Letter from the Headteacher
Dear Parent( s)/ Carer( s)
The end of the academic year is fast approaching … again! It does not seem a full year ago that I wrote to you at the end of the Summer 2015 term. This year has been another incredibly busy one at Heritage High School as we have sought to challenge all of our students and offer a number of out of classroom experiences too.
This summer has seen not just one but two cultural residential European visits. The first was the ever popular and extremely successful annual Spain trip, where students experienced life in Barcelona and its surrounding areas. Having seen the video footage of the visit that one of our enterprising students produced it was clear that all the students had a great time. In addition our rearranged trip to France included a visit to Versailles, a river trip along the Seine and a visit to Disneyland Paris. On both of these important trips staff leaders were consistently given praise by the public on the exemplary conduct of our students, and it is a real pleasure to be able to pass on this feedback to parents to show that they are a credit to you and your families. This summer also sees a small cohort of Heritage High School students taking part in a visit to Namibia with students and staff from a number of schools across the county. We wish all of our intrepid explorers well!
We have been working exceptionally hard to prepare our Year 11 students for their GCSE exams which were sat during May and June. This cohort of students have been really focussed on their work and eager to perform as well as they possibly can. The year group celebrated in style at the Ringwood Hall Hotel for their prom at the end of June where all of the students really looked the part! We all hope that they get the results that they deserve in August, and we wish them every success as they take their next steps into education or the world of work.
Our Year 10 students have all been busy in the world of work too through this term, as the year group completed a two week work experience programme. Again, the programme has proved a real success for the students with many positive comments coming from employers about how well students have applied themselves. Indeed, a number of students have even secured part-time jobs as a result of their hard work!
The end to this term shows no let up. We have undertaken a major change in how we deliver the curriculum through the end of this term with the aim of improving the start to the next academic year and giving a more purposeful start to the next year’ s learning. On Monday 4th July we have moved all students onto their next academic year timetable, and straight into the next year’ s lessons which gives a significant head-start on their learning. In addition, instead of having our incoming Year 7 students with us for a mere two days of transition we have welcomed them to us for the full last two weeks of term. In this time they have met their new form tutors and started to find their way around the school by following their new Year 7 timetables straightaway. All of the new Year 7 students have settled well and been a real credit to their parents and primary schools too. Well done year 7!
To bring the term and year to a celebratory close we hold our annual sports day on the final Thursday of term( weather permitting). This is always a day which brings out the spirit of teamwork and competition, and is always a huge success. The final day of term then sees students staying in their House bases for the day to participate in inter-House activities and celebration assemblies.
Mr R Marlow Headteacher
We also say farewell to a number of staff this year, some of whom are taking retirement and some of whom are moving onto new challenges. We wish them well in their new ventures.
Please may I take this opportunity to thank you all again for your ongoing support and commitment. I wish you and your families an enjoyable and safe summer, and look forward to welcoming all students back to school in September.
Thank You to Carters Landscape
Many thanks to Carters Landscape for their work on site assisting the Eco Crew by rotavating a piece of land for students to plant potato seeds. We are all looking forward to tasting our first product in the Autumn.