The last six weeks have gone by very quickly and I feel a lot has been achieved over this half-term.

Expectations of students’ behaviour, work and effort are much higher and I can see a tangible difference to learning and progress in every lesson I visit. We will maintain our focus on this area as this is now part of our everyday practice. 

In addition to expecting more from students in lessons, leaders and teachers in College are working to make sure that the level of challenge is high in every lesson too. This means that each lesson has one challenging learning objective, which is aimed at the most able students in every group. We are also catering for every student through making sure activities are appropriately differentiated for all. Our drive, though, is that all students must be challenged to achieve their personal best and we will only accept their very best work. 

In addition to raising standards in the classroom, I also feel that we need to increase our expectations of students’ uniform. I must pre-empt this by saying that the vast majority of students wear their uniform with pride and look incredibly smart. Wearing uniform correctly is key to making sure standards are consistent and we will put strategies in place to improve this where we need to, in a similar way to our new higher standards in classrooms. I will write home to parents about this after half-term.

 Our focus on rewarding students remains a key priority for us. We have recently purchased an online system to reward students called E-Praise. We will roll this out after half-term to students and I am delighted that the student council are involved in selecting how the children be rewarded.

 A final point about safety to and from College. We have made contact with the police about the white van in North Street as per my letter from 2^nd February. Please can I remind you about the need to be vigilant.