Welcome back everyone to what I am certain will be a very busy term.

I hope that everyone managed to have a break over Easter. I am aware that many staff work on our holiday clubs and I’ve been told that the Easter club was very successful. It is interesting to note that the numbers accessing our holiday clubs continue to rise; there was a higher uptake at Hollinwood Academy this time which is very encouraging. We see a real, clear relationship between academic achievement and full engagement in school life – in a nutshell, the children and young people who come to our after school clubs, go on residentials, attend holiday clubs and participate in lunch time clubs make better overall academic progress. Our hypothesis is that these children and young people are able to develop better relationships with the adults working with them. As all of these activities are supported by staff from our Group, we believe that the sense of trust our children have in the staff transfers into engagement and so improves their academic attainment.

Life within the Group starts to become even busier in the summer months. We’ve got transition visits, exams, residentials, parents’ evenings, coffee mornings, Duke of Edinburgh’s events and expeditions, school shows, sports days, visits, school celebrations, record of achievement ceremonies and the prom to name but a few!

As always, we will do our best to keep you informed but if we miss anything or you would like to pop in and see us, our door is always open.

Have a great weekend,

Graham