Denefield Blog

Confidence

• Mrs L Hillyard
• 10 February 2017

Confidence

As the half term draws to a close we celebrate all that has been achieved this term. Students who have taken their PPEs (pre-public examinations) are now fully equipped to make that final push towards the summer examinations knowing their strengths and areas of improvement. I say to students all the time that there is no luck involved in succeeding at school. There is a strong link between hard work and good grades and all of them can achieve great things if they are prepared to put the work in.

Let them sleep while you grind. Let them party while you work. The difference will show.

Although a break is important when the term ends, it is crucial that all Year 11, 12 and 13 students have a clear study programme to assist them with the development of their knowledge and understanding in preparation for the next term, when some GCSEs actually begin.

The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there.

As you will be aware, at the end of each term we have a house activity and celebration assemblies. In October I reported that we had asked students to design an anti-bullying logo which would ultimately be placed on the side of the gym opposite our new ‘grab-and-go’ kiosk, as a giant mural. I am delighted to inform you that our winner Caitlin in Year 11 has been working hard with Mr Nicholls and other colleagues in the Art Department and it should be ready to go up by Easter. It is a fabulous achievement and a piece of work which epitomises the attitudes and values that we expect every member of this school community to adhere to.

I am sure that you are continuing to follow our Acts of Kindness, which after half term will involve collecting donations for Berkshire Women’s Aid, whilst during the week beginning Monday 27 February, students will volunteer to read to children at our local primary schools as we lead up to World Book Day on Thursday 2 March.

Finally, a huge thank you to all of our parents/carers who attended the Parents’ Forum on Tuesday 7 February. The follow up from the October forum in particular where parents/carers offered strengths and areas to improve under key headings was, I hope, useful and gave you the opportunity to hear more closely our responses to areas of concern, and how we aim to address these issues in the future. For those parents/carers who were unable to attend, please find the ‘you said, we did’ document on our website under ‘Parents/Parents Forum/You said, we did’.

I wish all students a very happy half term and I look forward to them returning on 20 February 2017.

Dates for your diary:

Uniform sales event – Community Room                  Wednesday 22 February, 5.00pm – 7.00pm
Year 10 history London Dungeons visit                    Thursday 23 February
School Show                                                                 Wednesday 1 – Friday 3 March
Year 11 Science ISAs                                                   Wednesday 1 March
World Book Day                                                           Thursday 2 March

Miss L A Dawe
Headteacher

Return to blog