Headteacher's Blog #32

This Monday marked the end of the school journey for our year 11s, they are my first exam cohort, and it has been inspiring to see them develop over the year. They made huge progress and our exams team have been full of praise for their behaviour and attitude throughout the season.  As one door closes another opens, and our year 10s have begun their mock examinations. I watched, from my break time position on the bridge above the canteen, our young people revising whilst filling up on breaktime carbs. A school career, like a marathon, is about where you finish not where you start and young people, like runners, will regularly hit the wall. It is recovering from these tough periods that builds mental and emotional resilience and helps our young people have prosperous futures.

I reflected this week, as our year 11s cheered and applauded the staff who have guided them through school, that whilst many things have changed others remain eternal. The warmth of relationships between young people and the staff who guide, mentor and develop them is the most rewarding part of the job and is why, for all its challenges, working in schools continues to be a joy. Leading a school is now more assault course than marathon, the obstacles of trying to meet complex needs with ever diminishing resources and ever-increasing expectations, means that making the training regime as simple and clear as possible and creating the safest possible track for our young people to run on is vital. Whilst the finishing line is the same now as it has ever been, the route there is more complex than ever before. Well done to our year 11s for finishing the course and good luck to our year 10s as they approach the finishing line. They make us all proud to be LSA!