As one year group goes, the next arrives. We had our Year 11 Prom last Friday night, and our new Year 6 pupils arrive next Wednesday. Similarly, we held our leavers’ assembly on Wednesday this week, and welcome prospective Sixth Form students over the coming days. These are exciting times in school. After the fatigue of the exam season comes the energy of our new joiners, and I am really looking forward to next week.

An Open Evening thank you

I would like to extend a huge thank you to the students that helped welcome our visitors to last night’s Open Evening, for children in Year 5. Even though they were not ready to walk around the new buildings (as they have not been built yet!), we had a huge number of visitors. As a parent said to me, how welcoming our students were from the gates, then into school and when in the building. 

Particular recognition should be given to Bethany and Denys who spoke to over 1,200 visitors last night in talking about their time in Year 7 at Greenshaw. The fantastic Ron in Year 8 played piano brilliantly at the start of each talk, and his expertise was commented on by a number of visitors. As one parent said to me, “Your pupils are your best advert – they are a fantastic credit to the school.”

An update on our rebuilding project

The demolition of the older parts of the school continues apace. The current areas being demolished are as far away from the day-to-day school as possible. This means that, remarkably, while whole classrooms and corridors are being removed, it is causing little to no disruption to learning.

The debris and remains are being removed on large vehicles once or twice every day. At worst, this leads to students pausing to cross over our site as the staffed crossing point for a minute or so. Above is an image of what remains of the English and maths corridors. Although this looks like significant work, and it certainly is, families can be assured that this location is around 100 metres away from the playgrounds and the replacement buildings. 

The next stage

The majority of demolition closer to the occupied school buildings is scheduled for the summer holidays. At present, all works are on schedule and the first benefit we will see will be that by October half term the site of the building being demolished will be replaced with a ‘multi-use games area’ (or MUGA). That will also then open up a second walkway around the site, making it easier for students and staff to cross the school site.

Students of the week

Congratulations goes to our stars of the week listed below for maintaining their commitment, focus and sense of drive. Well done to one and all!

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	6th Form
Zoya	Patsy	Sam	Izzah	Rhushil

A reminder that lower school students are not required to wear their school jumpers on the hotter days, although many have chosen to do so through this week. By midweek, the temperatures are in the normal range for summer term, but in the meantime, air conditioning continues to be our friend.

I wish all families a restful, if very warm weekend.

Mr N House, Headteacher