We have several important events and updates to share with you this week.

We would like to highlight the upcoming in-person Adam’s Light session on Monday evening, which focuses on the important topic of suicide prevention. This is a valuable opportunity for parents and carers to gain greater awareness, understanding and advice on how we can support young people. The session will take place from 6.00pm till approximately 7.00pm, and we strongly encourage parents and carers to sign up and attend. It is an incredibly worthwhile opportunity to engage with an issue that affects so many families and communities.

A reminder that our Year 10 Parents’ Evening takes place next Thursday. We very much hope that all parents and carers will be able to attend. These evenings are crucial opportunities to hear directly from teachers about your child's progress, performance and areas for development. Your involvement and support make a real difference, and we encourage everyone to make the most of this opportunity.

We are looking forward to our Christmas wreath-making event on Thursday 3rd December. This promises to be a lovely opportunity to get into the festive spirit, and we look forward to welcoming those who are able to join us.

We are excited to share that plans are underway for our Thailand trip in March 2028. We currently have two spaces available for students in Year 8 and above. If your child would be interested in joining this fantastic opportunity, please speak to Mr Roche for further information.

Our Year 11 students are making good progress with their mock examinations. We have been very impressed by the professionalism, maturity and commitment many students have demonstrated throughout the process. It has been pleasing to see them taking their examinations seriously and approaching them with such a positive attitude. That said, there is always room for improvement, and we would encourage some students to be putting in a little more revision time at home. These mock examinations are an important opportunity to identify strengths and areas for development ahead of the summer examinations, so making the most of this preparation time is essential.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and partnership. Working together makes such a difference to our young people's success and wellbeing.

Best wishes,

Mrs May

Executive Headteacher

To report student absence, please phone the Student Absence line on 01323 481144 between 07:00 and 08:20.

Please save this number. This is a new number from 12 October 2026 following an issue with the previous line.

Please do not phone the main Reception line to report student absences during this time.

To report planned absences such as medical appointments, please phone the absence line between 09:00 and 15:00.

We will run this model on a trial basis for four weeks and will review its effectiveness before we make any permanent changes or amend the policy.

We are delighted to welcome Lauren Carvalho from the charity Adam’s Light to our in-person Parent Forum on Monday, 9^th November 2026 at 6pm.

We have invited Lauren to speak to parents as suicide is the leading cause of death among young people aged 5–35 (YoungMinds). What sets Lauren apart from many other suicide prevention speakers is her deeply personal perspective. She speaks as a mother who lost her 19-year-old son to suicide, bringing both compassion and authenticity to this vital subject.

Lauren’s talks focus on prevention, building resilience, and practical coping strategies, while encouraging a culture of openness, understanding and inclusion. She is also extensively trained in mental health and suicide prevention, combining professional expertise with lived experience.

For all of us who are parents, carers or who have young relatives or friends, this session aims to inform, increase understanding and empower us to help prevent suicide among young people.  We strongly encourage parents to attend this important and supportive session.

Parent testimonials from Lauren’s talks at other schools:

‘Your presentation was just wonderful. It was real, touching and so informative and helpful. Ever since, I’ve been asking my daughter how she is feeling and talking with her much more. The work you are doing is lifesaving, thank you so much.’

‘I came along to your talk last week and just wanted to say thank you for providing parents with the opportunity to learn from your devastating lived experience. I'm so deeply sorry this happened to you and your family and my thoughts are with you. Obviously, it's a very difficult topic but I was very pleased to see the school taking the initiative and beginning to open up the conversations about suicide and what to look out for with your wonderful support’

‘Thank you very much for a very informative and moving talk. I am a parent of an autistic boy, who has verbalised about feeling depressed, and ending his life not long ago. I found your talk very useful and informative on how to manage the kind of situation I was faced with, moving forward in the future.

May you continue to help other parents prevent suicide of young children by arming them the knowledge that they need, just like you did that evening.’

‘I found your presentation really informative and we were both really engaged throughout.  From your own experience and from a place of love you are able to bring teenage suicide, very much a subject that often people know little about and just don't think it would happen to them to the forefront.  You give signs to look out for and the courage as a parent to have those forthright discussions with our children. 

I thought that the subsequent personal journey you shared was also important and you conveyed that sense of loss with disbelief that you "never saw it coming".   I think for most parents there is that fear that a young person will take their own life with no prior warning and that we as parents may have been negligent in our observations and could have done something to prevent it.’

Lauren is also coming in to speak with small groups of students over the coming months as part of our Year 10 RSHE programme.

If you wish to attend the Parent Forum on the 9^th November, please confirm your attendance on the below google form or by emailing stomalin@willingdonschool.org.uk

Parent Forum - Adam's Light - Monday, 9th November 2026 at 6pm

Please be advised that the Senior Student Leaders have been visiting all the coaching groups to sell poppies and other items for donations to the RBL Eastbourne branch.   A cash box is also available every day until 11^th November in main reception. 

Any cash donations are most gratefully received.  We raised over £300 last year and will update you in this year's total in due course.  

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Following the final game being rained off at the end of last term, the last match of the Year 7 Interhouse Netball was played yesterday- a huge well done to 7DMC who won for Cuckmere house!

Grace J (7EHE), Olivia A (9RHA), Lilli H (9DBR)

Well done to this week’s Sparx Maths Champions! This week’s awards have gone to those students that got the highest XP last week (as well as achieving 100% in their homework).

gstables@willingdonschool.org.uk

pastoral-11@willingdonschool.org.uk

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Firstly, I would like to congratulate all of Year 11 on a highly successful first week of mock examinations.

The behaviour, focus and conduct of students in the examination hall have been outstanding throughout the week. Students have approached each examination with maturity, ambition and determination, and they should be extremely proud of the way they have conducted themselves.

We have received exceptionally positive feedback from both the invigilators and the exams team staff, who have been very impressed by the professionalism and attitude shown by Year 11 students during this important examination period.

This week, students have completed 13 mock examinations, with a further 13 examinations scheduled for next week.

Please see the examination timetable below for details of your child's remaining exams during this mock examination series.

Outside of the examination hall, students have continued to demonstrate excellent ambition and focus in lessons as they prepare for upcoming examinations. It has been encouraging to see students working closely with their teachers and making the most of the support available to them.

• Encouraging your child to revise regularly and prepare thoroughly for each examination.

• Reinforcing the importance of making the most of every revision opportunity.

• Supporting the use of the revision packs that have been provided by the Year Team.

• Helping students establish effective routines for revision, rest and organisation.

The effort students put in now will have a significant impact on both their mock examination outcomes and their preparation for the summer GCSE examinations.

Our extensive programme of subject intervention sessions continues to run throughout the mock examination period. These sessions provide valuable opportunities for students to receive additional support from subject specialists and further strengthen their knowledge and exam skills. We strongly encourage all students to attend the intervention sessions relevant to their subjects. Your support in encouraging attendance is greatly appreciated and will help students maximise their preparation.

dscowen@willingdonschool.org.uk

pastoral-10@willingdonschool.org.uk

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome back to Term 2. I hope you all had an enjoyable and restful break and I’m really pleased to say our year 10 students have returned ready for another successful term.

In this week's assembly, we focused on Mastering Personal Excellence and encouraging students to think about life beyond Willingdon. We challenged students to consider their aspirations, the habits that lead to success, and the opportunities available to them both during their time at school and in their future education and careers. Developing character, resilience and ambition remains at the heart of what we do.

We are also delighted to welcome Mr Keast back to school following his knee operation. We wish him a continued smooth recovery and are pleased to have him back with the team.

A reminder that our Parents' Evening takes place on 12th November. These events provide a valuable opportunity for families and teachers to work together to support student progress. We strongly encourage all parents and carers to attend and engage in these important conversations about learning and achievement.

Please also keep an eye out for details of our Year 10 Coffee Morning taking place later this term. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet members of the Year Team, discuss how your child is progressing and share any questions or concerns in an informal setting.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support.

Have a wonderful weekend.

The Year 10 Team

pastoral-9@willingdonschool.org.uk

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome back after a nicely extended and hopefully restful half term break! I hope you all managed to enjoy some quality time with family and friends.

We have returned ready and raring to go. It has been fantastic to walk around the school already and see so many Year 9 students engaging positively in lessons and demonstrating our school values. We have lots of exciting opportunities planned for this term as we begin building towards Christmas.

Attendance

Our attendance dipped slightly during the final week before half term and is currently sitting just below our 95% target. Maintaining attendance above this figure remains one of our key priorities for the year.

However, it is pleasing to see that some tutor groups are already exceeding this target. 9NWE is currently leading the way with 95.5% attendance. Excellent work! Let’s keep pushing to improve these figures and ensure that every student is making the most of their learning opportunities.

Achievement and Rewards

Our highest achievers during the final week of last half-term were:

Isabella P, Jade K, Alana D, Oscar V, Josh E and India W.

Well done to everyone! It was particularly pleasing to see a number of students surpassing 90 achievement points during the final week. This is a fantastic achievement and sets an excellent example for others to follow. Chocolate is on its way.

On Monday, we also held a special afternoon tea to celebrate five students in each year group who have made fantastic progress and demonstrated a particularly positive start to the year. Selected by the year team, these students were invited, alongside their parents, to sit down with members of the Senior Leadership Team. It was a lovely opportunity to celebrate their achievements, discuss the support available within school and, importantly, listen to feedback from both students and parents.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable and well deserved afternoon. Thank you to all the parents who were able to attend.

Options – The Next Stage

During Wednesday’s assembly, I spoke to students about moving into the next phase of our options research.

A new online survey has been created and will be shared with students next week. During one of their coaching sessions, students will have the opportunity to complete this and provide feedback about their interests and potential subject choices.

Parents and carers are also welcome to complete the survey at home once the link has been shared via email.

Please remember that this is still part of our initial research and information gathering process. We will be exploring options in greater detail towards the end of this term, with further information about our forthcoming Options Evening shared in due course.

Year 9 Parents’ Evening – Thursday 26th November

One particularly important date for your diary is our Year 9 Parents’ Evening on Thursday 26th November.

This is an extremely important opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with their subject teachers and to gain a clearer understanding of how they are progressing academically.

It will also provide an excellent opportunity to begin discussing potential GCSE options with teachers, particularly as students approach this important transition into Key Stage 4.

We would strongly encourage all parents and carers to attend. Your involvement and support are invaluable as we work together to ensure students make informed decisions about the next stage of their education.

Homework Support

A reminder that our after school homework club continues Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 3pm until 4pm, in the computer rooms.

Students are welcome to attend if they would benefit from additional time, support or access to computers to complete their homework.

Some students have already been identified and placed on a register. These students will be collected by our Learning Mentors and supported in attending. However, the club is also open to any other Year 9 students who would like to take advantage of the opportunity.

End of Term Rewards and Christmas Activities

As we build towards Christmas, we are keen to recognise and reward students who consistently make positive choices, demonstrate commitment to their learning and achieve highly.

During the final week of term, the Year Team will be organising a special rewards film afternoon. This will be an opportunity to celebrate students who have demonstrated successful progress, accumulated high achievement points and maintained good attendance.

We believe it is important to recognise those students who consistently do the right things and set positive examples for others.

We will also be holding Mr Roche’s Annual Christmas Bake-Off!

Students have already been briefed about the competition and will be working within their coaching groups to select 2 representatives to progress into the final 14. The winning coaching group will receive a fantastic lunchtime treat of Domino’s pizza!

We are looking forward to seeing the creativity, enthusiasm and, hopefully, some rather impressive baking skills on display!

Thailand 2028 – A Few Remaining Places

There are still a small number of places available on our Thailand Conservation and Diving trip.

A couple of students have unfortunately decided that they are no longer able to participate, which has opened up some additional spaces.

If your child is interested in finding out more, or you would like further information about the itinerary, costs and opportunities involved, please contact me directly at:

aroche@willingdonschool.org.uk

I would be very happy to provide further details.

School Fireworks Display

Finally, we have our annual school fireworks display taking place this Friday. We hope to see as many of you there as possible!

As always, thank you for your continued support. It has been a really positive start to the term and I am looking forward to seeing what the coming weeks bring as we continue working together to support our Year 9 students.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Year 9 Team

mdupont@willingdonschool.org.uk

pastoral-8@willingdonschool.org.uk

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

We are pleased to share that we have seen a noticeable improvement in Year 8 behaviour across the school this week, a huge thank you to our students for their effort! However, attendance remains our biggest area for concern. Year 8 currently has the lowest attendance figures in the school, so we are asking for your support with a big push to ensure students are in school every single day.

To help encourage attendance and positive engagement, we are launching an exciting Year 8 InterCoach Competition next week! The competition will be scored based on both form attendance and total reward points earned. Winning forms will receive rewards before the Christmas break, so please encourage your child to strive for those achievement points!

Our Year 8 netball team took on Turing School last night in a brilliantly fought match. While it ended in a narrow 7–6 loss, all the girls represented the school with a fantastic attitude, demonstrating our core values of ambition and courtesy throughout. A special shoutout goes to Poppy, who was deservedly nominated as Player of the Match!

This week, Year 8 students attended the assembly focusing on respect and the vital role foodbanks play within our wider community. Foodbanks provide an essential lifeline for many families, offering crucial support during difficult times and reinforcing the importance of empathy, community support, and helping others. If you can spare any items, please refer to the website for more information on how you can donate.

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and partnership.

The Year 8 Team

pmuller@willingdonschool.org.uk

pastoral-7@willingdonschool.org.uk

Dear Parents, Carers and Students,

Welcome back! We hope you all had a lovely restful half term ready to face Term 2! Thank you for ensuring pencil cases are fully stocked and uniform expectations are met. For those students who are slightly below expectations, the coaches will be in touch to discuss if there are any issues.

We love a new term as it is always a fresh start to try and improve on the term before. Our priorities this term are;

1. To ensure all students are punctual to lessons now they are all aware of the layout of the school. Please ensure your child has a copy of their timetable with them every day.

2. To continue to show compassion and kindness to fellow peers and staff.

3. To focus on our behaviour at breaks and lunches and to continue working towards out no hands policy as unfortunately some students are still finding this hard.

4. For all students to take part in at least one extra- curricular club this term.

   
   

If you could help support us in these policies by discussing with your child at home that would be incredibly useful. 

We are continuing to run homework clubs after school on Mondays and Tuesdays for Year 7 only and Wednesday for all year groups,  maths support is available on Wednesdays and Thursdays at lunchtime. All of these sessions are in IT2.

Finally a huge well done to 7DMC who won the Year 7 Interhouse Netball competition for Cuckmere House! 

The Year 7 Team  

Non-Uniform Days – Coming Soon!

We have lots of exciting events coming up this year, many of which have been requested by our Student Council and other student groups. These include our popular non-uniform days, which we hold throughout the year to celebrate special occasions, support charities and raise money for worthwhile causes.

Following feedback from parents, we know that paying £1 for each individual non-uniform day can be frustrating, so we asked for your views on an alternative approach. The preferred option was to pay £5 for the whole year, covering all five non-uniform days.

We are pleased to re-introduce this system, which will hopefully continue to make things simpler for families while allowing us to continue offering the events and fundraising opportunities that our students value so much. The dates for all five non-uniform days are shared here.

Thank you for your feedback and continued support in helping us make student voice a key part of school life!

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding this trip -aroche@willingdonschool.org.uk

Mr Roche

Head of Year 8

Further to previous communication regarding Year 10 work experience (17^th – 21^st May 2027), please see the below

information on the next steps.

Once the health and safety visits have been made to the placements, and the work experience team at East Sussex

County Council have approved them, you will receive an email with three electronic forms to complete. These forms

include:

• Parent/Carer Agreement

• Safeguarding Agreement

• Emergency Medical Contact Form

Additionally, your child will receive a Student Agreement by email. These emails will be sent from noreply@eprospectus.co.uk.  This will also require signing by your child.

What You Need to Do:

1. Open the email and click on the link for each of the agreements.

2. Carefully read through the agreements and fill in the required information.

3. At the bottom of each agreement, click the blue ‘Sign’ box.

4. You will be prompted to type your name in the top box, which will create an e-signature.

5. After signing, click ‘Confirm’ to complete the process.

These emails will be sent out in the coming weeks, once the placements have been confirmed and approved by the work experience team at East Sussex County Council. 

Students Without a Confirmed Placement

Students without a placement must make four choices in the work experience database. Details of how they do this are attached.

If you have any questions or need further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact the Year 10 pastoral team or your child's coach.

Kindest regards,

Sarah Rooney

Careers Adviser

The Friends of Willingdon Community School are offering parents the opportunity to purchase digital photos of their Year 11 child, which were taken in house for Arbor purposes, at a low cost, with all donations going to the Friends. 

Mindful of the economic climate we are all now experiencing, Willingdon made the decision to take the photos in-house.  This means that that the digital images are still of high quality, but allows us to offer the digital photo to parents/carers in return for a small donation of £3.00.

You will be able to view the photo that has been taken when you log in to Arbor. We think that they are fabulous and hope you do too.

ParentPay is now open to purchase your digital image,  this window will close on Friday 13^th November.  Any images purchased will be delivered to parents, via email, from Tuesday 17th November onwards.   

Please note that Mrs Rooney, Careers Adviser, will be absent from school from Friday 6^th November until the end of term.

Queries relating to Year 10 work experience, and Year 11 college applications, should be sent to the relevant Pastoral teams (pastoral-10@willingdonschool.org.uk / pastoral-11@willingdonschool.org.uk) or Coach in the first instance.

For any urgent issues during this period, please contact Mrs Borrell on aborrell@willingdonschool.org.uk.  

Thank you for your understanding and support.

Kind regards,

Mrs Borrell & Mrs Rooney

https://mailchi.mp/childrenwithcancerfund/november-e-newsletter-10343708?e=42c98e22bc

LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION? Sometimes you don't want to spend your whole evening reading about jobs you already know you're not interested in...    Why not look at some of the hundreds of short videos, summarising what a job title really means. Check them out for yourself, then you can decide whether you want to go forward and find out more. 

https://www.mypathcareersuk.com/a-z-of-jobs

Lacey May B-B - Courtesy - Consistent calm and positive approach, 100% attendance, always well presented, polite and helpful.

Lilia P -Ambition - Resilience with mock exams.

Poppy U - Ambition - For being resilient with the mocks and attendance sitting at 97% overall.

Summer-Rose C - Courtesy - She has shown great resilience and has been very mature when seeking support.

Please note that next week is a Week A (Green Week) on the student timetable.

The Year 11 Team

Year 7 and 8 students: achieving Gold Reader in term 2 will link to a reward treat from your Pastoral Team. Keep reading carefully and see Edulink for further details.

Students who have not completed previous pieces to 100% SRP should click ‘catch up previous’ to ensure all careful reading is up to date. Please ensure any incomplete sessions have been caught up.

Shout out to 7CHO, 7DMC and 7CCH who have all logged their coaching time reading on the new system by Thursday this week. Particular well done to 7DMC. During reading time this week, all students were focused and engaged. You could sense the concentration in the room. Good listening.

Well done to 8SPA for this detailed entry on their reading in coaching time log: “Disguised as a fortune-teller, Mr. Rochester uses a reading to test Jane's feelings before dropping the charade when he learns of Mr. Mason’s troubling arrival. Unnerved by the news, Rochester is comforted by Jane's promise of loyalty, allowing her to go to sleep reassured that the immediate danger has passed.”

A reminder that all KS3 students need to log their reading for this term on the reading challenge. This term’s theme is a moment of surprise. Remember: to log into the form, students need to sign in with their school credentials.

The deadline for completion is Tuesday 15 December.

Well done to 9AT2 who were focused during their reading lesson and added this post to the interactive reading communities site. This lesson will help all students to complete their #inmyshoesWCS challenge on time. Great work!