Headteacher’s update
Good afternoon Stanley Families
Happy first Friday in March. I believe there is a cold snap on the way however, I believe the additional daylight creeping in makes up for many things. Thank you for the support regarding the industrial action that took place this week. We have two more scheduled days on 15th and 16th March 2023.
I will update families prior to this date as to the actions School will have to take.
I must start off with congratulating the Year 10 students who have begun their first round of mock examinations so very well. They have had a mature and positive attitude to a daunting set of examinations. Please be mindful that if you are a parent of a Year 10 student, they will be tired over the next few weeks, they will doubt themselves and they may have a wobble. Students are familiar with doing assessments but not on this scale, as we start to build up their stamina for the real examinations. We will always remember that your children’s achievements are more than grades on a paper, which is why we firstly celebrate their maturity and attitude. Over the next weeks we will taylor seating plans and any access arrangements to ensure children get the correct elements of what they need, to be successful.
Year 11 are back in classrooms full time and, I believe, enjoying knowing that they are no longer in a mock examination window.
Huge and positive news this week comes after National offer day. I am pleased to tell you that next year our school will, once again, be oversubscribed. This means we have waiting lists of students in our community who want to be at Stanley High School. Thank you to you, your children and our staff for making us a school of choice and a school that always wants to aim for success for all.
With so much positivity there are always some things we can improve on. This is a significant one. Unfortunately, we have seen a few incidents recently where students have been using discriminatory language towards each other. We expect all our students to feel safe and happy at school. Once a student feels safe and happy, they can learn and be amazing. Please talk to your children about anything they may hear or anything they may say themselves. The more we know, the better we can expose and tackle any problems we have. Often we find that children do not take the time to consider the devastating and hurtful connotations of the language they use towards each other. Together we must educate them and ensure they understand the pain they may be causing others. Often, until we tackle this head on, we will not change anything for our young ones. Our form time and assembly work is tailored towards the personal development of the child and a key focus at the moment is equality, inclusion, diversity and tolerance. Children who, once educated, continue to target others with hate will receive ever increasing sanctions, as we will not tolerate discrimination in our school. This could lead to the permanent exclusion of a child. Families of both parties would be included here, as this is a community effort to get it right.
Finally, we are looking forward to seeing the families of our Year 8 students next Thursday for Consultation Evening, please ensure you have booked your appointments. For some Year 7 families this is the penultimate weekend to be prepared for our Colomendy trip taking place in two weekends time. I am looking forward to a weekend away with over 100 of our littlest ones.
Mrs J Shawe
Headteacher