Headteacher Update

October 2022

The following email was sent to staff by a member of the senior leadership team this morning and sums up what fantastic students we have here at John Spence!

It’s been a morning of high drama, a missing child, a lost dog and kindness.

Three of our students helped keep a small child safe this morning. The child was very young and wandering the streets, in fact, was out on Beach Road. They (along with 4 Marden students) stayed with him, kept him from wandering off, kept him off the road, rang people for help and came to tell us when they were happy the child had other people looking after him. Well done to Leah, Ruby and Zoe.

In the midst of all this, some of our students rescued a dog from the road outside of school. Well done to Kayden who was patient and kind, looking after the dog when he arrived into school whilst we found the owners.

Thankfully both the child and dog are back with their respective families! 

In the last couple of weeks there has been some confusion around lunchtime arrangements for Year 10, so I thought it was wise to clarify a few points. Firstly, no child is ever refused food, which has been claimed by a small number of students. Year 10 and 11 students have full access to the dinner hall at break and to the pod at lunchtime, with the pod serving the same food as the dinner hall (we do monitor this following some issues last year). Year 10 and 11 students can only purchase their food from the pod at lunchtime, but can come into the dining hall for the last 10-15 minutes to sit down or use the toilets. In response to feedback from some students and parents, we are awaiting installation of side panels to sections of the canopy that covers the tables near the pod to make the area more comfortable during the winter. These arrangements allow us to keep all students on site at lunchtime, which is important from a safeguarding perspective, although an amusing ‘debate’ with some Year 11 students yesterday suggested they would feel perfectly safe going to Morrison’s!

There have been some very distressing stories in the news recently about the impact of knife crime, with the recent murder of a teenager in Gateshead being particularly close to home. In response to this, we have brought in a specialist to speak to Year 8 next week about knife crime as well as to give advice on how to stay safe. The specialist has worked with us before and delivered workshops to whole year groups as well as small groups; students really take on board the messages that he shares. We will continue to deliver sessions like this to help our students understand their responsibilities in their communities.

Finally, the first Annual Awards Ceremony takes place next Thursday at 6pm. Invitations have been sent out and I am delighted that most students and their families who have been invited are able to attend. There will be prizes on the night including donated Lenovo laptops and tickets to see NUFC play Chelsea next month, so if you haven’t replied please do so quickly so that we can celebrate the achievements of your child.

I hope that you all have a restful weekend.

Best wishes

Jonathan