Dear Parents and Carers,
As we reach the end of what has been a very busy and purposeful half term, I want to thank you for your continued support and share some important updates from across the school.
Our Year 11 and Year 13 students have now completed their mock examinations. The next phase will be a real push towards the summer exams, and it is vital that students make full use of the advice from staff, attend every lesson and take up the extra intervention sessions on offer.
Attendance remains one of the most critical factors in GCSE success. National research is clear:
- Pupils with 95%+ attendance are far more likely to achieve their potential.
- Pupils with 90–94% attendance typically drop at least one grade in multiple subjects.
- Pupils with below 90% attendance often experience a two‑grade drop when compared with similar pupils who attend regularly.
Please continue to support your child in maintaining strong attendance, especially during this crucial period.
This half term, Year 8 had the opportunity to visit Staffordshire University. It has been wonderful hearing them talk so positively about their experience. Trips like this help students think ahead to life beyond 18, raise aspirations and remind them of the power and value of a good education.
Our strategy to move towards becoming a phone‑free school continues to progress extremely well. After the half‑term break, we will begin a series of presentations for parents and pupils to explain the project in full. These sessions will showcase the technology we will be using, outline the rationale and timescales, and provide a clear sense of how the approach will operate in practice.
As I have shared previously, we have a moral duty to protect our students, your children, from the distractions, enticements and potential harms that can arise from social media and unrestricted access to the online world. We see this phone‑free strategy as a daily “firebreak”, helping to temper the addictive pull of social media while supporting healthier habits, boundaries and understanding. We look forward to sharing more details with you soon; together we can make a profoundly positive and lasting difference to the lives of our young people.
Thank you to the parents who attended our Tea, Toast and Talk session this week. We really value these opportunities to get parental feedback. It has also been lovely to receive emails celebrating your children’s achievements outside of school. Please do continue to send these in to: studentsuccess@alsagerschool.org. We love celebrating their successes.
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to mention some fantastic sporting news: two of our former students played for Crewe Alexandra this week alongside Noah in Year 11, who made his senior debut in the Cheshire Cup semi-final, helping secure a win against local rivals Nantwich Town.
As always, thank you for your continued support and I wish you all a restful half-term break.
“Love of kindness, without a love of learning, becomes clouded by foolishness.
Love of knowledge, without a love of learning, slips into empty speculation.
Love of honesty, without a love of learning, turns into harmful bluntness.” (Confucius)
