Dear Bentley Wood Community,
I feel we are finally moving towards some summer weather. During Mental Health Week Ms Bannon, Ms Collen and the PE department reminded us all how important movement and physical activity is in strengthening and supporting our wellbeing. This good weather will encourage us all to get out and about.
It has been an interesting half term of firsts. We had our first ski trip to Italy over the Easter holidays; we have our first ever Ethics Cup Regional finalists competing at St Andrews University in Scotland against the rest of the UK and a beautiful peacock decided to visit us on the top field this week. I see the courage and confidence of our students to try new things and to succeed in ways they never thought they would. I value the trust of our parents and carers to allow us occasionally to make some bold decisions to nurture and develop our students in creative ways. And I finally applaud the staff and students jointly celebrating again and again the beauty of our grounds with all the expected and sometimes unexpected creatures we share it with while strengthening our school community spirit and CARE values all the time.
Students benefit greatly from regular events like our focus on careers and the Arts. This half term we had a talk from the Orange Jackets and a Sports Champion. Book fairs and reading initiatives like ‘blind date with a book’, our annual Culture Day and huge variety of curriculum trips continue to allow our students, families and staff to creatively explore ways to share their love of learning together. All these are featured in this edition of our newsletter.
This half term our Year 11, 12 and 13 students were all fully engaged in their GCSE, Entry Level, AS Level, BTEC and A Level exam. Their coursework pieces have been sent off to the exam boards. I am confident their hard work and dedication will pay off and look forward to celebrating with them after their exams have finished. I know you will join me in thanking staff for all the support they have given to the students in the build-up to these exams. Equally we would like to show our appreciation to our parents and carers in being such an important part of this support structure.
Our site improvements continue, we have now fully replaced all our Wi-Fi cabling and updated the way staff can use the interactive screens using ScreenBeam technology. This has been a focus in our training on Friday 24th May, along with the use of AI to support us in planning and delivering lessons.
A reminder for any students coming onsite during the holidays to make sure they sign in and out as directed in reception and follow instructions always given to them by the supervising staff.
Please enjoy the half term break with your families and friends and I look forward to seeing you all again in June.
Naseema Akbar Headteacher
