Message from Executive Headteacher
As we come to the end of another busy year it’s great to look back and take stock of all the great things we have achieved together as a community and also to look forward to next year and brilliant experiences still to come.
It has been a really good year again at AHS and as I write we have students out on work experience and lots of students enjoying fabulous activities and trips. Our students just love keeping busy. This year we have had so many successful trips and visits for our students. We have been to Iceland, Berlin, Italy for skiing, Normandy, the Lake District, London, and all over Norfolk for curriculum and enrichment trips. All of these experiences happen because we are lucky enough to have such a committed group of staff prepared to give up their time to make them happen. We also have amazing colleagues in our finance and admin teams who support with the organisation. There’s more to come next year so watch this space.
Our sporting fixture calendar has been incredibly busy and we have enjoyed so many great successes. We were most proud of our year 9 touch rugby team who finished fourth in the national finals. It is also wonderful to see our students competing regionally, nationally, and even on the world stage. Lewis Barker in the class of 2025 has recently been part of a winning team and individual bronze winner at the world karate championships in Italy. Once again we are incredibly lucky to have such a hugely dedicated and proactive PE team at AHS. They make so many great things happen for our young people.
We have had so many students successfully complete bronze and silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards this year. It is always a source of joy to see them loaded down with their packs about to embark on the adventure of their expedition. It’s wonderful also to know that prior to their expedition that they have dedicated themselves to learning a new skill and also to volunteering in their community. Mrs Wiseman and her team also have some AHS alumni returning to complete their gold award this summer. Once again our staff are incredibly generous with their time and efforts to make this happen.
Everywhere you look across our curriculum our colleagues are offering enrichment opportunities and chances for students to delve deeper into their learning. In drama, we will have a production of Oliver next summer. In business and enterprise we have our Young Chamber, our enterprise week, and our Boost Day. In languages, we offer Spanish enrichment. Our Greencar team gives those with a passion for engineering the chance to compete. Our food team host the food festival gala dinner. Our art and design and DT teams host an exhibition. Health and social care write cards to the residents of our local care homes. Our nurture and ICE team take part in myriad community projects and keep our allotment beautiful. The list goes on and on. Once again it’s all thanks to our amazing team of teachers, support staff, and community volunteers.
You will have noticed, I hope, a strong thread through everything I have written here. Our amazing staff team. We are very lucky to be fully staffed with specialist teachers across the curriculum. They work incredibly hard on their teaching and care hugely about making every lesson count for our young people. At a time of a recruitment and retention crisis in teaching nationally we have neither at AHS. We have retained our teachers brilliantly and we have recruited really well when we have needed to. They love being part of our community and they love working with your children.
This term we have said goodbye to Dr Sloss, Mrs Reilly, Miss Balfour and Mr Keighley who have completed their time teaching with us. We wish them well for the future and thank them for all they have done for our students and our school community. From our LSA team we say goodbye to Mrs Everson who is off to train to teach and Mrs Plackett who is retiring after a fabulous 15 years at AHS.
We will be welcoming a number of new teachers to AHS in September. In English, we have Mrs Yaxley, Mrs Potter, and Mrs Christie. In maths, we have Miss Taylor and Mr Beaumont-Preston. In science, we have Mr Webb joining us who is a physics specialist who completed his training at AHS. Joining our nurture team we have Mrs Smith and Miss Fradley. In drama Mr Kemp will be joining us to teach key stage 3 drama and in history we have Miss Spink. We wish them all the best for their new posts at AHS.
During our celebration assemblies at the end of term it was fabulous to be able to say well done to our students for what they have achieved across a range of subjects. We also got a chance to have a dip in Mr Bridge’s Big Bonus Bag and the chance to win a Pot Noodle or a telescopic duster. During the assembly I talked to students about the importance of showing gratitude to the people who have helped you. I urged them to thank any of my colleagues who had helped them this year. It makes someone’s day to receive a heartfelt thank you. What was lovely is that so many of our students did just that. They went to their teachers and said thank you. It put a spring in all our steps.
I would like to publicly thank all of my colleagues for the tremendous work they do to support your children day in day out. Whether they be teachers, learning support assistants, our pastoral team, our SEMH team, our admin and finance teams, our catering and premises team I say a huge thank you. We wouldn’t be the community we are without you. Thank you to you our parents and carers for all of your support and understanding. We couldn’t do what we do without your support.
It’s a privilege to lead our wonderful school community and to get to work with brilliant adults and amazing children. I wish you all a very happy and restful summer.
Love and best wishes
Duncan Spalding
Executive Headteacher
