The evenings have been very well attended and each has focussed on a different aspect of our pupils’ development: Year 7 on online safety; Year 9 on resilience and our teenagers’ chief preoccupations; and Year 12 on how to make the most of the Sixth Form experience. Parents have then attended a separate meeting with their son or daughter’s Form Tutor, with the opportunity to ask questions.

The Form Tutor is a key figure in your child’s life. They meet with their forms every day and have an overview with the Head of Year of their charges’ academic and pastoral well-being. That relationship is therefore important both to your child and to you - for they are your main point of contact.

Strong, healthy working relationships are at the heart of happiness and success. We all remember as adults those teachers to whom we really looked up and who were great inspirations to us. For me it was one of my English teachers. Yes, he made English lessons fun and interesting, but above all I knew that he cared for me as an individual; he understood what made me tick and he challenged me not only to be an English scholar but also to be a good human being. Relationships are of course two-way, and the best teacher-pupil relationship is based on mutual respect, with an understanding of where the parameters lie. As teachers, we too are inspired and rewarded by pupils who rise with curiosity and enthusiasm to our lessons. We enjoy in our turn being challenged by their questions and we appreciate their ‘Thank you, Miss’ or ‘Thank you, Sir’ as they leave our classroom.

That 2m distance makes it impossible for us to get physically alongside our pupils to support them, but we nevertheless continue to walk with them on their journey through school.

Best wishes,

John Watson
Headmaster and Principal