Firstly, apologies that this blog arrives with you on a Monday morning. Last week, time got away from us all and I was unable to complete writing this before we could get it sent to you. 

In my first year of teaching, I remember that older hands would try to reassure me when I explained how I was struggling to balance the demands of the role. “Wait until the summer,” they’d say, “and gain time.” 

I had no idea what this meant and had to be enlightened on this idyllic period when teaching apparently became so much easier, when lunch breaks could be properly taken and when – unbelievably – some of the teachers even slipped off to the pub at lunchtime! 

The cause of this was the departure of Year 11 students and so all their scheduled lessons suddenly became free, and teachers wallowed in time for the above. For a couple of years, I too found myself benefiting from this time and it was lovely. Although I don’t think anyone actually did go to the pub; even by the early 2000s, that was something well in the past. 

Of course, you only benefited from this if you taught Year 11 (or Year 13) in the first place and so it was only ever something that a proportion of staff experienced. Somehow though, over the years, this ‘gained time’ seemed to disappear. Probably with the increasing and ever-changing accountability framework. Instead of being ‘spare’ everyone just used the time to prepare for the next year or for other activities such as celebration events, sports days, transition activities and school trips.  

Our calendar in the last half term is choc-a-block with such activities and I find myself even busier in these last months of term that at any time in the year.  

Last week, for example, our senior leaders spent two evenings reflecting on our year and constructing our Development Plan for next year. This week, I will be involved in interviews (for staff, and for Head Students) as well as spending two days out of school with fellow Trust Headteachers (Thursday) and the wider Local Authority Headteacher group on Friday. It is also our Year 11 Prom (Wednesday) and Year 13 Prom (Thursday). In the remaining weeks of term, we will also have our Year 6 transition, Year 12 Induction, new staff induction, Sports Day, two Governors meetings and a Year 10 Aspirational Dinner. So much for ‘gained time’. But  

***  

Last week saw the final exams for our Year 11 and 13 students and they have all, for now, left school. A good proportion of the Year 11 students will be back for Prom, for Sixth Form induction, for results day and then, in September, back in our Sixth Form. But for many, last week will be the last week that they ever spend a significant time at Hessle High School, as it will be for our Year 13s.  

The past few weeks have seen some lovely moments; farewell assemblies and shirt signing but also the very personal moments where a student arrives at a classroom door with a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates or a card for a teacher that has left their mark on a young life. I always find these very touching. And they are appreciated by our staff more than you could possibly imagine. 

*** 

Finally, I spent much of the weekend watching sport. Firstly, I was at the MKM on Saturday afternoon enjoying a much-improved Hull FC performance despite losing to Warrington. And then I was at Kirkella Cricket Club for most of yesterday watching my son playing for the senior Sunday team. He was one of three juniors, who all did really well playing against the men, each of them contributing to a win, including my son who took his first wickets in senior cricket. It barely seems any time at all that he first started playing ‘All Stars’ cricket, aged 6. His involvement in cricket means that I spend most of my time at games explaining the rules to his mum, or his grandma, so that they can enjoy it too! 

However you spent your weekend, I hope you managed to enjoy the sunshine which looks to be hanging around for another week. Thank you for your ongoing support and have a lovely week. 

Mr Groak

Headteacher

Nothing irks me more than to hear people who know nothing about education criticising schools and young people.  But it has been a fortnight in which, sadly, politicians have resorted to this regularly in search of cheap applause or, they hope, votes at the General Election. 

I am not surprised that Nigel Farage chose his first speech as a candidate in this election to blame schools for the moral decline of the country and the fact that one-third of under 35s aren't sure what happened on D-Day. How do you even begin to unpick that thought?   

But even I was surprised to hear about the ‘National Service’ policy announcement that landed during half term, along with a Tweet from a Cabinet Minister which said, ‘is it asking too much for young people to actually do something?’  How dare he. 

It might play to a narrow group of potential voters to characterise young people as feckless layabouts who need a bit of military discipline to show them how lucky they are; but isn’t only offensive, it is just plain wrong.  The young people that I know are overwhelmingly hard working. As soon as they are able, they take on part time jobs (essential to our service sector and economy); they care about their friends, their families and the world that they are growing up. Unlike some people in other generations, they are respectful and tolerant of others and many actively promote causes that they care about and that make life better for others. Lots are active in sport, the arts or volunteer; many are young carers.   Meanwhile, they worry about the world, the climate and their older family members who often cannot get the health and social care that they need; they are concerned about their own futures, the changing employment markets and their chances of ever owning their own home, or being able to enjoy a lifestyle at least as good as their parents.  And they have to contend with technological innovations that others have created and sold to them which make their lives much harder to navigate, and then they hear people in authority bemoaning them and saying that national service is what is required to knock them into shape.  Outrageous. 

Unfavourable comparisons have been drawn to the D-Day generation but you could just as easily argue that it is the boomer generation (which probably includes myself and coincidentally most of the current political elite!) that fare worse by these comparisons; many of us grew up during the longest period of peacetime, when higher education was free, when the NHS met everyone's needs, when you could buy a house and retire at 60 or 65, and without the eternal pressures of social media weighing down on them.  Our generation have had it the easiest and all we have done with that privilege is make the world harder for the next generations.  So, to blame young people is wholly unfair and has certainly raised my blood pressure over the past few weeks. 

And, on that note, I continue to be impressed by the way in which our young people conduct themselves in and around school.  Exams are progressing nicely, the students are taking them in their stride and the young people in other year groups are showing the respect you would hope to ensure that their older peers can focus on their studies, by observing quiet areas of the school whilst exams go on.  Next week, many of them are volunteering to support an Active Travel Campaign, aimed at encouraging more people to walk or cycle to school. Some of these students will be on Heads Lane in a morning handing out raffle tickets to ‘walkers and cyclists’ so that they can take part in a prize draw. Nobody has paid them to do this, or even had to persuade them. They want to do it because it is a worthy cause and ultimately makes the world a better, healthier place.  

*** 

Sadly, my short break to Prague during half term did not happen after Bruce Springsteen cancelled the concert having lost his voice.  Whilst this was a disappointment, I have been lucky to see him twice this year and indeed saw the concert in Sunderland where the damage to the vocal cords was done.  That show was epic; three hours in the driving rain by the end of which he was wearing just a t-shirt as he belted out the final numbers.  You can see it here.   

Seeing him on a wet Wednesday in Sunderland reminded me also of a damp Tuesday in Coventry when I saw him a decade or so ago.  Of all the exciting cities and venues that he plays, these are probably fairly low down on the list.  And yet, you would never know it.  Springsteen was once asked why he plays for so long, and so hard, at every single show he performs.  He replied that, “at each show, there are people who will be seeing me and the E Street Band for the only time in their lives. I owe it to them to give my best every single time I play.” 

That has always inspired me.  And it is a message I always try to convey to my staff.  The best thing about being a teacher, or school leader is that it matters.  But the hardest thing about it, is that it matters every single day.  There can be no let-up, no ‘taking it easy’ days.  Our work is too important for that. 

Next week, I will be able to share with you the final report from our most recent Ofsted inspection. I look forward to doing that and highlighting some of the tremendous things they said about ‘your’ school and ‘your’ staff and students. 

In the meantime, have a great weekend and thank you very much for your support throughout the year. 

Mr Groak

Headteacher

The highlight of this school week has probably been our school production of Oliver! After a long hiatus following Covid, this is the first time for many years that we have been able to put on a full show such as this. And what a return it was! 

The idea for this production was first put forward back in September when our drama teacher, Miss Foster, came to see me with a proposal. A cast of fifty, a professional set, full music score. It was certainly ambitious. And all I had to say was ‘yes’, and she would take care of it, with the support of the rest of the Performing Arts team; and the students of course. 

Well, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, it all came to fruition with three barnstorming performances which brought the house to standing ovations on each night. I was there on Wednesday with my family and both of our children absolutely loved it and my daughter (who has acting ambitions) was singing the songs all the way home. 

There is something magical about live musical theatre. The energy, talent and dedication that lifts the words and notes from a musical script and translates them into a living and breathing performance is surely miraculous. Thank you to everyone involved, including all of the cast, the backstage crew and the staff for giving up so much time to prepare such a wonderful show. 

This week also saw the first of our summer GCSE exams (RE on Thursday). In truth, students have been sitting GCSE assessments in form or another for months (coursework etc) but the reality of that first exam sitting in the sports hall is when the reality of it really lands. As ever, our Year 11 students have handled it with mature aplomb and they have reported that the papers so far (there have been two more today) were fair and accessible. We can ask for no more than that but I am always keen to remind the students are never ‘easy’; if they find them so it is because they have worked so hard to prepare. We have fingers crossed for similar positivity next week and beyond. 

Thank you for continuing to support our high standards of uniform. When the weather changes significantly, it often finds some students making their own adaptations to our uniform but they are quickly picked up by our staff and put right. Please ensure that you son/daughter continues to follow our expectations as this reduces distractions in school. 

Although it was a long weekend last week, the long journey that my wife and I made down to Cardiff was well worth it for an absolutely stunning performance from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. This was my twelfth Bruce concert and definitely in the top three that I have seen. The band played for three hours, churning out the hits and deep cuts one after the other leaving me completely exhausted at the end (I really shouldn’t be dancing and fist-pumping at my age!). The sun is forecast to shine most of the weekend and so it will be a much more relaxing one for the Groaks, hopefully with some time sitting in the garden and firing up the barbecue for the first time this year.  

However you are spending it, enjoy it, and thank you for your support.   

Mr Groak

Headteacher

We have a lot of visitors to school at Hessle. Some of them are specialist educationalists who come into school to support individual students, or for specific tasks such as music tuition and others are obviously parents and carers. We are also pleased whenever our Governors come in (which is increasingly often) and we regularly host teachers, staff and leaders from other schools in our Trust, or from our Central Services Team. Finally, members of the business community also visit us often to share their expertise and experience in order to build the aspirations of our students and to offer careers advice. 

Overwhelmingly, they are impressed by the way in which our students conduct themselves and how they interact with other adults, showing off our school values of respect and kindness. We hear positive feedback all the time and try, where we can, to share this with the students involved and their parents. To promote this, we have recently introduced ‘Bridge Coins’ - these are bespoke tokens that are given to all of our visitors when they arrive and for them to give to students that have particularly impressed them during their time in school. The students then receive a recognition letter for them to keep.  

Our first recipients were Cleo and Phoebe (see below) who received their coins from a visitor recently.  

“The Bridge” is our through-school Personal Development programme which supports our young people throughout their journey at Penshurst and then at Hessle. It encompasses a wide range of activity including assemblies, theme days and tutor activities. The name is inspired by our through-school and the transition we promote between primary and secondary phases; as well, of course, by the Humber Bridge and the notion of ‘a bridge’ being something that brings things, and people together. 

In the weeks and months to come, I will share more of this work with you.  

A reminder that next week sees some changes to our lunch and break arrangements with Year 10 and 11 swapping from early to late, and vice versa. This supports the scheduling of the GCSE exams which formally begin on Thursday 9 May. In between times, of course, there is also the Bank Holiday, when school will be closed on Monday 6 May.  

On the Sunday before that, I will be in Cardiff for the start of Bruce Springsteen’s European Tour. I’ll share more about that next week but be assured that my running playlist has now been honed to what I hope and predict will be the concert set list. Before that, this is a busy sporting weekend with my son’s cricket nets starting tonight, followed by his football match on Sunday lunchtime and then a quick dash to the MKM Stadium on Sunday afternoon to see Hull FC take on Leeds. Apparently, it is going to rain. Great. 

Whatever you are doing this weekend, try to avoid the rain and thank you for your ongoing support.  

Mr Groak

Headteacher

It has been a busy week on the recruitment front at Hessle High School this week. Following a minor restructuring of our safeguarding team, I was delighted to appoint Melanie Lambert to the post of Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DDSL) on a permanent basis. Mel has been carrying out this role on a temporary basis for nearly two years and has, along with Laura Kelsey, done fantastic work in supporting some of our most vulnerable young people, and their families. The world in which our youngsters grow up now is increasingly complex and challenging and these colleagues play such an important role in ensuring that our students stay safe and supporting them during difficult times in their lives. Mel is a great team player and it is fantastic to have her with us permanently. 

On Thursday, we also added a new member of staff to our PE Department. After finishing his training as a PE teacher, Nathan Parkin has been with us for the past year as a Cover Supervisor (covering lessons when colleagues are absent). But in addition to this role, he has given great support to the PE department with their lessons as well as running sports clubs and fixtures after school. Nathan has now been employed as a full-time PE teacher and we will support him through his Early Career training. We know that he will go onto enjoy a long and successful career at Hessle, when he starts his new role in September. 

Also on Thursday, we were pleased to make an external appointment in the form of Danielle Davies to join us as a Pastoral Officer, working in our Pastoral Centre. She will join another recent appointment, Clare Lancaster, who starts as our Inclusion Manager on Monday. Together, they will provide intensive support for some of our students who don’t always get it right and who need additional support to manage behaviour in school. These vacancies arose from the departures of Karen Maulgue and Stuart Crooks. Karen departed a few weeks ago for a new and exciting position in the NHS, while Stuart is taking up a senior position in the Riverview Trust, working in their Alternative Provision setting. Stuart’s last day is today and he leaves with our grateful best wishes after twelve years of service to the school.  

Turnover of staff at Hessle is generally low which is a good indication that colleagues feel valued and trusted to do their work here. This stability benefits everyone, especially the students. However, it is always nice to have new faces join the team as their enthusiasm and energy can revitalise us and keep us moving forward. We look forward to working with Nathan and Mel for longer, and also seeing what Claire and Danielle can bring to our school.  

Well done to Isabelle Allen (Y9) and Lily Dannatt (Y11) who once again have achieved great success in their dancing careers. After winning British titles before Christmas, they have repeated this success in the European Dancing Championships just before Easter and now hold GOLD in the Ladies Latin Dancing Category as well SILVER in the Ladies Ballroom Category. These are adult competitions and our girls were the youngest by some distance in the event. They have both received a lot of media coverage recently and you may have seen them on Look North at the start of the Easter break. We are very proud of both girls. 

As Friday ends, we are now just nineteen school days away from Year 11’s first exam paper, which is on Monday 13th May. The year group are doing really well at the moment to complete various courseworks and other practical exams in a multitude of subjects. Thank you to all families of Year 11 students for coming them healthy, focused and working hard. I am sure this will bear fruit in the summer, when results are published. 

The first weekend of a new term is always one that I like to keep fairly clear of activity, in order to make sure I’m rested for the long term ahead. Aside from a few work tasks, we have set aside Saturday afternoon for some family cooking. After our trip to Spain over Easter, we’re inspired to make our own tapas. We’ve also saved the first episode of the new series of ‘Race Across The World’ which we all love, especially the kids, so the plan is to sit down on Saturday evening with a range of ‘picky-bits’ and enjoy the show.  

Whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope the weather stays dry and warm and you enjoy a relaxing few days. 

Mr Groak

Headteacher

Occasionally, one of our students will ask me, “Sir, what do you actually do? I mean, I know what your job is, but what do you.... do?” 

When I first started in the role, I spent much of my first few weeks speaking to staff to learn more about what they felt about the school, what our priorities should be. After a few weeks, I did sometimes ask myself, ‘what else am I meant to be doing?’. It didn’t last long and soon projects, issues, incidents, celebrations and events filled my diary. Being a Headteacher is a fantastic job and a real privilege. I get to see people at their best and worst, deal with everything from the trivial and the mundane (what colour decorations do you want on the Christmas Tree?) to the life-changing and tragic, when some of our students find themselves in highly dangerous and vulnerable situations. 

Most of the time is just moving from one place to another speaking to people and generally ensuring that everyone has what they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability. Take today for instance. It began with a morning run. I have tried this year to get my exercise in early and it has definitely helped my energy levels during the day. After a 15 minute shuffle around the streets of Willerby, I’ll get ready for work, have a coffee, chat with the kids and be in school for our Senior Leaders’ meeting at 7.45. In this 15 minute slot, we check on staff absence or events that are happening during the day, make sure that all lessons and duty points are covered and prepare ourselves for the day. At this point in the term, the team are often operating on fumes, and it is an opportunity for us to take support from each other and pull together to lead the rest of the staff. 

I quickly check emails for ten minutes and then put my blue coat on, grab my radio and go out on duty. I’m on the main gate monitoring students arriving from 8.15 to 8.35 and this gives me the chance to wish them good morning and keep an eye on the overall safety and movement on the site at the start of the day. The entrance to our school is a mixed user environment with buses, cars and pedestrians all sharing the same space. The main mitigation to the obvious risk is a 5MPH speed limit and plenty of staff supervision.  

As students arrive they congregate in the spaces designated for them. Year 7s on the tennis court are the ones closest to my duty point and so I get to see how they look at the start of each day; always smart and well behaved which is good to see. 

Tutors come down to these areas at 8.30 and by 8.35, students are going into the building for their tutor period. 

My day today has been packed with meetings and planned phone calls so I squeeze in a quick meeting with Angela, my new Operation Manager. We planned the day, discuss priorities for next week. At 9am, I met with Claire Khan, my Finance Manager. At this time of year, we are looking to set budgets for next year so we spent some time making sure that we had a good idea of likely income and how we proposed to spend it. Our school has a budge in excess of £11million but the bulk of that is spent on staff salaries. Overheads consume most of the rest so there is not a lot of discretionary spending for Headteachers. Nevertheless, staffing has to be carefully managed as a few errors can cause a big problem down the line. 

After break duty, I spent some time on the telephone to Mrs Preston, our Primary Head of School, discussing the progress made by our Year 6 pupils in their recent mock exams. They have done well in Reading and Maths, and we were looking at some extra support we can put in place to improve their writing skills. Leading an all-through school has meant a huge expansion in my responsibility and a widening of my understanding of primary education; similarly some of the methods used to track and assess students at the High School are also leading to improvements in the primary stage. Friday is a busy day for duties so I was back on duty just before 11am for twenty minutes. A minor behaviour incident occurred which caused me to spend some time with the pastoral team sorting it out, before I was back to my office for a meeting with my Head of Sixth Form, Mr Jarman. Our Sixth form is a real strength of the school but there has been a drop in attendance recently of our Year 13s so we spent some time looking at the impact of the strategies he has put into place. This cohort were halfway through Year 9 when the covid pandemic started and faced two years of disruption during their GCSEs. Adolescence has not been straightforward for them at all but they are being well looked after and are on the brink of achieving strong outcomes before going onto their next destination which, for most of them, will be university. 

After Mr Jarman left, I started writing this blog for ten minutes before going back on duty yet again where I also had my lunch standing up in the canteen. Fishcake, chips and mushy peas – you can’t beat it! 

There was a twenty-five minute break between duties in which time I squeezed in another meeting, replied to some emails, approved some staff ordering, set up an agenda for a leaders’ meeting on Monday, added some messages to our weekly staff briefing and had another catch up with Angela.  

The second lunch break gave me the chance to speak to our Year 11s, who picked up their Mock Exam Results last night at Progress evening. There were some glum faces when a few realised that they hadn’t done as well as they had hoped. But – as we always tell them – there is still time to put it right. “The best time to start revising is at the start of Year 10,” we say, “the next best time is right now!”  

After duty, I gave a tour to a lady who has applied for a job in our pastoral centre. It is always a pleasure to show off our school and she was impressed at how quickly over 1200 young people can move around the building and settle into their lessons. Handing her over to my colleagues who were set to interview her, I headed back to my office to tie up the week. There is a staff briefing document for Hessle and Penshurst staff, which we aim to send out by close of play on Friday, this sets up the following week with key events and reminders and allows staff to get themselves organised for the week ahead so that they can switch off and unwind for two days. I write a short intro and make sure everyone else’s content is clear and concise. By this time, it is 2.50 and the first students are beginning to leave the site. I head out to bus duty to see them all off, in exactly the same place that I welcomed them six and a half hours earlier. And I wonder where the time has gone, and what exactly it has that I have done! 

I’m not quite finished as I then go to the main hall to cover a detention duty for a colleague who is still interviewing our prospective candidate. I tend to aim to leave by 4.30 on a Friday to get in a run before seeing the kids. Tonight, I am writing this quickly before leaving a little earlier in order to pick my son up for a dental appointment. Hopefully, we will be home by 5.30 and the weekend can begin. 

I tend not to do any work on Friday night. Instead, I might open a beer and flop in front of the TV with my wife and kids, watching The Apprentice and then possibly whichever Super League game is on TV.  

Tomorrow, we’ll be at the MKM stadium for the Hull FC game and then spending some time relaxing on Sunday before getting ready for another busy week. 

Whatever you are doing this weekend, find time to enjoy it and thank you for your ongoing support. 

Mr Groak

Headteacher