Dear all,

We have had a very positive first week at HP. A particular mention to our Year 11 and Year 13 students who have come back from the Easter holidays with exactly the right mindset heading into their exams. It is crucial that this is now sustained over the coming weeks to ensure their future success. Our Year 10 vocational subject students have also been applying themselves well in their coursework lessons as they approach upcoming deadlines.

Since the Easter holidays we have changed our parental communications from Edulink to the My Child At School [MCAS] app. MCAS allows you to report absences and view key information like your child's timetable and attendance. We will use the app for most communication and alerts. To get set-up on the MCAS app you need to visit https://www.hphigh.co.uk/mcas which has all the relevant information. The MCAS app will grow in functionality and capability over time as we fully integrate it with all of our processes within school. 

We have accumulated a lot of unclaimed lost property since September. It is stored just behind Reception and students are able to go and check it at breaks and lunches. Because of the sheer amount of unclaimed items that we now possess, we will have to give to anything that remains unclaimed to charity at the end of term. Please can you tell your child to check the lost property section if they have had any item go missing.

As many of you will be aware, this year we have been running a bus service in conjunction with John Dix. As a school, we know public transport in Gloucester has not been without its issues over the past year, so we wanted to give families the opportunity to use this service instead. Unfortunately, uptake has not been very high, and as a result, we have had to subsidise the service heavily. As we become the school of choice in the area, more and more of our families live within walking distance of the school and demand is set to fall again next year. As a result, we are unfortunately unable to continue to offer this service from September. We appreciate this will cause some inconvenience for families, for which we apologise, but it is simply unsustainable for us.

Finally, per Mr Farmbrough’s email earlier this week, please note that the next two weeks see two further days of planned industrial action which will take place on Thursday 27th April and Tuesday 2nd May. We are prioritising the following groups:

• Students with public exams this summer (Year 11 and Year 13)
• Looked After Children
• Students with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)
• Children of critical workers

All other students (i.e. most of Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12) should remain at home. Remote learning will be set via Google Classroom. 

I wish you all a lovely weekend,

Mr Hudson
Head of School