Head Teacher’s Update - January 2024
Dear Parents & Carers,
We’ve now come to the end of our first week back and it’s been lovely to have the students back with us! Every teaching session a member of SLT circulates the school to ensure all students are in class and focussed on their learning. It has been a real pleasure to see how polite and well-mannered the students are. Every lesson begins with a ‘do now’ task which gets students focussed from the start and our students know their routine and get straight on to the task!
We welcomed some new staff members this term: Miss Stone, our new social sciences teacher; Mr Nightingale, our humanities teacher; Mrs Parry, our science teacher; Mrs Dimmock, a new LSA. We also welcomed Mrs Bell, our new business manager. This is Mrs Bell’s third school and she’s commented on how polite and well behaved the students are. All credit to our families!
We’re looking forward to this term and thank you for your continued support.
Best wishes
Francis Murphy & The Team
Equipment
Some of our students have returned to the term with no equipment. It is essential our students have the tools to access the learning. Please can you ensure your child has a pencil case with all the correct equipment. Some of our Y11 students have started their term without a pen; we really need to ensure they have the equipment they need to prepare them for their GCSEs. One of our values is ‘Success’ and this can only be achieved if students have everything they need to begin with.
School bag - an appropriate size to carry the required equipment and protect a Chromebook. (A small purse or handbag is not appropriate.)
A Chromebook (please click here for more information.)
Pens & pencils for writing
Coloured pens/pencils
Ruler
Eraser
Pencil sharpener
Scientific calculator
Geometry kit (protractor & compass)
Reading book
Reusable water bottle - our canteen no longer sells plastic bottles of water.
New Head of Behaviour, Culture and Safeguarding
Mrs Elmes, the new assistant head teacher joined us in January. This is a new role to the school to lead on Behaviour, Culture and Safeguarding. Mrs Elmes has a wealth of experience and was engaged with the Behaviour Hubs (centres of expertise) in her previous role. We’re really pleased that she’s on the team! Mrs Elmes is also leading on culture and hopes to really raise the celebration of students and their achievements, making behaviour points more meaningful to the students. It’s something that’s really important to Fremantle and in line with our new school values.
School Visits
We’re starting to plan next year’s visits and you’ll see some correspondence coming soon about what’s on offer. We know this was big on your feedback and we want to improve on this. We’re currently reviewing options for Y8 as they didn’t get the experience last year.
Y11 Parents Evening
Thank you to all the families that joined us for the parent consultation evening. There was a real sense of community and so many teachers spoke to me about how well it went with you! Thank you for joining us! It means a lot to us!
Safeguarding.
Here is an update of the relevant staff members should you have a concern. There are additional details on our website as well.
Communication with the school team.
It’s rare I have to raise this but there have been some recent interactions both in person and online that have affected our team. Our reception team work wonders with families and it is disheartening to hear they’ve experienced aggressive tones and interactions. We also advise that online forums are not the best way to solve matters – speaking to us is.
This is our school – yours and the team. Civil, polite and understanding interactions gets the best out of people – aggression and intimation rarely does.
Attendance
Here’s the update of the latest attendance data. A reminder that those with 95% attendance exceeded their GCSE targets. Those with low attendance received much lower grades than expected.
Upcoming Key Dates