Dear HP families,

It has been a wonderful week at HP helped along by some truly beautiful weather. In response, we made blazers optional after morning line up, provided they had been worn to line up smartly. Our students continue to meet our high expectations, and it’s been fantastic to see them enjoying the sunshine on the field during break and lunch. We’ll continue to make weekly decisions about blazer expectations depending on the forecast, and these will be clearly communicated in line up at the start of each week. As the warmer weather continues, please make sure your child brings a water bottle to stay hydrated throughout the day.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our recent parent, student, and staff surveys. We were delighted by the overwhelmingly positive feedback, which reflects the ambition and commitment that runs through our entire HP community. Some of the key highlights include:

• 92% of students, parents, and staff agree that we have high expectations of our students.

• 90% of students, parents, and staff agree that we maintain high standards of behaviour.

• 90% of stakeholders said either they or their child feel safe working at or attending HP.

• 90% of parents and staff said they are proud of HP and would recommend us to others—a clear sign of the trust and shared values we all hold.

We’re proud of this progress, but we’re also committed to improvement. While most students and families reported no concerns in the survey about bullying, we want to make our processes clearer and more consistent. Sadly, peer issues do occur, as they do in all schools, and we want to make sure everyone fully understands the rigorous processes we work through whenever we are made aware of a problem. As part of this, we are currently restructuring our internal processes around this issue and full details will be shared with students and parents in due course. In addition, we are placing a renewed focus on building resilience in students and will be improving access to the Student Hub to help families better support learning and wellbeing at home.

This week also brings news of two exciting appointments in our Performing Arts team. Mr Steve Conway joins HP on 1st June as our new Director of Performing Arts from a secondary school in Somerset. He will be joined by Mrs Rebekah Greenow, who starts full-time in September and is spending a week with us this term to begin the handover. Mrs Greenow currently works at a secondary school in Gloucester and delivered excellent choir sessions to both Year 7 and 8 today. Both have outstanding reputations for delivering high-quality Performing Arts experiences, and we are thrilled to welcome them to the team.

We are also celebrating a number of student achievements. Congratulations to Ella in Year 11, who represented Wales U18s in hockey during a series of matches against Canada U18s over the Easter break. This is an exceptional accomplishment and the whole community is proud of her. Meanwhile, our Year 12 students competing in the Cambridge Biology Challenge have won a trophy for best in category—an outstanding result given the level of competition, which included many grammar and private schools with extensive resources; a fantastic achievement.

Exam season is now well underway. Year 11 students have been completing their French speaking, Art, and Textiles exams this week, and the main GCSE and A Level exam period begin shortly. We are proud of how hard our students have been working, and we wish them all the very best of luck. Staff will be supporting them every step of the way.

Finally, a reminder about attendance. This remains our number one priority this year. Our target is 95% or higher for every student, which we know is key to both happiness and success at HP. Students who have met this benchmark were informed in assembly this morning that they are now members of the HP Hero Club. Those who are not quite there—but could be in time for the big summer reward day—will receive a letter in the post. Please do keep checking attendance regularly on MCAS, and if you have any concerns, speak to your child’s Head of Year.

I wish you all a lovely weekend,

Mr Hudson
Headteacher