Head’s Blog: Always Improving

Schools are busy places and, because we are publicly funded, our resources are often stretched. In an ideal world we would have more staff, money and time to support students, but we do not live in an ideal world. In this context, It can be easy for a school to just cope from day to day without looking to the future. However, at Fearnhill we know that every day, we need to work collectively and individually to always improve.

Staff recruitment
In the past few weeks we have been proactive in securing the best teachers for September. At present we have filled four vacancies with strong candidates – Associate Assistant Headteachers responsible for English and science, a modern foreign languages teacher and an additional maths teacher to increase capacity. We have no outstanding vacancies for September at present. This is good news given how challenging the national picture is for teacher recruitment. We have also been able to increase capacity in the inclusion department with additional inclusion leaders so that learners with a special educational need or disability are more likely to get the support they need.

Improving finances
For a number of years Fearnhill’s financial situation has been challenging due to historic reputational challenges and reduced numbers of students on roll. In the last five years, as the school’s reputation has improved, the
number of students on roll has increased by nearly 50% and this means that the school’s financial position has improved. This means that we can look to make significant improvements. As we approach the end of the financial year in a healthy position, we are reviewing how we can make the learning environment better for our students and I will keep you updated with this.

Students improving too
I am delighted to see clear evidence of students improving their attitude towards learning. This is most notable in our current homework completion rates, which show a much higher proportion of students are completing all of the homework they are set. Students have completed hundreds of hours of additional homework between them. This is a surefire way to ensure better achievement in the long run.

Year 11 students have now started after school revision sessions three times a week. Over 90% of students have opted in to attend these sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. The conscientious attitude of students towards this additional study has been inspiring and will help each of them to perform better in their exams.

Uniform
Uniform is an area that does require further improvement from students. Too many students do not make a reasonable effort to adhere to our uniform expectations. I will be writing to parents shortly to explain how and
why we will be looking to improve uniform standards.

Ultimately, it is our shared belief as teachers, that high performance is always the result of a daily commitment to improvement. Even though this can be tiring at times, it is worth it in the end. If you ever have
thoughts on how we can improve further, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Tim Spencer, Headteacher