Headteacher's Bulletin
Headteachers Bulletin - Friday 13th June 2025
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!
Headteachers Bulletin - Friday 6th June 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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Headteachers Bulletin - Friday 23rd May 2025
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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