Dear Parent/Carer

I hope you and your family are well as we move into March, and I would like to wish Ramadan Mubarak to all families who are observing the holy month! The focus of this month’s update letter includes information on:

• Celebrating together at Holyhead this half-term: Culture Day and World Book Day

• Update on school successes with DfE KS5 Performance Measures and continued high attendance 

• Upcoming dates this half-term, including an early finish for Y11/13 Curriculum Review meetings

Spring Festivals at Holyhead: Celebrating our diversity together

The holy month of Ramadan began for Muslims at the weekend, and highlights the importance of family, charity, empathy and gratitude.  Our team has once again worked hard to provide very clear guidance on how observance of all aspects of Ramadan by students can be balanced alongside learning and upholding high expectations when in school, as well as balancing revision needs, and this was shared with families at the end of last week.  As a staff body we learn together so that all can contribute and participate, and we will also be providing students who are fasting and eligible for Free School Meals with the opportunity to collect a Ramadan Takeaway bag from the Front Food Pod at the end of the school day.

Ramadan continues throughout March, and I will write to all families separately about our plans and communication on how we will operate the school on the day of Eid al-Fitr which is currently forecast to take place around Sunday 30th/Monday 31st March, and if this were to be on the Monday, as was the case in previous years there will likely be the need for two year groups to be educated remotely at home as a result of the high number of staff members who would also be observing this very special day.   

Friday 14th March is the Hindu festival of Holi.  This celebration of good over evil marks the end of winter and the start of spring in South Asia and is marked by a festival of colour with optimism for the season ahead. 

We also have a broad programme of events and activities planned during the Spring half-term. One of the most important activities will be our ‘Acts of Kindness’ calendar launched in assemblies by Miss Khatun, emphasising the importance of selflessness and respect for each other, not only at school, but in all aspects of our lives. This will also include our annual Easter Egg Drive to support local charitable organisations.

With both Vaisakhi and Easter falling during the holidays at the end of the Spring term, we are planning to celebrate all of these major cultural and community events together with Holyhead’s annual Culture Day on Friday 11th April. Students will once again be invited to attend school in cultural clothing should they wish to, which can include items of blue or orange clothing to mark Vaisakhi or bright colours to represent the celebration of Holi. 

World Book Day 2025 at Holyhead

This year’s World Book Day takes place on Thursday 6th March and we will be marking this with a wide range of activities and opportunities for students to engage in the wonder of reading and literature, both on the day itself and for the following week. This week will see special competitions for students to get involved in, and all students will receive World Book Day tokens that can be used to purchase books, as well as author visits for Year 7 and 8.

On World Book Day itself, we again invite students to dress in a costume to represent their favourite character from a book and are expecting them to bring in a copy of the book to accompany their costume. This is not compulsory and students not coming in costume should wear their school uniform as normal (any students who come to school in non-school uniform without their book will be expected to change back into school uniform). 

Early finish - Wednesday 26th March: Y11/13 Curriculum Review afternoon

We have a Year 11/13 Curriculum Review afternoon taking place on Wednesday 26th March with students finishing at 1.15pm to enable extended subject meetings to take place in the afternoon that day. These meetings will focus on key actions to be taken to support students in the crucial final weeks after the Spring Mock exams and before the summer exams which begin in May. Students eligible for Free School Meals will be able to collect lunch at the end of Period 3 and all students will be set additional homework on Google Classroom by their Period 4 teachers.

School Successes: Sixth Form Performance Measures and Attendance Matters!

I’m pleased to update you all that following the publication of Key Stage 5 Performance Measures by the Department for Education which show that Holyhead has achieved Above Average Progress at A Level, and Well Above Average Progress in the Applied General and Tech Level qualifications we offer. To be categorised as Above Average means that the progress made by A Level students at Holyhead was in the top 20% nationally, and to be categorised as Well Above Average means that the school is in the top 5% nationally! This is a fantastic achievement and demonstrates the strength of our Sixth Form offer as well as the quality of teaching and support at the school! You can find out more from the school’s page on the DfE Compare School Performance website here.

School attendance continues to be a major focus of the government’s  work at the moment in education, such are the concerns nationally. I am once again pleased to report that attendance at Holyhead is strong and is currently again 2% above the national average, and alongside this we have received more attendance awards from Fisher Family Trust. We should celebrate our current and continued successes, however, it is absolutely crucial that we all continue to strive for the best as we know the many benefits for students of regular high attendance, both academically and socially, acknowledging the vital role that parents and carers play in enabling this.

Key upcoming dates and events in March/April 

• The Y11/13 Curriculum Review Afternoon takes place on Wednesday 26th March with students finishing early that day at 1.15pm (the end of Period 3).

• The Year 12 Subject Parents’ Evening originally scheduled for Thursday 6th March and moved due to the clash with Ramadan will be held on Thursday 3rd April from 4-6pm.

• We break up for the Easter holidays on Friday 11th April at 3.15pm and return to school again on Monday 28th April at 8.40am.

As ever, I thank you for your time in reading this letter and wish you and your family good health and fortune for the weeks ahead, including a peaceful half-term to come.

Yours faithfully,

Mr D Knox
Principal

Our Ref: DK/jh/gltr/jan 25

8th January 2025

Dear Parent/Carer

I hope you and your family are well and you had a pleasant holiday season. January’s update letter will hopefully be of help to you, with a focus on:

• Information on the Curriculum Review Meeting and early finish for students on Tuesday 14th January
• The next SEND Community Cafe event for Parents/Carers led by the Speech and Language Therapist
• Subject Parents’ Evenings this half-term for Year 11 and Year 7
• Website update - Attendance and Punctuality information for parents and carers
• Other key dates for the half-term including dates for the School Production of Sister Act.

Curriculum Review Meeting - Tuesday 14th January (Students finish at 1pm)
As was mentioned in the December update letter, following on from the recent assessments in Y7/8 we will be holding a KS3 Curriculum Review afternoon on Tuesday 14th January. Subject teams will be reviewing the performance of students in these assessments and working together on how to make changes to the curriculum and lesson resources in the weeks ahead to help support the identified areas for development. 

To enable staff to do this as effectively as possible, we are providing additional time through an early finish for students that afternoon. Students will finish at 1pm and will be dismissed by their Period 3 teachers with the following key details also relevant for you to know:

• Students who are eligible for Free School Meals will be able to collect a packed lunch from the Food Pods/Dining Hall before going home.
• Detentions will be held in the normal venues at 1pm so any student with a detention will be delayed in leaving school. You will be notified as normal via Arbor if your child has a detention.
• Period 4 teachers will be instructed to set additional homework for students via Google Classroom or an alternative platform. 

Parental Engagement/SEND Support - Community Cafe event on Tuesday 14th January
Following on from the first SEND Community Cafe event in November with a focus on Autism, we will be hosting another SEND Community Cafe on Tuesday 14th January from 11am - 12.30pm in the Library. 

The focus of this SEND Community Cafe is to provide expert support for parents from the school’s Speech and Language Therapist along with Mrs Robinson who is the SENDCo at Holyhead. Themes that will be covered include:

• Speech pronunciation and fluency skills
• Expressive language
• Understanding language
• Social interaction and play skills
• Attention and listening skills

If you are interested in attending this event please contact SEND@holyhead.crst.org.uk with your details so we can provide you with more information in advance.

Subject Parents’ Evenings this half-term
There are two Subject Parents’ Evenings coming up in this half-term and parents will be sent information in advance of each of these events with the information on how to book appointment slots with your child’s teachers directly via Arbor as usual. The dates of these important opportunities is below:

• The Year 11 Subject Parents’ Evening is on Thursday 23rd January from 4-7pm. 
• The Year 7 Subject Parents’ Evening is on Thursday 13th February from 4-7pm. 

Upcoming website update: Attendance and Punctuality - Processes and policy
In a number of previous letters I have written to update you on the successes of our work on attendance, including notifying you of the awards and recognition we have received for our well above national average attendance over the last two years. 

The work to secure such positive attendance is collective and your continued support is absolutely crucial in this. To support parents and carers we will be updating our information on the school website to provide all parents/carers with an overview of the key information linked to attendance at Holyhead including:

• Key times in the day - when is a student recorded as late?
• Reporting absence - who do you inform and by when in the morning?
• Requests for absence - what is required and how is this done?
• How we follow up on absences and why we need to do this
• Understanding our Attendance Policy

This information will be on the website from Monday 13th January and we will send out an Arbor message which contains the concise overview document itself as well as the link on the website when this is live.

Other key upcoming dates and events in January / February

• We have Y10 workshops on improving communication led by Talk the Talk on Wednesday 15th January.
• We will be hosting the annual Spelling Bee finals event on Wednesday 29th January from 4pm.
• The Spring term Mock Exams for Y11/13 begin on Monday 3rd February and run through to Friday 14th February.
• The live shows of our production of Sister Act will be on Wednesday 5th February and Thursday 6th February with doors open from 5.30pm for a 6pm start. More details will be released soon on how to buy tickets.

I thank you as ever for your time in reading this letter and wish you and your family good health and fortune for the weeks ahead.

Yours faithfully,

Mr D Knox
Principal