I have spent a good deal of time thinking about Parents Evenings in recent weeks.   

The Spring term brings a succession of these, and we believe that this is the best time of the year for teachers to be feeding back progress to parents and carers.  It was a few years ago when we changed the title of these events to Progress evenings, firstly to make clear that academic progress is the key focus for the meetings, but also to recognise that not all students are supported in their schooling by their parents.  It may be step-parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts or carers.  That would be too long to fit on the booking form so, instead, we opted for Progress Evening. 

Any of you that have attended these know that there are inherent logistical challenges with scheduling and sticking to appointments.  We – and you – do our very best to make it work and mostly it does.  The feedback is good, and you provide us with helpful ideas on how to continue to improve it. 

If attendance is anything to go by, you certainly value them.  Last night's Year 10 event attracted 80% of the year group, up from 65% at the same time last year (Y9).  This shows a remarkable level of support for our teachers and is crucial to improving their chances of success in the summer of 2026.   

At the same time, after starting the night at Hessle, I travelled over to Wolfreton for my own son’s Parents Evening.  Here I experienced the event from your perspective – hearing from teachers and asking questions about his effort and potential.   Afterwards my wife and I tried to instigate a conversation about it – with little success.  He had done well with only minor things for him to work on but, rather than tell him how to fix those things, we hoped he would have his own ideas.  He didn’t.  He’s fourteen now and has become monosyllabic unless he is talking about food or football!   We persevered and eventually got a promise to spend a bit more time looking at books and less time on his phone.  If any of that resonates with you - believe me - I empathise. 

The attendance last night has been a continuation of a wider trend of engagement with our school, which manifests in parent events as well as student attendance, both of which continue to rise.  Current school attendance is now 2.3% ahead of last year at the same time and whole-school attendance now outstrips both the regional and national average.  This is crucial to achieving success for our students and we thank you for your support in driving this up.  Nationally, and at school level, we are still around 2% below pre-Covid levels and there remain genuine challenges for young people, families and schools but we will persevere and keep striving for our goal of 96% attendance across the school. 

And so, after a chilly and wet week, we look forward to another dry spell coming up next week.  During the week, we will also be able to update you on our lunch plans which will change after Easter to enable Year 11 students to move to an early lunch period as they approach their exams. 

In the meantime, enjoy the weekend and thanks again for your support.  

Mr Groak

Headteacher