Headteacher Update

February 2026

We are just over half way through the academic year and I am conscious that it has been some time since my last update. We continue to ensure access to a range of opportunities and, as usual, so many students get involved; it is wonderful to see them thrive. Just in the last few weeks, Year 9 had a careers Day at the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing Plant, our School of Sanctuary student group attended a Walking With Summit at the Linskill Centre and some of our Young Carers were involved in a project run by Helix Arts. It was also great to see pictures of our Combined Cadet Force’s first exercise at Albemarle Barracks this weekend. As usual, we will share all the amazing experiences in our Spring Newsletter.

Headteacher Recruitment

The process is now underway with interviews taking place on 12th and 13th March. On day 1 candidates will be in school and I am sure that students will be involved as part of the selection process. There has already been a lot of interest in the post, so the Trust are hopeful of a strong field. I will give a further update after the process has concluded.

Behaviour and Attendance Review

As part of the Pele Trust Annual Review Process, the former headteacher of Monkseaton High School, now the School Improvement Lead for the Trust, and the Headteacher of Ponteland High School undertook a review of Behaviour and Attendance. We are delighted with the report, which reflects the daily efforts of all staff around these two areas of the school. The full report can be found on the school website, but some highlights include:

The school’s approach to behaviour has had a notable impact on the overall culture, where staff know, support and care for pupils.

Strong relationships between staff and pupils are at the heart of this. Consequently, pupils report feeling happy and secure. The school environment is typically calm and lessons are settled and purposeful.

Leaders are relentless in their approach to ensure more pupils attend school more often. Pupils understand why attendance is important. As a result, there has been a demonstrable improvement in attendance rates.

We know that some students do not always get things right, but with our understanding of each individual child, the application of our policies (with adjustments where appropriate), and communication with parents and carers we can help remove barriers so that all children feel safe and can thrive.

Lockdown Procedure Update

I wrote to you following the lockdown in early February about my intention to conduct a full review of procedures as a ‘real’ event helps us to understand any weaknesses in the system that a drill could never reveal. Overall, the procedure was effective and the policy was fit for purpose, but the following adaptations have been made:

  • The purchase of a new internal communication system specifically designed for lockdown and other emergency scenarios.
  • Replacement of locks on all classroom doors to ensure that all can be locked.
  • Purchase of additional blinds to reduce visibility of students and staff.
  • Summary flowcharts of procedures within the policy.

Many parents took the time to thank the school for the regularity of communication during the lockdown, although some understandably would have liked more information. Having spoken to other Trust and LA Headteachers and the Trust CEO, I am satisfied that the level of detail was appropriate for the following reasons:

  • Detail could impact on an ongoing police investigation.
  • Due to the changing nature of an ongoing incident, details could be quickly out of date.
  • Avoiding the potential for misinformation.
  • Detail could further increase anxiety amongst children and families, which could lead to people arriving at school, thereby potentially compromising the safeguarding procedures in place during a lockdown.

As a parent, I fully understand that the absence of specific detail can cause concern and distress, but our priority has to be to keep the children and staff safe whilst the Police conduct their operation.

I would hope that we do not have to initiate a lockdown again, but if it was to happen, I would ask that you do not contact the school office as the admin team and senior staff are all involved in a dynamic and fast-moving situation. The guidance is clear that the priority is keeping everyone safe until the lockdown is lifted.

Mobile Phones

There has been much in the press about mobile phones in school and the potential for social media bans for under 16s. We continue to operate our current policy where phones should be in bags throughout the school day and will be confiscated if seen. On the whole this works well, but we are keeping it under review and looking at how other schools operate to minimise the disruption that phones can cause as well as responding to any government guidance.

Please reinforce with your child that if they are unwell they should see their Head of Year or Form Tutor who will then let the office know, and then contact home if necessary.

OFSTED

You may be aware recently OFSTED changed the toolkit that they use for inspection following a review by His Majesty’s Chief Inspector. We have been working through this and self-evaluating against each judgement area as we are in the window for an inspection. Overall, the new toolkit looks like a much fairer process that is a genuine dialogue between inspectors and school leaders that focuses on the following areas:

Inclusion, Curriculum and Teaching, Achievement, Behaviour and Attendance,

Personal development and Leadership and Governance.

Each of these areas will receive a judgment so that parents can more easily see the strengths and areas of relative weakness within a school.  The old judgements of Inadequate, Requires Improvement, Good & Outstanding have been replaced by:

Urgent Attention – Needs Attention – Expected Standard – Strong Standard – Exemplary

The vast majority of schools will receive a mixed profile of the 3 central judgments, Urgent Attention or Exemplary will be much rarer. OFSTED are very keen for parents to understand that Needs Attention is not the same as Requires Improvement, it is simply an area of focus for the school to improve further.

SEND

Finally, we await the publication of the DfE’s White Paper this week, although there have already been a number of leaks and government announcements relating to SEND. It does look like there will be some significant changes to SEND provision in the future, but as with all changes in education, we will look at everything once it has been published and start to navigate our way through ensuring minimum impact on the day to day provision for some of our most vulnerable learners.

Apologies for the lengthy update, but there was much to catch up on. I will make sure that any future updates are more bitesize

Best wishes

Jonathan