MY first year in post as headteacher of Wolverley CE Secondary School has shot by. This is an exciting time to be working in education and, as ever, there is a lot of change going on. Every year brings its own new challenges and successes and last year was no exception. The Wyre Forest reorganisation two years ago has given the school the opportunity to grow and build upon its strengths. Certainly, our recent Ofsted and Church inspections place us in a good position to grow and continue improving. There have been many highlights – appointing positive and enthusiastic new staff, seeing our new year seven students establish themselves and flourish as well as celebrating the success of our students. By far the most satisfying aspect has been the way the school is able to support and often transform the lives of individual students from a range of backgrounds and situations.

As we look to the future, the school must continue to work closely with its community to develop the best partnership that can deliver for all of its students. This is already happening structurally within the school but also in the individual work that we do to support our students.

As a growing and improving school we are committed to developing everyone as individuals – something easily lost in the way larger Schools are constructed.

“Building Schools for the Future” is the government’s scheme to rebuild secondary schools and Wolverley is one of the first that will be rebuilt in Worcestershire. We are still a long way from the start of the actual construction as there needs to be a lot of planning, preparation and consultation beforehand. Central to the theme of any new school must be our strong Church of England ethos and values. We certainly are a family at Wolverley and creating a strong sense of belonging is central to this. The new school will be a beacon for learning in the area, a centre of excellence for many aspects of education and will provide an outstanding personalised experience. It is a very exciting opportunity to design a new school and it has been wonderful to hear so many useful and supportive ideas from our students. There will be much more about this to share in the coming months. In the meantime we continue our optimistic and positive journey into our new academic year. I look forward to continuing working with you all.