Dear Parents/Carers
It gives me great pleasure to write to you at the end of another very successful and productive term. The release of national school performance data from the Department for Education (DfE) has further confirmed the successes of our 2018 GCSE results. They acknowledge strong performances in Maths, History, Geography and ICT; Pleckgate pupils are amongst the best mathematicians in the country. I am very proud of the education we provide for all our young people and the acknowledgement of this by the DfE is testament to the hard work of both staff and pupils in school.
We celebrate so much success in school and recently the RE department was awarded the Gold Quality Mark in recognition of the strengths of the subject. RE was described by the assessors as playing a ‘pivotal role’ in school with pupils having the opportunity to explore a range of faiths and opinions. This term pupils have been involved in theatre visits, sporting events, super learning days as well as working with other schools to develop collaborative projects. I hear so many positive comments about your children and the great ambassadors they are for the school; they support each other and are developing as exceptional, confident young people.
I am especially pleased with how our year 7 pupils have settled into school life and are thriving. The number of parents choosing Pleckgate has significantly increased yet again and initial projections from admissions suggests this number will continue to grow next year, a sign that Pleckgate is once again the school of choice for our community.
You may be aware that the school is due an inspection from Ofsted, and everyone is excited to have the opportunity to demonstrate the large number of successes Pleckgate has achieved over the last three years. As part of our preparations, I would value parents logging on to the Ofsted Parent View website at https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/ to share your views and experiences of the school. There is no more important, supportive voice than that of parents/carers in showing how far the school has come.
As always, I am thankful for your support in continuing to help us by guiding your children to show respect for our school ethos of Aspire & Believe, Act & Succeed. I would also be grateful if you would ensure that your children arrive to school on time, wear the correct uniform and school shoes, not trainers. We have been re-iterating the importance of regular school attendance and punctuality through assemblies, exploring the strong relationship between regular attendance and excellent results. We value your support re-enforcing this message with your children in the New Year. Please also find attached to this communication some updated important guidance on what to do if your child has an appointment during the school day.
A final reminder that school will close for the Christmas break on Friday 21st December 2018 at 12:10pm and we will re-open to pupils on Tuesday 8th January 2019 at 8:20am.
I wish you a peaceful break and best wishes for the New Year.
Mark Cocker
Headteacher
