After an extremely busy half term, I wanted to take this opportunity to write to all parents and carers to say a huge thank you for your continued support for staff and students here at school. I would also like to share with you and celebrate all of the amazing experiences over the last 6 weeks.
We have had many guests and visitors in to school who tell us that students feel safe and happy to attend The Suthers School and be part of our school community. Our curriculum offer is something we are really proud of to ensure all students succeed and achieve their full potential. I would like to formally appreciate our dedicated staff who are committed to developing high quality teaching and learning in the classroom to provide great experiences for all. We continue to work with staff across the Trust to widen our partnerships ensuring we strengthen the quality of the provision in the classroom and share our great practice with other leaders.
Parents and carers of Year 7 and 9 students have been able to meet teachers to discuss progress and achievement through our virtual evenings. Feedback from the events suggest extending the length of time of the appointments. The allocated slot is due to some staff members teaching all students within a year group which in some cases is 120 so we are restricted to the time allocation. The current time allows for concise conversations providing enough information around the progress your child is making in this subject area. Longer appointments would not allow for staff to meet with as many parents over the year and I am sure you would agree it is necessary to ensure most parents get the opportunity to meet as many teachers as possible.
Year 9 have also selected their options to study in Key Stage Four. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our parents and carers for attending the hugely successful event and we appreciate the positive comments shared on the evening about the support from our staff. Our Year 10 and 11 students also attended the event to support our Year 9 students in the process so they could help them make well-informed decisions. We are extremely proud of all of our students who were able to demonstrate and articulate their passion for the subjects they enjoy studying. We have now received all choices and we will be in touch with all parents and carers of year 9 once these have been allocated.
Our student voice remains strong to allow us to make changes and improvements. I am grateful to one of our students who wrote me a letter about the importance of educating students about neurodiversity. National neurodiversity week proved the ideal opportunity to educate students about how everyone thinks and learns differently; we celebrated that there is no ‘right way’ for thinking and learning and we continue to strengthen the support for all students so we are a truly inclusive learning environment.
I would like to warmly welcome Mr Griffiths who joins us as Deputy Head, Mrs Dally our SENDco and Mr Smith, Head of Design and Technology. We are really looking forward to building our leadership capacity across the school and I am sure you would join me to wish them all a successful start.
We say goodbye to Mrs Carroll our Science Technician who has supported the Science team with their practical experiments and would like to thank her for her commitment to wider school support. We wish Mrs Carroll all the best in her new teaching role.
As you know we have had our recent Ofsted inspection and the report is currently being finalised. As soon as I have more information, I will provide you with an update.
Many thanks once again for your continued support. Have a great Easter break with your family and friends and I look forward to seeing all students return at 8.25 am on Tuesday 19th April.
Yours faithfully,
Miss Nic Watkin
Heads' hot chocolate rewards
April 2022 Bulletin
It was fantastic to see so many students and staff dressing up as a character of their choice to celebrate World Book Day. Staff also read allowed to students during the day and took selfies of themselves reading their favourite book so students could guess the teacher. The focus was ‘you are a reader’ to promote reading across the school and encourage all students to read for pleasure and develop their reading comprehension.
Library Update
Mrs West, Mrs Liwoshko and our site team have worked tirelessly in ensuring our library is equipped with a catalogue of books and comfortable spaces to learn. We are nominated Community Champions so if you are a member of Lincolnshire Co-op and would like to support us, please visit their website to vote for us: www.lincolnshire.coop/ccvote before the closing date of 24th April. If we are successful, the funds will help purchase more fiction and non-fiction books for our library.
Reading Strategies
After May half term we will be able to utilise the library as a learning space as well as a quiet reading corner at break and lunch times. We will be introducing Accelerated Reader for Year 7-9 along with other reading strategies such as Drop Everything and Read to ensure we continue to encourage all students to read more widely and more frequently
A huge thank you to all for your continued support with our fundraising events. In response to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, we raised a fantastic £500 through cake sales and other donations from parents, carers, students and teachers.
This was followed by Comic Relief on Friday 18th March which raised another £500; Year 11 students held a bake sale, a football challenge competition and organised games, such as pin the nose on the teacher along with guess the sweet jar.
In addition, on Friday 25th March we raised money for Brain Tumour Research through our Wear a Hat Day where staff and students wore a hat of their choice to support the charity raising £300; all of these events organised by our charity group SAVE demonstrates how dedicated our school community is to raise awareness and support fundraising events close to our hearts.
Our careers provision has been strategically designed to allow students a wide range of opportunities to prepare for the world of work and we are very grateful to the number of local businesses and companies who have supported us this term.
Year 11 had mock interviews which were hugely successful and our students did themselves proud in this formal process. Year 8 and 9 have been involved in networking events which again allowed them the opportunity to be exposed to a variety of industries.
Year 10 enjoyed a university taster day at Lincoln University. They were given a tour of the campus and learnt what life would be like as a student. Students were praised for their level of engagement and calibre of questions.
We have been fortunate to secure a new innovative tech -focused programme Think Big delivered in connection with Nottingham Forest Football Club working in partnership with Ideagen.
The aim of the sessions, for Year 9 students, is to inspire and engage them in technology -based challenges. It has been a hugely positive start and we are looking forward to the workshops continuing next half term.
Our Matilda cast and crew should be extremely proud of the performance which took place on Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th March. It was a huge success, raising £500 to go towards future performances. Our students were phenomenal and we had some exceptional feedback from families who came to see the show. All staff and students showed huge commitment to rehearsals as well as the final show performances and it was fantastic to see some of our feeder primary schools join us for a matinee performance. 
Our performers were rewarded with the chance to watch a recording of the show with sweet treats and popcorn. We hope more students will get involved in future arts events – they have set the bar high but I have no doubt we will be able to put on other performances to showcase the talent of our students.
We have had a busy few weeks of fixtures for our students in Year 7 and 8 competing in Netball and Rugby.
There has been a huge improvement in the standards of uniform and appearance of our students. Our high expectations ensure all students look smart at The Suthers School and it is fantastic to see students wearing our uniform with pride in and outside of school.
Inappropriate uniform such as tight or ill-fitting skirts or trousers, trainers, inappropriate skirt length and excessive make up and jewellery will not be tolerated and will result in students being provided with specific items of clothing if identified as an issue on entry to learning.
Excessive nail varnish and ‘gel nails’ are also prohibited and we expect all nail length to be a reasonable length on return to school. I would really appreciate your support in ensuring your child is wearing the appropriate uniform on their return after the Easter break.
If you would like more information on our uniform policy this can be found by following this link to our school website. This link will take you to the uniform shop which can also be found on the school website.
The Suthers School
Train to teach with the Nottinghamshire Torch SCITT