Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you are well and have had a good week.
I am delighted to share that pupils and staff have returned to school with renewed energy and positivity. We have had an excellent start to 2026. Attitudes and behaviour for learning have been great and pupils have shown kindness to each other.
In my whole school assembly this week, I centred discussions around building positive learning habits alongside resilience. I shared a concept about 'The Learning Space' between not-knowing and knowing, exploring how frustrating and challenging it is for us all when we are in this space. I explained how tolerating and getting used to this space builds resilience over time. This visual helps explain the concept.
In order to support pupils in ‘The Learning Space’, I have challenged staff to plan more opportunities for pupils to apply their knowledge and skills independently, ensuring pupils build their resilience by getting used to this feeling. Staff will ensure they make adaptations to support all pupils to build their resilience.
On the subject of resilience and independence, I wanted to give a special shout out to last year's Year 11 pupils, who are doing so well on their post-16 journeys. This week, I received the Annual Activity Survey from Hampshire County Council, which shares comparative data on the destinations of all pupils across Hampshire six months after leaving their school. This provides a valuable benchmark for us and demonstrates the quality of careers advice received at Danebury over time. Well done Class of 2025, nearly 7% above the Hampshire average!
Some important notices for our community:
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Year 11 will start their Mock Interviews next week. We have arranged for a range of professionals to come in and lead these interviews to ensure we prepare Year 11 for their college, apprenticeship, and job interviews in the near future.
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I welcome open and honest conversations with parents and carers. If you feel strongly about the decisions made as to how the school is run, please do get in touch. I’d much prefer to have face to face meetings to discuss decisions and contexts, as opposed to using other platforms.
Staff updates:
One of our Site Team, Mr Filippa, has decided to retire at the end of this term and is phasing parts of his job out. As a result, we are recruiting a new minibus driver for an hour before and after school (full training will be given).
We are also recruiting for an additional Learning Support Assistant to expand our Danebury Inclusion team.
If you know anyone interested in these roles, please ask them to contact office@danebury.hispmat.org or check our website for more details.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership with our school community.
Nicky Goodridge
Head Teacher
