Mr Atkinson's Friday Update 30.06.2023

Dear Parents and Carers,

The weeks are flying past with exams, mock exams, leavers events and our first 'Culture Day'.

The 'Culture Day was a definite success and something that will be happening again next year. The 28 student stalls were a true representation of our school society weather it be Poland, Ukraine, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Lake District, the environment, Fashion , LBGT to name a few! We were also joined by Keenan T and Keenan D-D from Keighley Cougars who Brodie J in Y10 organised to come along to support the day. The the sixth form students also came together as well with another amazing food stall raising money for the Disaster and Emergency Committee. Also a special mention must go to the students doing henna and flag designs on hands, they were non-stop for at least 2.5 hours.

I would also like to share with you the message I sent to all students that evening which encapsulates my thoughts on the day:

Hello to all students,

Firstly a massive thank you to all for your support today in getting our first culture day off the ground.

To those who ran stalls, sold food or hosted events...a massive round of applause to you.

For those who dressed to represent their culture, thank you for adding to the vibrancy of the whole day, I particularly liked the take on 'Agriculture'.

I said we would 'start small', however, it turned out to be bigger than I thought. The middle lunchtime was particularly impressive with over 480 students visiting N6.

Essentially I am immensely proud to see the whole school come together like we did, we are very lucky to have such a diverse school and today would not have been possible at other schools in Bradford, especially one as big as ours.

I am already planning for next year and I am excited that people said they want to be involved now that they have seen it in action...it would be great to have some live music and guest speakers! The next step is also building on the respect for all we saw today and harnessing that at all times...something I have been talking about for the last 18 months.

Finally for those celebrating Eid over the coming days, I wish Eid Mubarak, have a great time with family and friends.

As I said at the beginning of this update the weeks are flying past and looking ahead to next week we have our Transition Event for our future Y7 students on Thursday. Also on Wednesday we have the school musical 'When I Grow Up', who will also be performing to Y7 on Monday and our future Y7's on Thursday. These students have been rehearsing week in, week out and last weekend I enjoyed a Saturday with these students preparing for the show, the cast were amazing and thank you to them, Mrs Oliver, Mr Bellenie and Lilly for giving up their Saturday to rehearse...we enjoyed it so much so we got locked in!

If you would like to see an evening performance of the school production, on Wednesday 5^th July at 7pm in N6, tickets are available from Mrs Parker. Students can collect these from her office, (next to Mr Weston) free of charge, on first come, first serve basis.

Finally I realise over the coming weeks school will become disjointed with different events, therefore if you feel your child may struggle or is struggling with this please do not hesitate to get in contact with us and we will endeavor to ensure the end of term is as smooth as possible with clear information given to them.

Thank you for reading.