I would like to begin by thanking parents for their patience and understanding last Monday when we were dealing with the burst water main and closure on Royal Lane.  Your support is much appreciated.

The term is now in full swing and there is lots going on.  It has been great to drop into lessons and to speak with students about their experiences.  Last week we started our positive notes home, and I hope many of you received these electronic notes saying all the great things your children have been involved in. We will be asking your views on these moving forward as the request for something along these lines came from you.

Next Monday and Tuesday, 26 & 27 January, we have our local authority Peer Review.  This is where we ask colleagues from other local schools to come into Meadow and spend two days with us looking at things we are working on and also sense checking the standards in our school.  We have asked these colleagues to look at our curriculum and student grouping as we move towards two sites from September 2026.  They will also engage in lots of student voice to gather student views of their school.  I will share the main findings with you through the bulletin in future weeks.

We are still keeping our focus on the basics in school as I shared with you last week.  Last week we also shared these new ideas with students and have been using them since then.  In essence, students need to:

• Be Present
• Be Smart
• Be Hard-working
• Be Kind

If students master these small things, then everything else in school tends to take care of itself.  Parents can support these by ensuring students are in school regularly, follow the dress code and are reminded about the basic need to treat others in the way they would wish to be treated. We will speak to students who do not meet these standards and will communicate with you if needed.

Looking ahead for this term, a couple of dates for your diary.  We have a speaker in school on 29th January to speak to targeted students about Holocaust Memorial Week.  Eid looks like being the 19th or 20th March.  Students are entitled to a day off for this important celebration, as are staff.

Finally, for this week we are expecting another cold spell of weather, so please ensure students are wearing appropriate clothing in line with our dress code as they will be outside during the school day.