We’re only a couple of weeks into the new term - and not much further into the New Year – but I have to say that it feels like longer. On Monday 4 January, our whole staff team were meeting (virtually) for an INSET day. We knew it’d be a slightly strange start to the term, we were...

On Remembrance Sunday this year many households stood silently on their doorsteps at 11.00am to remember those who have died in war and today – 11 November 2020 - we came together as a school community at St John’s to remember all who have been lost or affected by conflict through the ye...

At a recent school assembly, I asked our pupils what they would want to have happened in their lives by the age of 25 for them to view it a ‘success’. As a headteacher I probably spend more time than most thinking about the importance of aspiration and working hard to achieve goals. We w...

At the start of every school year, I talk to our pupils on a topic that feels relevant to our community but that also has a wider resonance. This year my start of year assembly was a little different from normal. For a start, I was even more excited than usual to be welcoming pupils to the new acade...

During this strange time, in which teachers and pupils are physically separated, I’ve been starting each week with an assembly delivered by video. It is just one of the ways that we’re creating virtual connections across our school community and, last week, I asked our pupils what they t...