Headteacher's Message, 13th January

Recently, the Prime Minster has announced her aim to have all staff in schools trained in recognising mental health issues in young people by 2019. It was an announcement that pleased me; not least because this has been in place at CNS for several years now. Our work, in particular with the Mancroft Advisory Project (MAP), has enabled us to provide support for our young people in this crucial area. Our school nurse is also vital in providing a high quality health service to our school community. Recently, I was given some data on how many visits she deals with each month; it was enlightening. For example, from September through to the end of term she was visited 1,650 times which works out at an average of 412 visits per month. The reasons, as you would expect, are varied but it just goes to show how much this level of support is needed in schools.

Year 11 had an extremely successful mock results day on Wednesday. Introduced in my second year here, it quickly became established as not only a way of predicting achievement, but more importantly, giving our year 11’s a feel for what it will be like in August and the time to do something about it. Many will continue with their same work pattern and attitudes but for a few, is was timely reminder that exams are looming. As previously mentioned, we are fortunate to be able to recognise and support students who may be affected by anxiety or other stress related issues where necessary.

The assembly led perfectly into the year 11 parents evening. A great evening where it has been reported that parents were discussing how helpful this staging was. I’ve mentioned before, if you analyse the amount of time a year 11 will have spent at CNS by the time they leave, it doesn’t amount to much. From the day they were born through to the day they leave it amounts to under 4% - and that’s assuming they attend every day. Parental support and involvement is crucial and we are fortunate as a school that many of our young people get such high quality support from home.

It has been great to see the students having fun in the snow today.

Have a great weekend whatever the weather brings.

Jim Nixon