendance averages.
Priority 3: Achievement
To embed a more robust data-driven approach to identify gaps in learning swiftly and establish targeted interventions to ensure we help pupils to catch up.
Priority 4: Growth and Sustainability
As part of the HISP Trust, we actively enhance and strengthen our partnership work with families, the Local Authority, cluster Primary Schools, the local and the wider community. To build a supportive and sustainable educational environment for future generations to thrive personally and academically at Danebury.
Actions this week
I attended our Trust's Central Team meeting where I shared our Danebury vision and the actions we're taking to grow the school and develop strong, sustainable local partnerships. Over the last 2.5 years I’ve been really excited by the collaborative work across the Trust. These partnerships ensure we look outwardly and provide excellent continued professional development for our staff.
Community engagement continues to be a priority. I recently attended the Parish Council meeting to update them on our school improvement journey. Over the past year, we've successfully opened our school to community sports clubs, with our facilities booked every evening. I'm excited to explore expanding this by offering evening classes in Art, Textiles, Drama, Music, Cookery, and Design and Technology. If you know anyone interested in running such classes, please ask them to contact us at office@danebury.hispmat.org.
We're also working towards enhancing our sports facilities. By the end of next year, I hope to have a 4G all-weather pitch in place – a wish list item from our School Council that I believe will benefit both our pupils and the local community outside of the school day. I'm seeking partners to help secure funding for this project. If you're interested, please email me at goodridgen@danebury.hispmat.org. I’d love to work collaboratively on this project.
We held our termly Governors meeting this week. Prior to the meeting, our Chair, Juliet Lehrle-Fry conducted Safeguarding, Health and Safety, and Careers checks. We're seeking a new Governor as our longest-standing Governor has decided to step down to fully enjoy his retirement. I will send a separate communication next week to advertise this position. As our Governors are all from the world of education, we’d really value the expertise of someone from the business world.
Highlights of the week
Year 11 pupils' impressive performance in their mock exams. They've demonstrated excellence in their first week of mock exams, and we wish them well for next week. On Thursday, they visited The Old Vic Theatre in London to watch "A Christmas Carol". Pupils were spellbound by the magical production, with some even moved to tears by the emotive storyline. Many thanks to Mrs Dunn for organising this trip.
Our Eco Ambassadors helped pupils from Balksbury Infant School plant 120 trees at Bury Hill, thanks to Harmony Woods-Andover Trees and the Rotary Club.
We're also grateful to Paul Kidd from Stockbridge Community Cinema for his very generous donation and free cinema tickets for pupils. This money will help improve our Music Department's resources; new guitars and amps are already on order! Thank you, Paul!
Our wonderful PTA continues to support our school community, funding new wall art for the 'Bronte Zone', a duck pond filter, and new fencing for our animal enclosures for our sheep, goats, ducks and Bubbles the pig, who arrives this week!
The week ahead
Our next Trust School Improvement Review is on Wednesday, focusing on our progress in curriculum, teaching, and whole-school reading strategies. We are excited to have this opportunity to demonstrate progress with the team. I'll share the outcomes next week.
Finally, we're looking forward to our annual GCSE Awards Evening at St. Peter’s Church in Stockbridge, where we'll celebrate and hear about our students' exciting achievements.
As winter approaches, please ensure your child leaves home with their Danebury coat. We had only a handful of pupils without coats when it was -2 on Friday morning, but we do have spares in reception if needed.
Nicky Goodridge
Head Teacher
