Dear all,

Happy New Year!

We’ve hit the ground running, and it was very heartening to see just how many staff and students were genuinely excited to be back to school. We’ve had a fantastic week since.

On Monday, we came together with staff from Henley Bank, Five Acres, and the other Greenshaw Schools in the area for a staff training day. We spent the day working collaboratively with other schools, developing our shared curriculum. This means the lessons our students receive are planned not just by staff at Holmleigh Park, but are constantly being improved by teachers and leaders across the trust.

Year 11 and Year 13 have both had real exams this week. From the students’ reactions, they appear to have gone very well. Lots of students came out beaming, and it was wonderful to hear so many excitedly tell us that they’d just revised the topic which came up last night, or that they’d been to an intervention which had taught them exactly what they needed to know. Both year groups, along with our staff, have been giving up their time to come in for 7:45 warm ups, and staying in interventions until 17:00, and it’s really having an impact. I’m excited to receive the results and to see the progress from last year.

Behaviour has also been exceptional this week; we have considerably fewer detentions, OSP referrals and exclusions than any other week in our history, and there’s been a lovely calm and positive atmosphere around the school all week, which a number of visitors have commented on. 

We’ve had a great week of rugby, with Year 7 and 8 As and Bs winning 3 out of 4 matches against Sir Thomas Rich’s – once again proving our students deserve to be competing with the top grammar schools! I’d also like to congratulate Diontay, Riley and Ethan in Year 11, who have all been selected for Gloucestershire’s Under 16 team, with Riley being chosen as captain. A massive achievement – we couldn’t be more proud of them.

Finally, good luck to Ms Ravenhill, who is competing in the Montane 2020 Spine Challenge – a gruelling 108 mile race along the Pennine Way, over icy mountains and across frozen bogs. A great inspiration for those struggling to bring themselves to revise! You can follow her progress on our school Instagram page. 

Best wishes,

Mr Farmbrough

PS – Earlier in the year, we wrote to you about checking your Free School Meal eligibility online. A number of parents have found they are now entitled to Free School Meals, so if you haven’t already done so, please do check online here: https://www.hphigh.co.uk/fsm