02 May 2025 - Letter to Parents

2nd May 2025

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that you have had a great week. I wanted to assure you, first of all, just in case you heard about the hoax communication that a school in Henbury received this morning that police attended their site and nothing at all of concern was found. The incident didn’t affect Orchard in any way at any point, but you may have heard about it, so I wanted to update you in case you were worried.

Back at Orchard, we have had an active week this week, with our Duke of Edinburgh’s practice run on Monday and Wednesday and several staff having run various marathons, and even ultramarathons, over the weekend! Mr Fish even did it in just over 3 hours whilst dressed as a pirate! We have also had a Girls’ Football game against Bridge which, unfortunately, we lost. We have also had a competitive, exciting Spelling Bee and our after school Martial Arts club is up and running and some of our children have completed in South West athletics competitions, during which their teams won! We are super proud of everyone.

Attendance 

Please remember that Year 11 attendance every day in the run up, and during, exams, is vital for their success. It’s the time of year when they can gravitate more towards wanting to stay at home, but they are required to be in every day and the best thing they can do is come in and learn from their expert teachers. We also have a range of mental health support available to our Year 11s throughout the exam season. This includes exam stress drop-ins for all students after school on Mondays in G6 with Mr Tucker, and during the exams every day there is the possibility of check-ins in the Grove during lesson 3. There will be a member of The Grove team available before and after every examThe House cups competitions were set to 0 points for all Houses at the start of term. Attendance and punctuality winners in week 1 term 5 taking an early lead are:

Year 7 – Wisely

Year 8 – Avalon

Year 9 – Dorchester

Year 10 – Avalon

Year 11 – W1

Lateness

From Wednesday 7th May, students who are late but here before 8.50am will enter through the sports hall gate not student reception. After this time, students should go to our main reception to be met by a member of staff.

 Attendance and punctuality are the first steps to success

Year 9 Options – Next Steps

We are currently working through the Year 9s’ options choices and will be in touch with students before the end of this term to let them know what their individual outcomes are. Students will then have a week to let us know if they have changed their minds about what subjects they wish to study. The engagement of our Year 9 cohort during the process has been excellent, and we’re excited to see them flourish in their GCSEs in the years to come.

Year 10 Mocks

Year 10 mock examinations will be taking place between Wednesday 18th June and Friday 4th July. Students will shortly be receiving the exam schedule and beginning to plan their revision. Parents and carers are also invited to attend a Year 10 Mock Revision Information Evening on Wednesday 21st May, 6pm – 7pm.

Year 11 – Exams Information

This week has been a busy one, with students completing their oral exams in French, Spanish and Home Languages, as well as practical exams in 3D Product Design, Art and Graphics. Students have been fantastic and the cohort are very focused in lessons.

The following exams are taking place next week:

Year 11 – Prom, Leavers’ Assembly and Results Day Dates

Please be aware of, and keep free, the following important dates for Year 11 students:

Leavers’ Assembly – Thursday 19th June, 9.15am - 10.15am

Prom at Aztec Hotel and Spa – Thursday 26th June, 7pm – 11pm

Results Day – Thursday 21st August, 9.30am - 11.30am

Parent/Carer Voice

Our Trust, Trust in Learning Academies, would like your feedback. Please could you complete the survey at the link here no later than 12th May 2025. We really valued your kindness and constructive feedback in the recent Ofsted Parent View survey, and would appreciate you taking 5 minutes to complete this for us over the next few weeks: Trust in Learning Academies - Parent/Carer Survey

Safeguarding

A recent study carried out by University College London has shown that if children are being shouted at by their parents, it reshapes children’s brains and makes them more likely to have mental ill-health and struggle to maintain friendships in the present and the future. Verbal abuse by adults can leave children unable to enjoy pleasure and can lead to them seeing the world as threatening. Additionally, parental conflict can have a negative impact on children’s upbringing and if you would like any further information and support around this, please click on this link.

Community Events

Here are some ideas for things to do around Bristol over the bank holiday weekend:

63 Things to do in Bristol in May 2025

Free things to do in Bristol: 13 best things to do free in Bristol during early May bank holiday weekend

‘Jack in the Green’ welcomes the Summer each year, in a lively procession through the city's streets, accompanied by musicians and dancers. He appears on only one day each year - the first Saturday in May. He passes from the historic Harbourside up to Horfield. More information about the parade can be found here.

Have a lovely long (and hopefully still sunny!) weekend. Please remember that there is no school on Monday 5th May because it is a Bank Holiday and the school is shut, so children need to be in on Tuesday 6th May at the usual time of 8.20am in time for lineup. We look forward to seeing them then for another great week of learning and personal development.

Kind regards,

Mel Sweet, Headteacher