Welcome Back
It has been wonderful to welcome all of our learners back to Upton-by-Chester High School and to see the school full once again. A particular highlight of the first week for me was delivering my welcome back assemblies to each of our year groups. It is always a real privilege to have that opportunity to speak directly to our young people at the beginning of a new academic year and to set the tone for what we hope they will achieve over the months ahead.
In our assemblies, we reflected on the incredible achievements of British sprinter Amy Hunt over the summer and considered what we can learn from the preparation, ambition and teamwork that sit behind success at the very highest level. While our learners will all have different goals and ambitions, the principles are very similar. Success rarely happens by accident: it comes from preparing well, setting high expectations for ourselves, responding positively when things are difficult and recognising the importance of the people around us. My message to our learners was that there is so much they can achieve this year if they bring those same qualities to their learning and to school life. I am incredibly excited to see where that takes them and I will be revisiting these ideas in my assemblies throughout the year.
Celebrating our Summer Results
We begin the new academic year following a summer in which we had a great deal to celebrate. Our Year 11 learners achieved an outstanding set of GCSE results, with outcomes amongst some of the strongest in the school's history with more than 80% of learners achieving the expected standard in both English and Mathematics. Alongside some exceptional individual results, we were equally proud of the countless stories of progress, perseverance and personal achievement across the year group.
We were similarly delighted with the achievements of our Sixth Form learners, who celebrated another excellent set of A Level and vocational results. These outcomes reflected the hard work, resilience and ambition of our young people and have enabled them to take exciting next steps, whether through university, apprenticeships or employment. What stood out across both results days was that these achievements were about much more than grades alone. They represented years of hard work from our learners, the expertise and commitment of our staff and, importantly, the encouragement and support provided by families. That partnership between learners, school and home is something we value enormously and something we want to continue strengthening throughout this academic year.
Parent/Carer Information Evenings
One of the first opportunities to build on that partnership will be through our programme of Parent/Carer Information Evenings. These evenings are designed specifically around each individual year group in order that we share with you how we can together support learners at different stages of their journey through Upton-by-Chester High School. The sessions will provide practical information about the year ahead, explain how we will support learners both academically and pastorally, and, importantly, share ways in which parents and carers can support learning, wellbeing and personal development at home.
Our programme begins with Year 12 on Wednesday 9 September, followed by Year 7 on Thursday 10 September, Year 10 on Monday 14 September and Year 11 on Monday 21 September, with our Year 8 evening taking place on Thursday 8 October. Each evening has a slightly different focus appropriate to that stage of a learner's education, from belonging and establishing strong foundations in Year 7 through to developing independence, preparing for GCSE success and making a successful transition into Sixth Form.
Further information about events throughout the term can be found on our webpage.
We very much look forward to welcoming parents and carers to these events. We know that young people are most likely to make great progress, feel happy and thrive at school when there is a strong and positive partnership between home and school. These evenings are therefore not simply about sharing information; they are an important opportunity for us to work together to ensure our learners receive consistent support, encouragement and high expectations throughout the year.
Full details of the evenings, including timings and information about the focus for each year group, can be found on our Parent/Carer Information Evenings page. The presentation slides from each evening will also be added to this page afterwards so that families can refer back to them throughout the year.
