Dear HP families,

During the final week of term, we hosted HP’s second Talent Show. In the weeks leading up to the show, our Head Students, alongside Mrs Sharples, held auditions and were thoroughly impressed by the confidence and incredible talents of our pupils. After much deliberation, they narrowed the competition down to twelve outstanding finalists. The acts showcased a diverse range of talents, including singing, light poi performances, rapid Rubik’s Cube solving and dancing. The top 100 house point earners were invited to be the audience, and they were captivated from start to finish! A huge congratulations to all our performers for putting on an amazing show. Special recognition goes to our winners:

1st place: Y9 Oscar, Abeshai, and Victor
2nd place: Y10 Isla and Gbolabo
3rd place: Y7 Charlie

A big thank you to our Head Students for their support in organising the event and to Jim and Felix for their brilliant hosting. Well done, everyone! You can catch a short video of our amazing acts on our Instagram. Stay up to date with all things HP by following us @holmleighpark.

Beyond the talent show, we have had fantastic sporting achievements to celebrate. Ella in Year 11 has been selected for the Welsh National Training Squad for hockey, while Romeo in Year 10 has been chosen for the Gloucestershire U18s tennis squad. Both have demonstrated great dedication to their sport, and we wish them the best in their training and competitions.

Our students also performed exceptionally in the UK Biology Olympiad. Five Year 12s and four Year 13s took part, achieving two Highly Commended, one Bronze, five Silver, and one Gold award. Congratulations to Grace for securing Gold, making her eligible for the selection rounds for the International Biology Olympiad. If successful in the next stages, she will train at Warwick University before potentially representing the UK in the Philippines this summer. A huge thank you to Dr Masters for organising.

A reminder that the deposit for the Activities Week trip is due today. It has been great to see so many of you signing up, and we hope all pupils will join us for what promises to be four fantastic days. To secure your deposit, please log onto your MCAS account to pay.

Looking ahead, our next INSET day is on Friday 21st March.

Finally, our weekly attendance update. Attendance remains our number one priority this year at HP, with a target of 95% or higher. Our recent Year 8 assessments reinforce the clear link between attendance and academic success. Students with 95% attendance or more were overwhelmingly the most likely to move up the year group ranking, with forty Year 8 students who maintained 100% attendance improving their rank by an average of 25 places. Please check your child’s attendance on MCAS regularly and contact their Head of Year if you have any concerns.

I wish you all a lovely weekend,

Mr Hudson
Headteacher