This year has been a fantastic year in school, capped off with a powerful last week for all pupils including our annual school trek, sports day and Forge Fest 2026. This year we have also added rewards trips to both Bridlington and Matlock Bath for our pupils and I am sure they shall be thoroughly enjoyed. We plan to continue to offer powerful moments for all our school community as we move into September and beyond.

Our school continues to be over-subscribed, taking over 270 pupils into Year 7 and anticipating growing numbers in our Sixth Form. In addition to the building work completed last summer we shall be carrying out more renovations over the summer break. The main work shall be around re-developing our changing facilities in the Sports Hall. This has been an area of school that pupils and students have highlighted to us, and I am delighted that we are able to deliver improved facilities for all returning in September. We are also hopeful of working to further develop our Sixth Form facilities during the next academic year and I shall keep 
families updated on that work as and when it moves forward.

Over the year, a number of children have excelled in many areas of school life. Our pupils have achieved not only at a local level, but also nationally and internationally. This includes our children achieving top awards in dance, cricket, ice hockey, and football.

Throughout this academic year we have raised funds for the Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity, as nominated charity from our pupils and community. We have raised thousands of pounds through collected efforts and events in school and continue with our great work in previous years, leading to awards.

We have 73 pupils signed up to visit Costa Rica with Camps International in 2027 and their fundraising efforts have been great events inside and outside of school. Our Duke of Edinburgh programme continues to go from strength to strength, and we have huge numbers of our community pursuing bronze, silver, and gold awards.

Our Year 10 pupils have been part of a pilot project in use of iPads and ‘PedTech’ in their lessons and at home. This has worked extremely well, feedback from pupils and parents is very strong and the impact on teaching and learning in the classroom has been extremely positive. During the next academic year, we shall consider the impact further and consider how we adopt this within other year groups

I wish to remind all families and pupils about our unchanged mobile phone policy. You shall be aware of the governmental focus on mobile phone use in school and we feel strongly that the mobile phone policy has had a very positive effect on pupils and their well-being whilst in school. Please continue to encourage your child to leave their phone at home. However, having liaised with families last year, please be reminded that the school will only confiscate a phone if it is seen or heard. This policy is committed to the view that pupils should be free from the distraction of mobile phones and the negative impact of social media.

I also think it is important to raise with families some concerns I have over anti-social behaviours in Hillsborough Park especially. This has received recent coverage in BBC News, and I have discussed openly with pupils in assemblies last week. In no way do I raise this to be accusatory, it is not necessarily children of our school community engaging in these behaviours, but I would advise families to be vigilant of behaviours in that area of our community and ensure the safety of our children.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful summer and I look forward to working with you in the next academic year.