Dear HP families,

As we reach the end of what has been an excellent first half-term, I want to thank students, families and staff for helping establish such a strong foundation for the year ahead. Over the past eight weeks, our community has shown real focus and commitment, setting the tone for another successful year at HP.

As we keep looking forward to bigger and better things, it is also important to pause and reflect on the incredible progress that has been made here in recent years. In October 2023, we were rated Good in all areas by Ofsted. In our pilot inspection last week, although there were no judgements, inspectors gave us very positive feedback about the quality of our provision. In 2022, HP was the tenth most improved in the county for GCSE results. In both 2023 and 2024, our Year 11 students achieved progress above the national average, and in 2025 we celebrated our best ever A Level results, with one in two grades at A* to B. We are also proud to be the only comprehensive in the region where every student takes part in structured extracurricular activities through our Wednesday afternoon Enrichment programme. Over the past two years, whole school attendance has risen by 2.5 percent, which I think is a great reflection of how our students feel about HP.

There is still much to do, and we remain fully committed to driving HP towards excellence over the next few years. One of our biggest priorities this year is expanding our staffing provision within the SEND Department to best meet the needs of all our students. Our SEND provision was praised in both our October 2023 Ofsted inspection and again in last week’s pilot visit, but we know there is always more we can do. To strengthen this area, we have appointed three internal Deputy SENCOs: Mrs Daniell, Ms Connelly and Mrs Bows. This expansion means we can deliver the most thorough SEND review system we have ever had, ensuring every SEND student receives multiple reviews of their support across the year. One of these reviews includes a face-to-face parents evening appointment with a member of our SEND team, which we were pleased to offer for the first time at last night’s Year 7 Parents Evening.

Another major focus this year is stretching and challenging our high prior attaining students to achieve our best ever proportion of 7+ grades. Over the past three years, our Year 11s have achieved more 4+ grades than the national average, but we also want to ensure students aim even higher to keep every opportunity open for the future. Year 11 students have already completed over 700 hours of Champions Hours this year and will hear more about our plans for them at the start of Term 2 as we prepare for mock exams.

This week’s highlights include 359 students voting in our House Charity election, one of the most attended Fun Friday events yet. Our new house charities are Meteor – The Pied Piper Appeal, Typhoon – Kingfisher Treasure Seekers, Hurricane – The Willow Trust and Javelin – Gloucestershire Bundles. Our Animal Care Club enjoyed an excellent Enrichment visit to New Start Cat Rescue, and today we inducted over 750 new HP Heroes – more than last year.

I wish you all a lovely half-term break,

Mr Hudson
Headteacher