Headteacher's Bulletin

I had the absolute pleasure yesterday evening of watching our GCSE music showcase with year 11 students, who performed their practical exam pieces, and some of our year 10 students who took the opportunity of performing in front of an audience. It was a wonderful evening and reminded me of just how talented our students are. 

60 of our year 9s have just had a wonderful opportunity to take part in our annual STEM day where they built working windmills to generate electricity. Our students were amazing, and this was acknowledged by the organisers, who visit many different schools. STEM is a real strength of our school, and this is shown, not only in events like this, but in our ever-popular science club. I was lucky enough to receive my first Christmas gift this week, when the young scientists brought me a homemade bath bomb, learning about the chemical reactions along the way! They are turning into engineers next week, making snow globes and working with liquids and light to make magical scenes. 

At our Meet the Tutor event earlier in the year we advertised our Horizons programme, and all of the wonderful extracurricular clubs on offer, but we also asked what clubs students would like to see in the future. The most popular was a crochet club. Mrs. Agrawal was a willing volunteer to run this, and on Tuesday was the second meeting. Beginners were learning to crochet, and there was a great atmosphere and sense of community. It’s lovely to be able to work together with our students to offer things they are really interested in. 

This week, starting on Thursday, we launched our 12 days of Christmas attendance awards. Students from each year group are entered into a prize draw for each day they are in school and have the chance of winning a prize. With 10 days to go there are plenty more prizes to be won, just for being in school. Well done to the lucky students who have won so far. 

A huge thank you to all parents and staff who donated to our drive for Wrap up London. We had a room full of coats to donate once again, and these have gone off to support those who need it. 

Our GEM programme continues right up until the end of term, and with Mock exams as soon as we get back, it is important that all students attend, with their targeted intervention, a revision session for another subject or study club in the dining room, where, by popular demand there is the incentive of hot chocolate and biscuits to keep everyone warm on these dark evenings! With only 7 sessions to go before the end of term, I am setting all year 11s the challenge of committing to all of these for the rest of term- every opportunity to learn is essential at this stage. 

Finally, I’d like to bid bon-voyage to our 44 year 9 students who are heading to France and Belgium on the WW1 Battlefield trip tomorrow. This is an annual trip from Sunbury Manor and an incredible opportunity. I know that everyone going will have an amazing experience, and there will be plenty of stories and photos for the Sunbury Spotlight. 

Have a great Weekend. 

With the Sunbury Spotlight published last Friday, I have so much to share with you this week. 

I was thrilled to find out that our students’ comments submitted in their Votes for Schools sessions in tutor time were included in the assembly for all schools taking part nationally, not once, but another 2 times. This is incredible, and reaches tens of thousands of students across the country. Speaking to the organisers, they review all of the comments submitted and choose to share the most thoughtful and relevant comments, and were impressed that comments from Sunbury students had been selected three times. 

This week our students competed in the district cross country competition at Hazelwood Centre with students competing in each year group. We had some great results with first place finishes for Sam in year 11 and Sadie in year 9, with Alec in year 10 and Lilly in year 9 finishing second. Zach (year 10), Derrick (year 9), Billy (year 9) and Zack (year 8) all finished in the top 10, and Sunbury Manor managed an overall 4th place- well done to all participants! 

We also, this week, had the Guildford Shakespeare Company perform Macbeth. This is an annual event in our school calendar, and a wonderful way to support students' understanding of the play before the mock exams in January. The production is part of our programme to bring challenging tests to life with Quantum Theatre joining us to perform A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens for year 8 in January and the Guildford Shakespeare Company coming back to work with year 9 students in summer to support their understanding of Romeo and Juliet. 

Continuing on a theatre theme, a group of year 9 students have been working with the Guildford Shakespeare Company on a performance to raise awareness about knife crime, and last week the students performed to a specially invited audience to show their work on this incredibly important topic. 

Following our observation of the two minutes’ silence on Remembrance Day, it was lovely to hear that a Sunbury Manor student had carried the flag for First Sunbury Girl Guides on Remembrance Sunday as one of the patrol leaders for her group. While the student wanted to remain anonymous, we congratulate her on playing such an important role. 

Finally this week, I would like to pass my congratulations on to two of our students, Mackenzie in year 8 and Finlay in year 7 who had trials for Reps Academy who will be taking part in the World Soccer Event in Sweden next year. They were both successful and have been selected for their respective squads. The event is a global stage with teams from across the world. What a superb achievement and opportunity. Well Done! 

Have a lovely weekend. 

On Tuesday it was an honor to stand with our whole school community to observe the 2 minutes silence as part of Remembrance Day. As I would expect and as they always do, students showed absolute respect. We were also pleased for some of our year 11s to join members of the local community at the Sunbury War Memorial, where our head students laid a wreath on behalf of the school. 

I was thrilled this week to be able to send 3 students, Toke, Sharon and Avleed in year 9, to take part in the annual Rotary Youth Speak competition. This is a four round debate designed to support and encourage the development of effective communication skills in young people. This is a competition that Sunbury Manor took part in very successfully for many years, and while we weren’t successful on this occasion, our students delivered engaging speeches and managed challenging debate topics with maturity and confidence. I am so excited to have this back as part of our calendar- bring on next year! 

As a school we know how important it is to encourage sport in all students, but particularly in girls, and this is something Sunbury Manor has a wonderful history in. This continued this week with a group of year 9 girls taking part in the Harlequins switch programme, designed to get girls involved in rugby and increase participation rates in school. The programme also focuses on getting girls active and showcasing the benefits of sport on their well-being. It is great to be able to champion programmes like this in our school. 

Last week I told you about the launch of our GEM programme for year 11, and this week we had our first targeted sessions- I personally took one of the maths sessions, with 13 enthusiastic year 11s, there to make sure they get the extra marks they need to secure their grades come the summer exams. This was alongside 3 other groups taking place at the same time. I have always said that I want our students to want to learn, to value the extra time and reap the rewards, rather than for this to be compulsory. The students certainly didn’t let me down, with the vast majority of students who were invited attending their targeted GEM sessions, and many more attending other revision sessions or study club as part of the wider GEM programme. I have no doubt that we will see students achieving those grades they need in the Summer. 

Finally this week, I have really enjoyed hearing about the real positives that come out of our day-to-day lessons. Miss Batten was telling me about seeing the year 9 cheesecakes they had been baking in food technology that they were so thrilled to show her and Miss Dixon; seeing the year 11 maths students be able to do algebra they never thought they would master, and seeing our year 7s so proud of the work they had produced in geography. I wanted to take a moment to really appreciate what goes on across the school every day and the work that all of our staff put in- thank you. 

Have a great weekend. 

As ever, it has been a busy week back after half term at Sunbury Manor. After a refresh and rest, we have had another push on behaviour standards this week while we are forever striving to be the very best and ensure that all students can learn and achieve. Line ups have been our focus- working with students to line up on time, and be ready to go into their lessons and learn, and this extra push has made sure that students are in their lessons learning as quickly as possible. We made the decision at the end of last half term to take away the bells from during the day, which we felt were more distracting than helpful. While we will review this decision in due course, it has made for a calmer school. I had to laugh when a student asked me how they would know if they were late to lesson, to which I replied they would just have to get there as quickly as possible and it wouldn’t be a problem!  

Having completed the first set of mocks in the core subjects, it is now time to take another step up with year 11 and what we are doing to support them in securing the best possible grades in the summer. This week we launched our GEM programme! This stands for ‘Get Extra Marks’. While we know that there is far more to a child’s education than preparing them for exams, we also know the difference that grades can make to the opportunities and choices that will be available to them next year. This means that we are expecting all of year 11 to be in school for the GEM session each evening Tuesday to Friday until 4pm. This will look a bit different for each student: Some will have targeted maths and English intervention starting from next week- more to follow to parents of these students, with other subjects to be added over the next couple of weeks. Where not in these sessions students can attend a revision session in one of their subjects, with a variety on each evening, or if these don’t apply, students can attend study club to complete independent revision. With only limited time available, it is vital that all students are maximising their study time. 

We are pleased to once again be supporting Wrap Up London. If you aren’t aware, this is a project to provide coats to people across the UK who struggle to keep warm in winter months. If you would like to donate a coat, please drop any donations off in school- students can take them to Reverend Wood’s office. The deadline is 28th November. 

I would like to congratulate the students who received the attendance prizes for the first half term: Oscar and Courtney in year 7, Summer and Farida in year 8, Eva and Reggie in year 9, Beau and Lacey in year 10 and Ethan and Raphel in year 11. These students were selected out of a hat from all the students who had outstanding attendance. Well done and keep up the good work. On that note, I would like to remind parents that we are only able to authorise term-time leave for students in exceptional circumstances- more details are available here. 

Finally, I would like to congratulate Teddy who was selected to join MS Lions academy over the half term break as their academy represented England in the invitational Barcelona cup 2025. Teddy and the team won the competition against teams from across Europe. Teddy finished the tournament as the joint second top scorer, with 5 goals to his name! What an incredible achievement for this young man! 

We have managed to reach the end of the half term, and what a half term it has been. A visit from Ofsted, open evenings and tours for prospective parents, mock exams, trips, tournaments, clubs and of course the teaching of incredible lessons. While it has flown by, I think we all, students and staff alike, are looking forward to a well-deserved rest. 

This week has been a lovely week of celebration, as we held rewards events for students. On Thursday we had a breakfast for selected year 10 and 11 students and today we had a tea party for key stage 3 students. These students were selected because they do the right thing every day. They are not always the students who get our attention, but we wanted to recognise those students who really demonstrate our school values in everything that they do. These were lovely events, and a real highlight of my week. 

I have spoken about our Horizons enrichment programme, launched this year before, and it has been a pleasure to watch it grow in such a short time. 60% of students have attended at least one club this half term, which is fantastic. We will be continuing to encourage and reward students for participating in this vital part of the curriculum, and I’m hoping to see even higher numbers next half term. 

As you know I have been teaching year 11 maths this year, and it has been lovely to be back in the classroom, supporting our students, however today some were a little distracted. This was because they had their biology lesson straight afterwards, where they were about to be dissecting sheep hearts (or model ones for those who preferred), and seeing the excitement in the students at this form of learning was a joy... I’m afraid that despite my best efforts their work on recurring decimals just wasn’t as exciting. 

We have continued our celebration of Black History Month this week, with the science department conducting a competition trail, with posters of famous Black scientists dotted around the school. Pupils used clues to figure out the names of 11 pioneers such as Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, whose work laid the groundwork for modern communication technology, including those smart phones in our pockets! 

I have spoken before about the work that MCR pathways do with our young people and the amazing impact that it has. On Wednesday, 6 students visited Riverside Pottery in lower Sunbury to begin a course in ceramics with local artist Jules Whitrod. Students demonstrated the school values with pride and enjoyed creating their own pinch pots and learning to throw pottery on a potters’ wheel. Jules contacted the school to compliment the commitment and enthusiasm of our students- what an amazing experience. 

Finally, this week, I’d like to congratulate Layla in year 11, who has just been accepted into the Artemis College of Performing Arts. She will be attending from September to study musical Theatre. You may have seen Layla performing at one of our concerts, shows or celebration evenings- a truly talented performer, and one to watch for the future. 

Wishing everyone a wonderful half term! 

With the penultimate week of the half term complete, I know that staff and students alike are looking forward to the final week of half term and a well-deserved rest. Having said that, it has been a great week at Sunbury Manor with so much to tell you about. 

Earlier in the term I told you about a new initiative we had signed up to called Votes for Schools, which is a platform that supplements our character development programme, providing resources for assemblies and tutor times where students then get to vote on their thoughts on the topic. This contributes to a national picture including thousands of other young people across the country. Students also submit comments to justify their thoughts, and a comment is chosen from the nation and sent to schools nationally. We set a challenge to our students to get a comment published this year, and they have achieved this in the first half term. Their thoughtful comments about the question “should respect orders apply to 16-year-olds?” were seen by thousands of students this week! 

This week, Reverend Wood met with members of the school council from years 8, 9 and 10 to discuss a wide range of topics, including our new Horizon’s enrichment programme, safety in school, celebrating diversity and what leads to good learning. The comments from students have been truly impressive, the thoughtful and mature ideas as well as willingness to contribute to wider discussions. Years 7 and 11 are meeting next week, and we will share some of the views once we have them from all year groups. 

We have been working to diversify our curriculum across the school, but as we are in Black History Month, subject areas have been hosting some specific lessons and events, including exploring the importance of Anansi myths to cultural heritage in year 7 and learning about the lives of Black British people in the Edwardian Era. During tutor time everyone had the opportunity to learn about the influence of multiculturalism on fashion and share their opinion on whether fashion can teach us about Black history. 

Some other incredible lessons have been taking place this week across the school, including fish dissections in year 11 biology, with students removing the lens of the fisheye and using it to magnify newspaper writing. In music, year 7 have made some great progress with the theme of rhythm this term, enjoying turning their chairs into drums this week! 

I would like to take this week to celebrate one of our year 11 students, Dara, who as one of our star musicians of upper school came along to the year 7 band to see, in his words “Sunbury's future musicians”. One of our year 7 students, Daniel is a fellow drummer, and Dara took it upon himself to mentor him, providing motivation and working together- a true display of all of our school values! 

Please see below some information that might be of interest, and have a fantastic weekend. 

National Parent Week : Keeping Children Safe Online By Police - South East Cyber Crime Unit 

Part of the The Digital Dilemma: Keeping Children Safe Online collection 

Protect yourself and your family with this engaging session designed to help your loved ones thrive in the digital age. 

Key Topics Include: 

• Spotting Online Threats  
• Social Media Safety 
• Parental Controls 
• Gaming 
• Cybersecurity Essentials 

For tickets: 

National Parent Week : Keeping Children Safe Online Tickets, Tue, Oct 21, 2025 at 10:30 AM | Eventbrite 

I was shocked today when one of my colleagues reminded me that there is only 2 weeks of the half term left- time really is flying! It's been a wonderful week at Sunbury Manor as this week the senior team and I were dropping in to lessons across the school to see all of the amazing teaching and learning going on. While I talk about all of the other essential areas of school life often, it is important to remember that our core purpose is to educate, and watching lessons from GCSE PE and sports science, to practical lessons in food and nutrition; science lessons and Spanish lessons, it’s been fantastic to see students learning, engaged and enthusiastic about their lessons. 

Of course, for our year 11 students the focus is making sure they are taking every opportunity to maximise their progress. It was incredible to see how many are taking this so seriously, with a packed-out room for Mrs Isa’s science revision lesson the other day, and I know that English and maths have had similar results. This is in addition to Study Club, which is becoming more and more popular as the exams get closer, and is available to all every evening Tuesday to Friday. We have core mock exams next week, and I am looking forward to seeing how students perform, both as headteacher and as a teacher of year 11- a special shout out to my year 11 class, who have been working incredibly hard on some challenging maths! 

Last night we had our annual meet the tutor evening, and it was lovely to meet and greet so many parents as they arrived to find out how their children had settled into the new school year. The evening was incredibly positive. We also had our post 16 providers fair for year 11s and others to discuss options once they leave Sunbury Manor. A big thank you to all providers who came. 

There have been plenty of sporting achievements this week. On Wednesday, our year 11 boys won the Spelthorne 6-a-side football cup- Well done! This week we also took 10 of our hopeful Wimbledon ball boys and ball girls to ALETC Centre to experience what it will be like to train with the Wimbledon trainers. The students represented Sunbury Manor incredibly well, taking on feedback and practicing the skills they will need to succeed later in the year. A huge congratulations to Charlotte in year 10 who has been successful in her trials for Surrey Under 16s Rugby Team, a year early! In lessons, our year 7s have been having their first dance lessons in PE, and Miss Batten had several comments at Meet the Tutor evening that some students have been going home to teach the whole family. I think we need some video evidence! 

Today we also had another visit from our MP, Lincoln Jopp, who met with our Chair of Governors. He has been to the school a number of times, and it is wonderful to have his support in our local community. 

Finally this week, a massive congratulations to one of our year 7 students, who was presented with a Kids in Care Award. This is an award presented to children in care who have achieved over the last year. We are very proud, and a big well done. 

Have a lovely weekend. 

It’s a bit of a damp end to what has been an otherwise sunny week at Sunbury Manor. However, we would never let the rainy skies bring us down or stop any of the wonderful things going on in school.  

Clubs continue to thrive this year, and a big thank you to all of the staff running activities at lunchtime and after school, but a particular thank you to Mrs Squires who has worked tirelessly to co-ordinate this offer. Please do have a look at September’s Sunbury Spotlight, available here, where you will find a full timetable of activities. Not least of these is our production of Oliver, with rehearsals continuing, and I have just agreed to extend our stage as we have such a large cast taking part this year. A number of departments have also been taking the opportunity to consider Black History Month, with the key stage 3 art club drafting their BHM posters to display around school, and the English department preparing for a treasure hunt to learn about important figures from history. 

To help support further enrichment as well as sports opportunities within the curriculum, construction of our new games courts began this week- there is some short term disruption while this is built, but it will then provide an area for tennis, netball and basketball- something many students have been asking for throughout last year! I know Mrs Keith and the whole PE department are very excited to use this new facility. 

While we rightly have a big focus on our academic subjects due to the opportunities success in these areas provides, we also embrace our more vocational offer. One of our more popular subjects each year is child development, and Miss Bown does an amazing job leading this area of the school. As of this week, all of our year 11 students have completed their child observations, an important part of the course for the assessments. Some of our students decided for themselves to arrange this in a nursery setting and we have had nothing but positive feedback from all the nurseries they attended, including one who said our students “were a delight and a real credit to Sunbury Manor”, which is always wonderful feedback. 

We have been lucky enough to secure a programme for our year 9 students to raise awareness about knife crime, and this started this week. This included a talk for all year 9s and the beginning of workshops with the Guilford Shakespeare Company where students looked at extracts from Romeo and Juliet using prop weapons. Next week they will be looking at stage combat with film and TV professionals! This is a great opportunity for young people to look at an extremely serious issue through a different lens. 

Finally, please do keep pushing year 11 students to attend after-school study club and revision sessions, ready for the core mock exams in just 2 weeks' time. This will help build the right habits going forwards, and ready for after half term when there will be more targeted intervention support to help all students make the necessary progress. 

Have a great weekend! 

It has been nice this week to really settle into the term and see how some of the tweaks and changes we made to start this year are unfolding and supporting our students to succeed. Moving to a 1-week timetable has really shown benefits for teachers getting to know their classes, and for students getting into their routines, and the added transition time between lessons has seen students maximising lesson time to make the most progress possible. 

This week we had our first raising standards evening for year 11 parents, which was very well attended. This was an opportunity for parents to get information and advice about how best to support their children through what will be a challenging year, but also an opportunity to really work hard to achieve the best possible grades. This was the launch of our raising standards programme for year 11 this year, with far more to come, including targeted intervention sessions after school, holiday revision, resources. Our study club is open to all year 11 students Tuesday to Friday in the dining hall, where students can do revision of their choice, and many subjects have already started subject specific revision.  

Following the launch of Sunbury Horizons, our enrichment programme, it has been wonderful to see and hear about all of the activities already started around the school. Lunch time activities, including basketball and table tennis have been very well attended, and these are open to all; we have creative writing club, science club and debate clubs already started, and of course rehearsals for Oliver are well underway with our biggest cast to date- what a spectacle this will be. As well as clubs and sports, our co-curricular offer is also underway, with a trip to High Ashurst as part of the sports studies course taking place over the next couple of weeks, and on Tuesday we have a workshop for all of year 9 taking place to raise awareness about knife crime. These are essential parts of students’ education, planned to supplement the more traditional lesson activities. 

Following our incredibly positive open evening last week, we had our first open morning of the year, welcoming families from prospective parents in to take a tour of the ‘school in action’ as well as to ask any questions. Monday’s tour was fully booked, as were the tours taking place over coming weeks, so we have opened up more slots for parents to book onto. It is very exciting to see families so keen to come and see what is going on at Sunbury Manor, and I am proud to say how impressed visitors are when they see the school. 

As well as all these exciting things going on, we, of course, continue with our day-to-day lessons, and we are aware of how important that consistency and routine are in ensuring that the most productive learning happens, so this week has been focused on students in lessons, and setting our routines and expectations. It has been lovely to walk around the school and see all the amazing lessons going on, seeing year 11 focused and driven, seeing year 10 settling into their GCSEs, and our new year 7s getting to grips with secondary school and being challenged to expand their thinking in new subjects. With options coming up this year for year 9, seeing students embrace subjects, like the new topic of musical theatre in their music lessons means they will be in a great place to make a well informed decision come next term! 

Finally, I wanted to take a moment to celebrate one of our students’ achievements: Liam in year 11 won the under 16 pool championship at the Conservative Club in lower Sunbury. A fantastic achievement and a great demonstration of how broad our students’ talents are! 

Have a great weekend! 

Every week at Sunbury Manor is a busy one, but this week was truly packed. As you will know, we had a visit from OFSTED this week. This is a standard monitoring visit, where the inspectors, rightly, come and check on how well the school is progressing since our full inspection in May 2024. I will be able to tell you more about what they have said when the report is published in a few weeks' time, but we welcomed their visit, and I am hoping to share some positives about the progress the school is making. 

The visit coincided with our open evening for prospective parents and students, and it was lovely to welcome some existing parents as well. It was a wonderful event, with hundreds of families coming to see what Sunbury Manor has to offer. I spoke to parents in the hall, alongside two of our year 8 students, who talked about their experiences as students new to the school last year, and our two head students who spoke about the incredible opportunities they have had in their years at Sunbury Manor. It was a truly special evening. 

We are delighted to introduce Horizons – our exciting new enrichment programme designed to take learning beyond the classroom. Horizons is built on the belief that education is not confined to textbooks and timetables. It’s about discovering passions, building character, and developing skills that last a lifetime. Through a rich blend of extra-curricular and co-curricular opportunities, including trips and visits, teams and performances, Horizons offers something for everyone. It encourages every student to explore new interests, challenge themselves, and grow in confidence. 

Our aim is for every student to take part in a diverse range of activities that complement their learning and broaden their horizons. We will shortly be adding the full timetable of regular activities to our website, and parents will receive an email with links to this page, where details of all ongoing events, competitions and trips will be published. We encourage you to support your child in making the most of these exciting opportunities. Mrs Squires has been appointed to lead our enrichment programme and this brings a whole new approach to ensuring that Sunbury Manor students have the widest array of opportunities possible. 

This week, while everything else was going on, our music and drama departments also found the time to hold auditions for our spring musical, Oliver. An incredible 56 students auditioned, and rehearsals are starting next week. This stands to be an incredible show, and our productions are one of our flagship events, not to be missed! 

With plenty going on in weeks to come please do keep an eye on emails so nothing is missed. Next Thursday we have our first Year 11 raising standards evening for parents of year 11, with vital information about this year, strategies to support your children’s progress and advice on ensuring they stay well during such a stressful year. Please do make sure you have signed up. 

To finish I just wanted to pass on a message from our catering manager. We had some issues with our tills last week as a result of an update from a third-party provider. They did eventually manage to resolve the issue, but our catering team are now entering all of the past transactions by hand. The catering team wanted to thank and congratulate the students for their patience, all of whom showed real understanding and maturity! All transactions will be up to date shortly- they may look a little odd, but all of the costs should be correct- please do let us know if you think there are any genuine errors. 

As we continue with our great start to the year across the school, please do congratulate your children for showing such commitment to our school community and living up to the Sunbury standards. 

Have a lovely weekend. 

I’d like to welcome everyone back to the new academic year and my first Bulletin of the year. What an incredible week we have had at Sunbury Manor this week. Students have returned ready to learn, engaged, happy and there is a real sense of purpose around the building. Attendance in this early part of the term has been great, putting us in the top 20% of schools nationally for these first few days back. Let’s keep that up and strive for even better! Our new year 7 students have also started incredibly well, and I see a sea of happy smiling and engaged faces as I walk around the school and pop into lessons.

I’m particularly proud of our new year 11 cohort, who have returned to school showing a real sense of ambition and determination. This year I am getting back into the classroom, and taking a year 11 maths class, and my class has started in spectacular fashion. I have been incredibly impressed with their attitude in class, and I know that this is replicated in classes across the school. I have no doubt that year 11 will leave with fantastic outcomes.

We have already had our first trip of the year to Wentworth Golf Club for 14 lucky year 8s, chosen for their commitment and dedication in PE last year. Students had a fantastic day seeing a range of celebrities compete with professional golfers. We have also had a great start to a new offering at lunchtime, aiming to get more students involved in sport in their free time, with basketball and table tennis taking place each lunchtime, open to all. Many students are thrilled at the additional opportunity to get involved, and this is just the start of our exciting new enrichment offering- more to come over the next weeks!

I am also thrilled to announce that, once again, Sunbury Manor has been invited to submit students for trials to become a ball boy or ball girl at Wimbledon for the 2026 championships- an incredible opportunity. Training starts for year 9 and 10 students after school next Thursday, and we will be training hard to have as many successful students as possible!

I’d like to take a moment to offer some congratulations to both current students and alumni! Layla in year 11 and Noah in year 9 will both be starring in the production of School of Rock, taking place at the Ronda McGaw Theatre in October half term- an amazing opportunity, do get your tickets- available here. And we recently heard from Strodes College that several of our former students were successful in the recent prize giving. Congratulations to Caitlin, who won the Sportswoman of the Year award; Lilly, who won The Strode’s Foundation Academic Achiever's award and Rebekah, who won The Michael Craig Prize for Excellence in Humanities award. It is wonderful to hear about the successes of our past students- please do pass on any information or get in touch if you know of or are yourself a former student of Sunbury Manor.

Finally, I would like to invite all parents to our open evening taking place on Wednesday, 17^th September at 5.30. While the event is aimed at parents of year 6 students, all are welcome, and I encourage you to come and have a look at some of the changes and improvements that have taken place at Sunbury Manor. This stands to be one of our flagship events and I am incredibly excited to welcome members of the community into the school and speak to all about what happens here at Sunbury Manor. A reminder that there is a late start for all students the following day, Thursday 18^th September, with doors open at 9.30am, line up at 9.45am for a 9.50am start for period 2.

I hope you all have a lovely and restful weekend.

As the penultimate week of term draws to a close, it has been non-stop at Sunbury Manor, trying to squeeze everything in before the end of term.

Year 10 have been completing their speaking and listening endorsement- a required part of their GCSE English course. They approached it maturely and really pushed themselves to learn and present their speeches with confidence. The English team were overwhelmed with the range of topics and interests presented. It is especially brilliant to hear so many of them speak about aspirations for themselves, their communities and society.

The Science department held our wildlife photography competition, and there were some truly spectacular entries. All winners will receive a genuine signed book by Sir David Attenborough, along with house points. In addition, our first-place winner is set to receive a personalised letter from Sir David Attenborough in the coming weeks, as well as an extra science prize. Well done to everyone who took part.

Our year 9 boys took part in the district cricket final against Thamesmead School, and the boys were victorious! Well done to the whole team, but special mention to Yuvraj, who scored 26 runs and Adayhan who scored 22, putting us on track to take the win.

On Thursday I had the pleasure of attending our summer music concert. There were performances from our year group bands, the choirs and solo performances. Music was very important to me when I was at school, so I know the impact it can have, and our students did us proud. It’s also incredible to see the progress students are making as they progress up the school, even in just the year I have been here. It was also wonderful to see one of our year 11 students returning to perform at Sunbury manor for the final time. The range of music was amazing, even including some original songs. Thank you to all of our musicians, and of course all of our incredible staff who put everything together, with special thanks to Miss Bishop!

Through this week we had our year 10 geography students out on their required field trip- a big undertaking for the department to co-ordinate. The weather stayed fine for them, although in the heat I think some would have been grateful for a shower of rain or two.

Finally, today, we had one of my favourite and most pleasurable events of the year, which was to interview students for the roles of Head Students and Deputy Head Students. We interviewed 11 students, and truly I would have been proud to appoint any one of them to represent our school. They did themselves proud and talked so passionately about how they would represent the school, some of the incredible leadership and other achievements they have had in the past and what they would like to see change for the school going forward. All of them spoke about how important they feel it is to improve the school further, not for their own benefit but for the benefit of younger students to come. I was so impressed that I decided to create a new council of student leaders and invited them all to be part of it- responsible for leading the student voice, events, initiatives and improvements. I am looking forward to developing this further as we go into next year. The final choices for Head Students and Deputy Head Students will be announces formally next week once we have had a chance to speak to all of the students.

Finally, please do watch out for our new ‘Sunbury Spotlight’ newsletter, launching next week. If you haven't already, please do complete our parent survey, sent in my end of term letter earlier in the week, and available here. Student timetables are now available on Arbor for next year, so please do feel free to have a look, and we will also give paper copies to all students next week so they can be ready to learn when we return in September.

Have a great weekend!

Another week draws to a close and we get ever closer to the summer break. It has been a challenging week in school due to the heat at the start of the week, but I would like to sincerely thank parents for your support in communicating to your children our messages regarding the uniform. Students were incredibly sensible in wearing PE kit for Monday and Tuesday and then returning to our normal standards for the rest of the week. I am aware there are some more hot days approaching, and I will send out communication next week if we are moving back to PE kit on any of these days. I will also be working with SLT to review whether we need a more formal ‘summer uniform’ ready for next year. I am keen for students (and staff!) to be comfortable and able to learn, but it is also essential that we maintain our standards at this crucial time for the school. 

It has been another packed week this week. We had our wonderful new cohort of students with us on Tuesday and Wednesday, and what a fantastic couple of days it was. I managed to visit all of the tutor rooms on the second day to check in with the students and they were without exception so excited to be joining us. They got a real “big school” experience, with lessons in subjects from art to science, DT to RE, history to music. We finished with a mini sports day, and the excitement was overwhelming- possibly even more so from our year 9 helpers; the competitive spirit is alive and well at Sunbury Manor! 

This week we also had 20 students from years 9 and 10 take part in Jamie Oliver’s world record attempt to get as many students as possible from around the world making the same pasta dish at the same time. The current record stands at 7000... we are waiting to hear if we broke the record. It was particularly impressive from our students considering the kitchen was 35 degrees on the hottest day of the year! 

Some special mentions for a few students this week: 

• Two year 8 students, Timmy and Antonia, have had their creative writing entries chosen for publication by the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Their writing was based on the book ‘Coram Boy’ which they read outside of school time. This was part of the ‘Reading Teachers=Reading Pupils’ programme, brought to us by Miss Benson. What an amazing achievement for these students to have published work. 

• I’d also like to congratulate Ewan in year 10, who I have mentioned before as representing Sunbury Manor as a Ball Boy at Wimbledon this year. He has been selected for show court training and will hopefully be working on Courts 1, 2 or even Centre Court. An amazing achievement and we will be watching out for him! 

• Tiara in year 9 had the opportunity to support at the Spelthorne Business Plan Competition 2025, a yearly ‘Dragons Den’ style event for local entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas. Tiara was amazing in supporting the event, which was attended by the Local MP and Global businesses. Thank you to Mrs Howard, our MCR Pathways co-ordinator for making this happen! 

In the last week of term we will be having a science fair. Year 7 and 8 students have been working on their projects over the last couple of weeks and have come up with some amazing ideas to investigate. Most are now analysing their data- who knows, may be the next big scientific breakthrough will come from Sunbury Manor! Particular thanks goes to our science technician Miss Anita, who has drawn on her extensive science background to organise this fantastic event. 

Finally this week, I must draw your attention to our summer concert, taking place on 10^th July. Students can collect tickets for themselves and parents from the music department, and they are free. Don’t miss out! 

Have a great weekend! 

Another week closer to the end of term, but there is no slowing down at Sunbury Manor. We have been trying to squeeze as much as possible into the last few weeks to give students as many opportunities as possible, as well as getting ready for September. 

This week we have had some fantastic events. On Thursday evening I had the great pleasure of attending my first Sunbury Manor Prom, and I must say that the year 11s didn’t disappoint. There was dancing (strangely enough to songs from my youth- is that what is popular these days?!), gowns galore, celebration, awards, and the entrances had to be seen to be believed- a truck, a party bus, a motorbike, and if you can believe it, even a ghostbuster!! Fun was had by all, and it was lovely to see year 11 let their hair down and enjoy themselves. 

We have had a number of trips this week. On Monday students headed to Brooklands Museum for their event Celebrating Women in STEM Day. The objective of the day is to attract more women into the fields of science, technology, engineering and Maths- areas typically underrepresented. Students were impeccable throughout, and a big thankyou to Reverend Wood for organising the trip. 

Today it was the turn of the year 7s, when the whole year group went to Hampton Court Palace for a special day of culture. There was a tour of the grounds, jousting, archery and even a chance to sample some of the traditional foods. Well done to all- a wonderful opportunity. While there are too many people to thank here, a special thank you goes to Mrs Riley who organised the trip. 

Meanwhile there has also been plenty going on in school. We had the wonderful year 5 class from Hawkedale Primary School in on Wednesday to experience our DT department, making biscuits and packaging. It’s fantastic to be able to invite in local primary children to make use of our facilities, as well as getting a little taste of secondary life. 

Congratulations to year 10 who had their second week of mock exams this week. The year group has done really well in their first real exam experience, and we have made sure they have had the chance to really practice what it will be like in 11 months' time when they sit the real exams- this is so important to ensure they are fully prepared going into next year. I have no doubt that they will hit the ground running and secure some fantastic results. 

Year 8 have been showing creativity and passion in music, composing their own protest songs, using music to express their feelings towards certain issues in our world, tackling discrimination, climate change and knife crime- inspired by the visit from Charlie’s Promise earlier in the term. Just one example of how we intertwine our curriculum to build students’ understanding of the world around them.  

Year 7 have also been tackling a very topical issue, delivering presentations on sun safety, showcasing the presentation projects they have been working on in life skills. This provided students with an opportunity to integrate classroom learning with independent research, demonstrating understanding of sun safety while practising communication skills. 

Finally this week, a big congratulations to Mylo in year 9, who has been selected to join the Developing Player Programme at Harlequins ruby next season- a fantastic achievement!! 

Have a lovely weekend! 

It has been an incredible week at Sunbury Manor, with more going on than I will be able to fit in this bulletin. 

This week we held one of our flagship events, with our Celebration of Achievement evenings taking place for key stage 3 on Wednesday, and key stage 4 on Thursday. This is a favourite event of the year for all at Sunbury Manor, and it was a true joy seeing students so proud to be recognised for their successes this year. Whether they were in year 7, receiving an award in their first year of Sunbury Manor, or year 11, awarded for their achievements as they leave us and move on to the next stage of their journey, everyone was thrilled to be there and celebrating together. It wasn’t only parents of award winners who attended, but we had many of our governors; headteachers of local primary schools, coming to see their pupils from previous years receive awards; and even Lincoln Jopp, local MP was there to help our community celebrate. They truly were wonderful evenings. 

On Thursday we also had our annual year 6 tea party. This is a very special event that we run to support any students who are joining us in September but who may not know anyone else coming- perhaps because they are the only child joining us from their primary school, or they have just moved to the area. It was lovely to be able to speak to some of the parents of our incoming year 7s and have some of their questions answered, and to meet some of our new students. The children were put into groups to make some new friends, supported by some of our existing year 7s, and were challenged to make a tower out of lolly sticks to see which could hold the most weight. One of the entries was able to support Mr Cottle’s entire body weight- don't worry Mr C. I won’t say how much that is, but needless to say it was very impressive! 

This week was the year 9 and 10 district athletics competition, and our students did us proud representing the school, with the year 10 boys finishing district champions- Incredible! Particular mentions go to Sam in year 10, winning the 1500m (by 100m!); Alice in year 10 won javelin and Discus, continuing her streak having won every year since joining us; and Oscar in year 10 won the boys 100m and 200m race. This was a particular achievement as Oscar won the races in year 7, but suffered an ACL tear, so was particularly keen to get back on top! Other winners include Lara in year 9, for both long jump and high jump; Ronnie in year 10 for 800m; Emmanual in year 10 for Discus, Landon in year 9 for javelin, Lukas in year 10 for shot put and Will in year 9 for 300m. All absolutely amazing achievements, well done! 

With year 11 exams finished we began the year 10 end of year exams, and these will continue for 2 more weeks. This is our first set of mock exams, and the grades from these will help to inform us of the priorities going into year 11 for all the year 10 students. Students have already shown commitment and responsibility, taking the exams very seriously, and it’s great to see groups of students working together with their flashcards, revising and preparing for these exams. I’m very much looking forward to seeing their results. Our departments are already putting in place levels of support to help students achieve their best, for example in science Mr Abukar has been running ‘project inspire’ for selected students to help reinforce knowledge and develop scientific skills. 

Finally, this week, well done to prize winners in the science model cell competition, where pupils were challenged to make a 3D model cell from materials of their choice. 1st prize went to Millie in year 7, well done. 

A big thank you from me to all parents for your support in the warm weather. The heat is challenging for us all, but students have shown resilience and made sure that their learning has not suffered as a consequence. We made some minor adjustments to uniform expectations today, but return to our normal standards on Monday when it is expected to cool down. We will keep this under ongoing review. 

Have a lovely sunny weekend!

It is a rather warm afternoon at Sunbury Manor as I write to you today, and I’m sure that there will be more warm days to come over the next few weeks. Well done to all students for managing themselves in the heat. Please do remind your children to bring water bottles, stay hydrated and also to manage their time to make sure they have enough time to refill bottles when needed throughout the day. 

After focusing on year 9 for their options process (final subject allocations will be sent out soon) and of course year 11 who are now coming to the end of their exams, it is now time to shift our focus to year 10, who not only will be heading into their final GCSE year in September, but who will have the difficult task of deciding where they will progress to once their time at Sunbury Manor comes to an end. This week we had a guest from Logic Studio School speak to the students about what their options are, how they might make their decisions, and the importance of choosing subjects and courses in which they will succeed. It is so important that students make informed choices at this essential point in their education. We will have more visits later in the term from various colleges and providers as well as many other events in the autumn term, so that students have all the information they need to start their applications. 

Ten of our year 9 students were privileged to take part in the Cop Cup 2025, a rounders competition run by Spelthorne neighbourhood police team. The students played enthusiastically, but unfortunately didn’t quite take the win on this occasion. Lara, in year 9, was, however, awarded the Tom Lovell prize for sportsmanship, selected from all the students there. This is an incredible achievement, and a huge well done to her as well as all the students who took part. 

Our science department continues to lead the way in the celebration of students’ engagement with the subject, rewarding students who complete the most questions on the Educake platform. Winners receive prizes as well as house points. Please do encourage your children to bring out their competitive spirit to see if they can win a prize. I will include names of winners in future bulletins. 

I have spoken before about the incredible partnership we have with MCR pathways in school. This week our pathways co-ordinator, Mrs Howard, and Mrs Sheppard took 4 year 10 students on a trip to CVC Capital Parners, based in St James Square in London. They learnt about business investment, and were absolutely amazing, winning the warmup activity against 20 other schools and were outstanding representatives of our school. 

I would also like to take the opportunity to celebrate Jayden in year 9, who won the Barbara May Cup in darts at the Sunbury Royal British Legion. This was a charity event held in memory of one of the former members who passed away, and is open to all, so an incredible achievement for this young man, and for a wonderful cause. 

Finally, from me, as we are coming towards the last few exams for year 11, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank all of our incredible staff for the support and work they have put in for our students over recent months and indeed for the last 5 years; but I would like to particularly thank Miss Page and Mrs Sheppard for their commitment to the students and everything they have done for the class of 2025! 

 

The first week of our final half term has been a busy one at Sunbury Manor. This half term is always an exciting time as with year 11 now on study leave, we have a little more time to really start thinking about our priorities for next year and what we need to do to get ready for September. We are really, now, thinking about the future of Sunbury Manor. 

In a few weeks’ time we welcome our future year 7s into school for two induction days, so they have plenty of opportunity to get to know our routines, standards and what to expect when they arrive in September. Over the next weeks we will also welcome year 5s into school for a number of events to give them some experiences of secondary school before parents are making their choices in just a few months’ time. Speaking of which I will take this opportunity to advertise our year 6 open evening. We are the first local school to host their open evening, with it taking place on September 17th, starting at 5.30pm. If you have children in year 5 we look forward to seeing you then, but also please do let friends and family know. I would also extend the invitation to all of our parents- you can come and see the school, speak to staff, and hear what I have to say. While the evening is aimed at those selecting secondary schools next year, all are very welcome. 

Meanwhile, we continue to support our year 11s, who are coming in for their exams for the next couple of weeks before the excitement of the prom on 26th June- I hope students are focusing on their revision and not what they are going to wear! We have continued to support students, with an English revision session this week between their many exams. 

I am always very proud of the work we do to help educate students where we identify a need. We had two workshops this week, one for year 10 and one for year 9. For year 10s we identified that there was a need to do some work around healthy relationships, and so we invited Surrey Adolescent Services to speak to the year group.  This was well received by students, and I know that this input will help support many of our students. We are always aware that online safety has to be a top priority, and we selected year 9 to receive a talk on this topic. With technology moving so quickly we must always stay vigilant. Please do contact us if you have any concerns around either of these issues. 

Another important event this half term are our Celebration of Achievement evenings, taking place on Wednesday 18th June for key stage 3 and Thursday 19th June for key stage 4. Students were given their invites just before half term, and invites have been emailed to parents. Do check if you have received them as we would love to see you there if your child has been lucky enough to receive an award this year! 

Finally, I’d like to wish Eid Mubarak to all those celebrating this weekend. 

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Well, we’ve reached the end of another half term, with only one to go before the summer holidays. We normally would send out a newsletter on the last day, however, we are going to have some exciting developments with our newsletter before the end of the year to support our communication with parents and help further share all the wonderful things that happen at Sunbury Manor. Watch this space. 

I have had the pleasure of showing a number of people around the school this week, including other headteachers. Without exception they have commented on how positive the school feels and how far we have come in the last year. I am pleased they are seeing the positivity; however, I want to really emphasise that it is our ambition to become a beacon of excellence for schools in this area, and we won’t stop until we achieve this. 

We said a temporary goodbye to our year 11s today, who start study leave and will only return for their exams and a few planned revision sessions. It was an emotional goodbye for a year group who have faces so many barriers to their secondary education, with the pandemic taking hold in year 6 meaning missing out on transition to secondary school, a year 7 taught in bubbles, national staffing shortages in teaching to name a few. I have been extremely proud of how they have coped going into their exams, and I’ve no doubt we will see some fantastic results come August. Well done class of 2025! A huge thank you from me to the year team and tutors who have looked after them and helped get them this far! 

I must give a mention to our science team who have really been going the extra mile to support year 11. With 6 science exams to prepare for it is a huge challenge to get students ready. The science team have hosted a number of final exam preparation sessions, which students have said made a huge difference, and this included a 2-hour revision session on Sunday run online, taking advantage of modern technology to get that final prep in! I know that students were enormously grateful. 

While we often focus on written work in school, we also have some amazing practical work going on. This week, Year 7 enjoyed learning cricket in PE, with everyone playing along and students so excited to cheer each other on. In food there was lots of wonderful work, with year 10 doing food science experiments in preparation for the GCSE work next year; year 9 making healthy chimichangas as an alternative to take-away; and year 8 making low fat, low sugar banana scones.

You may recall that a few weeks ago I wrote to you regarding a change to the length of the school day. This consultation has now closed. Please see the link here with the outcome of this consultation and decision. 

As you will be aware, we continue to have a big push on attendance. Students should be in school every day that school is open. I ask that all parents are familiar with the information here. 

Finally, if you haven’t already, please do follow us on our newly launched social media platforms, where we will be sharing news, celebrations and dates of upcoming events: 

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