Letter To Parents & Friends of Broadford

It is hard to believe that we are already at the end of the year and that this is the last newsletter I shall write this term. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for helping to make my first year as Headteacher of Broadford such an enjoyable and rewarding one. Your children are an absolute delight to work with every day and I shall miss their company over the next six weeks. Enthusiastic, hardworking, conscientious, polite, appreciative, kind and welcoming: these are the words that come to mind most frequently when I think of how I would describe the pupils here. I swell with pride when I talk to other parents, professionals, colleagues and children about the pupils we have at this school. They have achieved fantastic things this year and the next twelve months will be even better!

As a community of parents, friends and relatives you have been incredibly supportive of the school through what has been a long period of transition. For that I thank you and know with confidence that this support will continue to be a pillar of strength for our school as we improve it further over the years ahead. You have attended the parent meetings, volunteered to help with trips and reading and been very forthcoming with your views on how to make our school better. Please keep this up!

I have been delighted to see the desire you show for this to be a good school. As a parent of two girls I know that you both deserve and rightly expect the best for your children… nothing less. I believe we have made great strides to achieving this over the last eleven months and it will continue to be our focus in the next school year.

In a short space of time we have seen our school emerge from special measures and go on to score some of the best exam results in the school's recent history. Our Year 6 leavers managed to achieve 95% at the right level for Reading, with 50% reaching Level 5! In Maths, we improved from 55% at Level 4 to 82% this year - an uplift of 27%... fantastic. We also managed to have 39% of the pupils achieving the Level 5 in Maths. All year we have shown that the pupils here can hold their own against any in the Local Authority. We had one pupil score 99/100 in his maths and many more score 90+ marks. Our quiz team got through to the semi finals and our spellers achieved well in the Spelling Bee. It goes to prove that academic success is very much within the grasp of all of our pupils. Now we just have to do even better next year.

However it is not just the academics we have developed this year. Theatre workshops, choir performances, sports clubs, coffee mornings, art competitions and many more opportunities have been provided to ensure that the widest possible range of talents are recognised. Every visitor to the school this year has commented on the friendly, caring ethos that pervades the corridors. Everyone is greeted with a smile and a cheery hello from the moment they walk through the front door. It ensures that Broadford is a school where you feel happy and safe coming to work each day, be you a pupil or a member of staff.

When we come back in September the focus will continue to be on ensuring that your children benefit from good teaching throughout the school. To support this the school is investing heavily in resources both indoor and outdoor. New canopies have been ordered for the Year 1 class rooms so that they will be able to make better use of the outside and provide a smoother transition for the pupils as they move up from Reception. Tree seats have been purchased - we expect installation of the first two next week. Of course the new Nursery classroom is emerging from the footings dug over the last three weeks and we will soon be landscaping the new EYFS garden. In addition we have a range of quality training opportunities already booked for the staff in the Autumn term - from which your children will directly benefit.

Joining us in September we have our new EYFS leader Mrs Stanley and two new teachers Miss Fox and Miss Morris. We have every confidence that the training, new staff and improved resources will ensure that your children get an even better deal.

So, thank you for this year, enjoy the break and I look forward to carrying on where we have left off once we get back in September!