Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope all is well with you. 

I'm delighted to share some exciting updates and reflections from our recent Trust School Improvement Review and the vibrant activities happening across our school and beyond the classroom this week. 

Our recent Trust School Improvement Review highlighted several areas of strength that I'm particularly proud to share. 

        Areas of strength 

• Across the school, a coherent vision for reading is developing, with leaders investing in whole-school CPD to ensure consistent use of reading scaffolds such as visualisers, overlays, reading rulers, and explicitly taught vocabulary. Staff have been equipped with shared templates—including Frayer models—and pupils confirm that visualisers, coloured overlays and reading rulers are regularly used and helpful, demonstrating improving consistency in classroom practice. 

• Whole-class reading routines (“reading once for meaning and twice for understanding”) are becoming established expectations, and lesson visits—particularly in English—show teachers modelling these routines effectively using the agreed scaffolds. 

• Reading is becoming increasingly embedded across the curriculum through Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary instruction, the use of knowledge organisers, and subject-specific pre-teaching of key terms. 

• The school has a clearly defined identification process using reading ages, SAS and Stanine scores, and further diagnostics such as decoding assessments. Interventions are well-matched to needs, including Little Wandle phonics, CODE for decoding, and reciprocal reading for fluency and comprehension. Leaders track progress for pupils in interventions and use AR assessments termly to monitor impact. 

• What emerged strongly from the discussion is the positive culture of collaboration and professional generosity between middle leaders, who highlighted the effective sharing of best practice and consistent messaging through the phased implementation of the "Danebury Way." 

• Lesson Structure: Consistent use of Do Now tasks and mini whiteboards across subjects supports retrieval practice and engagement. 

• Adaptive teaching strategies, including modelling and scaffolding, are evident in most lessons, supporting pupils with additional needs. 

• Cultural capital is prioritised through funded trips and access to core texts for disadvantaged pupils, ensuring equity of opportunity. 

• Safety and Belonging: Pupils consistently report feeling safe and having a strong sense of belonging within the school community. 

• Support and Challenge: Pupils feel supported in lessons, indicating a positive classroom climate. 

• Attendance has shown significant improvement over the past year: Overall absence reduced from 5% below national to 1.6% below national. Persistent absence (PA) decreased from 35% in Summer 2025 to 22% in Autumn 2025, now only 1% above national. 
   
  Areas for Improvements 

• Strengthen pupil understanding of the link between behaviour, learning, and progress to promote self-regulation and responsibility. 

• Engage Parents in Literacy: Explore further strategies to involve parents in supporting reading, writing, and literacy at home, such as workshops, resources, and interactive events. 

• Systems for monitoring curriculum implementation have improved but need continued work to ensure consistency in assessment practices. 

• Impact Data- Embed consistency in data use: While systems have improved, ensure all staff confidently use data to inform teaching and interventions.  

• Develop impact evaluation: Move beyond collection to deeper analysis of trends and triangulation with pupil voice and work scrutiny.  

• Automate reporting: Explore streamlined processes for timely data drops and dashboards to support middle leaders. 

There have been some wonderful moments to celebrate this week. 

• Our pupils delivered exceptional LORIC speeches, showcasing our incredible Danebury Community Spirit. Mixing Years 7-10 for these projects demonstrated remarkable levels of support and collaboration. We are looking forward to our whole school LORIC assembly next Friday, where 10 of the strongest speeches will be presented. This will be narrowed down to the strongest 5 speeches, which will be entered into the Andover Youth Speaks Competition. 

• It was wonderful to see so many parents and carers at our consultation evening on Thursday. Many thanks for your attendance and feedback. 

• Year 9 showed excellent attitudes and problem solving skills during the Army Signals workshops on Thursday. Thanks to Mrs Ablett for organising the events. 

• KS3 pupils had an outstanding team-building day at Tile Barn in the New Forest, challenging themselves and stepping outside their comfort zones. Thanks to Mr Draper and Mrs Elgar for taking the pupils. 

A few important notices for your diary: 

• Thursday 11th December: Stockbridge Cinema Rewards Trip for pupils nominated for Excellence Awards. 

• Monday 15th December: KS3 Christmas Disco (tickets available via QR code; see blog below or on the door) 6:30pm-8:00pm 

• Tuesday 16th December: Christmas Jumper Day/Whole School Christmas lunch. 

• Wednesday 17th December: Danebury Carole Concert at St Michael's Church in Stockbridge (doors open 6:15pm, concert 6:30pm-8:00pm). I highly recommend arriving early to ensure you get a good seat. Once again, the line-up is exceptional! 

• Our wonderful PTA have been busy raising funds to enhance the learning of our pupils. Many thanks for their ongoing support with this. They are still selling raffle tickets, £1 a ticket; prizes include £100 cash, Hamper, days out vouchers, meal for 2, tea for 2 and various gifts. The raffle will be drawn on 15th December. Tickets are on sale from reception.  

• Ordinarily we collect Food Bank items at this time of year and deliver them to the Andover Food Bank. This year we have decided to do this in January. We recognise that people are very generous at Christmas, but Food Banks run low after Christmas. We feel this would be a better time to collect donations. 

I'd like to address a small but important matter regarding our phone policy. We have noticed a few pupils not handing in phones during line-ups. This is against our policy and unfair to those who consistently comply. We will be conducting spot checks, and any phones not handed in will require parent/carer collection from reception. 

The winter flu season is upon us. Unfortunately, a significant number of pupils and staff have been affected by it. We will be putting additional hand sanitisers around the school and employing a cleaner who will be on site during school hours to ensure our facilities are cleaned more regularly.  

Thank you for your continued support and partnership. Have a good weekend. 

Warm wishes 

Nicky Goodridge