What a busy month it has been since writing my last newsletter article.

We have continued our focus on growth and this fortnight have been focussing on seeking feedback.  We know that feedback is a valuable tool for us to use to reflect on our progress and to make improvements.  In assembly this week we will be celebrating a new group of values champions, these champions will be a student from each homegroup who have been consistently seeking feedback.

Earlier this month we were lucky to host a visit from New Horizons.  New Horizons are a fantastic organisation that aim to make sport and recreation accessible and enjoyable for all.  While at NNHS a group of around 30 students from years 7-10 participated in a sports afternoon where they were able to try football, cricket and basketball.  I was very proud when at the end of the session the New Horizons staff praised the manners and behaviour of our students and were also impressed with the level of sporting talent on display.  Starting last week New Horizons will now be running weekly sessions here at NNHS, we are very excited to continue working with them moving forwards.

A fortnight ago we were also privileged to have JCP here at NNHS for two days.  On these days they ran seminars for all students in years 7-9.  These sessions were highly engaging and inspiring for staff and students alike.  Some of the feedback I received after the sessions were:

“JCP are awesome, I wish I could talk as well as them.”

“They made me think about who I am spending all my time with.”

“There were so many good messages I can’t pick just one.”

The examples above are just some of the ways that we are building engagement and wellbeing here at NNHS.  We are always keen to look for ways to improve and in order to inform our decision making we use a range of valuable data sets.  One of these data sets is the results of the Department for Education, Children and Young People (DECYP) Student Wellbeing and Engagement Survey.  Students in Years 7-12 will all be asked to complete this survey by the end of this week and results will be used to help us identify areas we are doing well as well as areas where we can make further improvements.

Alison Walker, Assistant Principal