Friday 24 October 2014

Headteacher's first blog of 2014 - 15

Headteacher’s Blog
October 2014 

Dear Parents/Carers/Guardians

Welcome to my first blog of this academic year and what an exciting start to the new school year it has been! I have attached a copy of our 2013-2014 Highlights booklet and we are already planning for 2014-2015 to be another year to remember. The 2014 Governor’s Awards Evening, which was held at Selby Abbey on the 15th October 2014 was a truly glittering occasion and wonderful showcase for everything we hold dear at Selby High School. As you will have seen from the news feed on the school’s website our students are, once again, doing some great things, so the 2015 Governors’ Awards are set to be yet another spectacular evening!

 Our new Student Guidance Base; “The Gibson Guidance Centre”, will be opening straight after half-term. The official opening of this £250k facility is currently being planned to take place in December 2014. The centre is to be named after the school’s Chair of Governors, Mr Grant Gibson who in his ten years fulfilling that role has provided so much support to our young people to ensure that they make informed and correct decisions. 
  
I would like to thank you for your support in getting the new school year off to such a fantastic start. The uniform standards have been excellent and students have, therefore, avoided unnecessary punishments, which deflect us from our main purpose of everyone securing top class results and achieving their full potential. Thank you for your support in ensuring your child(ren) are properly turned out for school, together with being ‘keen to treat others just like they would wish to be treated themselves’; a simple phrase, but such an important one for Selby High School. Moreover, students’ behaviour for learning needs to be such that it allows both them and their fellow students to make the maximum progress possible.

We send a large number of emails and letters including numbered ones out to parents, carers and guardians, but any communication system will only work well if people regularly check their messages. In this regard I should be grateful if you would check your emails at least twice a week, together with following us on Twitter @selbyhigh. The hyperlink to the school’s website is:




Top class home/school communications are critical so why not write a note to your child’s Form Tutor or Head of House to let us know what is going well or areas of concern that you may have. In addition, please use the Student Planner to provide a written explanation of any absences, but please also telephone the school on the first day of absence to let us know:


Telephone Number: 01757-703327 and select the option for reporting a student absence


I look forward to seeing you at the Consultation Day for Parents’/Carers’/Guardians’ on Tuesday 16th December 2014. Don’t forget to book your appointment between 9.36am and 7.36pm, when the slips are issued. The length of appointments will be twelve minutes. 



In addition, the following are important dates for your diary.


Monday 3rd November - School re-opens

Monday 3rd November – Friday 14th November – Year 11 mock examinations
Tuesday 11th November – Tuesday 18th November – Book Fair in LRC
Tuesday 2nd December – Year 11 Parents Evening
Thursday 4th December – Year 10 Speed Networking with Industry
Monday 8th & Tuesday 9th December – Seasonal flu immunisations for Years 7 & 8
Thursday 11th December – Year 7 Theatre trip
Friday 12th December – Tracker 1 issued
Tuesday 16th December – Consultation Day
Friday 19th December – School closes for holidays