Dear HP families,

Thank you to all parents and carers who attended our inaugural Pastoral and SEND Open Morning today. The morning provided an opportunity to share how we approach behaviour, attendance, safeguarding, inclusion and SEND. We spoke about our universal offers which are available to every student and our targeted offers which are needs led and allow expert intervention at the right time. Visitors toured a range of lessons and spent time on our Pastoral Corridor where all these teams are located. Attendees completed a feedback form and early responses show that 95% rated the overall effectiveness of our Pastoral and SEND provision as excellent or good. They also said they would recommend our work in this area to other families based on what they saw.

Through the feedback form I asked visitors what they felt we do not share enough with families that they now understand to be a significant strength. A common theme was the scale of our Pastoral and SEND staffing investment. Five out of eleven members of the Extended Senior Leadership Team are dedicated to Pastoral and SEND including a Deputy Headteacher, three Assistant Headteachers and the Director of SEND. We also have two non teaching Deputy Designated Safeguarding Leads and a non teaching Early Help Coordinator. The SEND team consists of three Deputy SENDCOs each with some protected time and a non teaching SEND Administrator. In addition we have twelve Teaching Assistants who support students with SEND in lessons. Alongside this we have five non teaching Behaviour Intervention Officers and four non teaching Attendance Officers. The feedback from the morning made clear that families value the level of expertise and capacity we now have in place.

Last week I wrote about the importance of December attendance. This month can be difficult as patterns of occasional absence become more common. Students sometimes take the odd day off which means that learning time is lost. Every day in December matters at HP. We have enjoyable Christmas events planned for the final week including activities that are always popular with students but our curriculum continues right up to the final day. Any student who has more frequent absences this month will return in January with learning gaps that could have been avoided.

After four years the Year 10 boys rugby team played their final match together this week. The game was played with outstanding sportsmanship and ended in a 32-12 win against GA with Isaac named player of the match. The PE team have enjoyed supporting this group throughout their journey and have spoken about how proud they are of the progress made. We wish them all the best as they move into senior rugby next year.

Next week is Christmas Charity Week. Students will take part in Christmas card writing for local care homes, a crafts fayre, a tombola, Christmas sports games and a cake sale. These events always bring our community together and raise money for good causes.

I wish you all a lovely weekend,

Mr Hudson
Headteacher