After another busy month at Little Heath, this edition of the newsletter is full of highlights to share.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Sixth Form Open Evening at the start of the month. We had an exceptionally high number of attendees and the event was buzzing as prospective students explored the subjects and opportunities available in our Sixth Form. I am grateful to everyone who contributed to making the evening such a success, especially our student ambassadors, who were amazing!

Year 11 and Year 13 students received their PPE results this month, which has highlighted a key moment for them in their academic journey. I know the teaching staff, tutors and Key Stage teams will now help them identify areas to focus on as they prepare for their final exams next summer. Find out more school news in our 'Latest News' section.

All of our sports teams have done us proud this month, as always, but a particular mention has to go to the U16 Boys' Basketball Team, who have demonstrated true leadership and teamwork in every match. Their dedication has absolutely paid off and is an inspiration for our school community. You can read more in our 'Student Spotlight' section.

I would also like to thank all the students who took part in the recent Feeling Safe at School survey. The results have been hugely positive, with students expressing that they feel supported and secure in our school environment. We have shared the highlights with you in the article below.

I am looking forward to the festive events planned for December, which will bring our school community together to celebrate the season. I look forward to seeing many of you there as we round off the year.

Thank you for your ongoing support.

Mr David Ramsden
Headteacher

We had another extremely successful Sixth Form Open Evening where prospective Year 11 students from Little Heath and other surrounding schools joined us to experience the wealth of subjects we offer at A Level. Over 80 students from Year 12 and Year 13, as well as subject teachers and the Sixth Form team worked tirelessly to welcome approximately 900 people during the evening. We had some lovely feedback from attendees with 90% of students listing Little Heath School as their first choice for Sixth Form. 

Every year, November is always a busy time for our Year 13 students. This year has been no exception. Year 13 approached their PPEs with determination and a commitment to succeed.  They have also been busy attending personal statement clinics where four different universities come in to offer one-to-one support. For the first time, we have also offered a CV clinic where students have had one-to-one support on their CVs to help with their apprenticeship or employment applications. It has been great to see so many students getting lots of top university offers and the motivating effects these offers have on the students. 

We have also celebrated our Year 12 students in a recent praise assembly. These students achieved exceptional Engagement with Learning scores in their introductory school reports. They have made an excellent start to Year 12 and should be very proud of the way they have approached their transition from GCSE to Sixth Form. 

At the end of November, we continued our valuable extra-curricular offer, in conjunction with West Berkshire Council, to advise Year 12s of the positive and safe way to approach driving, as they begin to celebrate their 17th birthdays. The year 13 students also attended a Knife Crime presentation which was incredibly thought provoking. 

As we progress into December, we have arranged useful subject and revision workshops to support both Year 12 and Year 13 with practical strategies they can use. We are also looking forward to our Christmas lunch on Wednesday 11 December and hope our students will enjoy this as much as we do. 

Sam Chaventré
Deputy Headteacher (KS5)

Sustainability at Little Heath School

Hello! We're the Sixth Form students leading in sustainability, and we’d like to discuss what we've been doing so far this year. For the first time ever, sustainability has become a topic the Senior Student Leadership Team are focusing on, as improving our environmental footprint at Little Heath is extremely important to us. We hope to set into motion lasting changes that will make our school much more sustainable going forward.

We have recently carried out energy audits in the Sixth Form block, one at lunchtime and one after school. The aim of these was to see how much of our energy usage is wasted on empty classrooms. To tackle our high energy consumption, we are making posters that we will put up around the school to encourage people to turn off computers, and we have created a ‘traffic light system’ - each plug/electronic device will have a different colour sticker on it, showing people whether or not they can turn it off.

Aaron, Year 13
Head Student & SSLT Sustainability Lead

We also took the opportunity to plant over 200 native spring flowering bulbs, including Bluebells, Wild Garlic and Winter Aconite; and an area of wildflowers and grasses. This is in addition to four Crab Apple Trees which were planted last month.

All the planting will help to increase biodiversity and provide year-round food for important pollinators such as bees.

In November, select Year 12 Politics students and prefects from the Sustainability group attended a Mock COP29 event at Holme Grange School, which included assigned delegates for each country (we represented Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates) discussing ways they can decrease their contributions to climate change, and a talk from a Climate Scientist.

We all really enjoyed the experience and thought it was a good way to educate and encourage young people to act on the dangers that climate change poses.

As Sixth Form prefects, we are working with and alongside the whole school Eco-Committee, with an emphasis on taking the ideas suggested by younger students and physically putting them into action. We're looking at implementing a couple of litter reduction strategies (expanding on our ballot bin initiatives, and labelling which bins can be used for different items in a clearer, more creative way) and house competition ideas (we'll update you when we know more details for sure), all suggested by younger students!

Other initiatives we've been working on include planning an off-timetable Eco-Day for year 7 students in the summer, to go beyond the curriculum and teach them about ways they can be more eco-friendly. We’ve also been talking to our catering team, Culinera, to ensure that there are regularly sustainable, plant-based meals on offer in our school restaurant.

We hope to do some great work this year and will keep you updated on our progress!

Poppy, Year 12
Sustainability Prefect

U16 Boys' Basketball Team

Well done to the U16 Boys' Basketball Team, who have won all five of their games in their local league, beating LVS, Denefield, Kennet, Blessed Hugh Farringdon and Theale so far. The group is working extremely hard to prepare for their national cup fixtures which are later this term.

Peer Mentoring

A group of kind Year 12 students have begun mentoring some of our younger students and, even in these initial weeks, this is proving to be both popular with the individuals involved and very worthwhile.

Elsewhere, our fantastic SMILE team continue to visit Year 7 tutor groups each week offering a mix of advice and activities, and they have received an enthusiastic and positive welcome from our Year 7s. Some individual mentoring from the SMILE team to some members of Year 7 is about to begin. 

School and Year Councils

Our Year Councils are meeting again this month to discuss any issues raised by students. We have been so impressed by the enthusiasm and commitment of all of our Form Reps and the vibrancy of the discussions in the meetings we have had so far. We are looking forward to our next full School Council meeting in early December.

Student Leadership

Many Sixth Formers, from both Year 12 and Year 13, excelled as ambassadors at our recent Sixth Form Open Evening, and we were delighted to receive so many compliments about them. Our Year 8 students continue to do us proud by taking their turn as ambassadors at Reception.

Elsewhere, our Year 9 Young Health Champions have been presented with their RSPH certificates by Paul Graham, West Berkshire's Health and Wellbeing in schools officer, after all successfully passing their training. Some members of our Sixth Form have represented LHS at an online forum for young people run by MIND, the mental health charity, seeking the input of young people across Berkshire and Oxfordshire, about issues affecting young people today.