Headteacher's Update - 4th October

Dear Parents and Carers,

It’s hard to believe quite how quickly the start of term has flown by. We are only a few weeks in, but already the school is full of energy, purpose and positivity. It has been lovely to see our students settling so well into their routines and approaching their learning with such enthusiasm and engagement.

I would like to thank everyone who took part in our recent Personal Planning and Reflection Event. It was wonderful to see so many parents and carers in school, taking the time to be part of these important conversations. As a new initiative, there is still plenty for us to learn and refine, but the overwhelming feeling from students, families and staff has been that this is a valuable opportunity for us to get to know our students even better and to support them as individuals. Thank you for embracing the event and helping to make it such a success.

We also enjoyed a fantastic Open Evening recently. It was a real pleasure to see so many of our students looking incredibly smart and representing the school so proudly as they guided prospective students and their families around the site. They welcomed visitors into classrooms, introduced them to staff and helped showcase everything that makes Crofton such a special place to learn. Their pride in the school was tangible, and the feedback we received from visitors was overwhelmingly positive. As always, our students are such great ambassadors for Crofton School!

Over the past couple of weeks, GCSE Music students have been fortunate enough to enjoy a very special experience when they welcomed the Band of His Majesty's Royal Marines into school for a private concert. It was an inspiring opportunity and a real coup for Crofton. We are incredibly proud of our connections with our military friends and neighbours, who do so much to support the school and enrich the experiences available to our students.

Recently, I was also delighted to present certificates to Lola D and Charlie W, who successfully achieved their King's Trust Level 1 Resilience Qualification. Their commitment, determination and positive attitude throughout the programme have been truly inspiring. Congratulations to both Lola and Charlie on this fantastic achievement.

Our governing body, known as the Academy Committee, is currently looking to recruit a new Parent Governor. This is a fantastic opportunity to support our school, contribute to our strategic direction and help shape our future. Further information will be circulated shortly, and I would encourage anyone interested to consider getting involved.

In addition, we are looking to recruit some further co-opted Academy Committee members. These individuals do not need to be parents and instead bring valuable perspectives from business and the wider community. If you know someone who may be interested in supporting the school in this way, we would be very pleased to hear from them.

Finally, I would like to thank the many parents and carers who took the opportunity during the Personal Planning and Reflection Event to join our conversation about school uniform and the length of the school day. These were thoughtful and helpful conversations. To broaden that discussion further we will shortly be sending out a couple of online surveys to gather views from the wider school community. I really do value your views, so please look out for these and contribute if you can.

It is important to stress that no decisions have been made regarding either of these areas. We are very much in the early stages of fact-finding and simply want to understand the views of students, parents, carers and staff before considering whether any future changes might be appropriate. There are no immediate plans for change, and we are certainly not looking at anything that would create additional costs for families.

Thank you, as always, for your ongoing support, partnership and commitment to our school community. It's great to know that we can work together with the same goal, to create a learning environment in which all of our young people can thrive.

With kind regards,

Mark Palmer