Dear all,

It was a pleasure to attend the new Hempsted green energy park this morning with two of our Sixth Form leadership team and two Year 9 students. Holmleigh Park was the Gloucester school selected to take part in the inaugural tree planting along with Richard Graham, MP for Gloucester, Sir Alok Sharma, President for COP26, and representatives from the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust. The 360-acre site at Hempsted is planned to feature a solar panel park, biomass generator and composting site. It is part of the Gloucester City Council's plan to make the whole area carbon neutral by 2050. Our students had the opportunity to plant the first trees at the site and ask questions about the future plans. They represented HP superbly and we have been offered the chance to take more of our students to the site to plant additional trees in the future.

This week has seen an increase in our whole attendance. As I wrote to you last week, attendance is absolutely critical. Having above 95% attendance to school is proven to be an important marker for increasing both students' attainment and wellbeing. Being in school means students are up-to-date in their learning, which increases self-confidence, enables them to take part in the widest array of extracurricular activities and to spend time with their peers. We, of course, recognise that there are sometimes exceptional circumstances which prevent a student having an attendance of 95% or higher. However, it is critical that regular attendance to school is recognised as one of our whole school priorities. If there is any further attendance support that we can offer at any point, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Last night we had our Year 7 Parents’ Evening. The attendance was absolutely fantastic and we are very pleased to see so many of our Year 7 families join us to find out initial feedback from teachers and to discover more of what they are learning in lessons. We have been incredibly impressed by the start that Year 7 have made at HP and look forward to what they are going to go on and achieve. Parents’ Evenings are such an important opportunity for us to work in partnership with you. Each year group will have a Parents’ Evening across the academic year, which will take place on a Thursday between 5pm and 7pm. Please can I urge every family to take the opportunity to attend when your child’s turn comes around.

I wish you all a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing our students back on Tuesday 7th November,

Mr Hudson
Headteacher