Newsletter 31.10.2025 - Manor High School

Headteacher’s Update

Dear Families

This first week back has gone very quickly. The clocks have changed and the weather is typically autumnal as well! In school we have been busy. Assemblies this week focussed on Resilience and also Black History Month. We are real mixed community here at Manor High, and we celebrate all cultures. The theme of Black History Month this year has been around ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride’. This is to celebrate strength, identity and unity. Our key messages in assembly this week have been around how throughout British History people have shown power and pride through knowing their worth and challenging inequalities. We celebrate and are proud of the diversity there is here at Manor High, it is one of the many things that makes us who we are. We will be having a Culture Day on 7^th November for students to celebrate their heritage and we very much look forward to this day. Next weeks assembly theme is Remembrance.

We have also had some students from Year 9 take part in a workshop about Progressive Masculinity. The aim of these sessions have been to challenge the old, traditional interpretations of what being a man is about, it isn’t about being dominant or displaying outdated values. It is more about promoting qualities such as empathy, compassion and equality. We hope to run more of these workshops over the coming academic year for other year groups. More information about this can be found here- Home – Progressive Masculinity Their strapline is “enabling us to become the kind of men, friends, partners and fathers this world needs.” This is something that we cannot argue about being so important to society and we were really pleased by how the students received this workshop.

I would like to thank those parents that completed our recent parent survey. It was wonderful to read some positive comments about the work we are doing every day here at school. It was also helpful to read that some comments around things we can do better. We have amended our newsletter to include the themes for our assemblies over the coming weeks, at parental request. It was really encouraging to see how much support there was from parents wanting to discuss the assembly themes at home to support. Thank you for your support. We also include a list of all of the parents’ evenings over the course of the academic year. These are on our website, but the full list is below.

With best wishes

Mr S Greiff

Additional Funding Secured to Support Triple Physicists

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Kellett has secured additional funding to support Triple Physics students within our department. This exciting opportunity comes as a result of one of our previous students being awarded an externally funded Arkwright Engineering Scholarship.

As the nominating school that supported the successful scholarship application, our school will also receive a financial award. This funding is separate from the scholar’s individual scholarship and is specifically intended to support STEM-related initiatives that further benefit our students and enhance our science provision.

A big thank you goes to Dr. Kellett for her continuous hard work in science. The department look forward to using this funding to continue inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.

Year 11 – Post 16 and careers

Please continue to ensure your that students have updated their PS16 profile. Students should also have completed a personal statement and this should be on PS16 (they can edit this going forwards). Please note that Mr Croucher sent an announcement via class charts on Friday 31^st October that expands on all of this.

The Year 11 pastoral team will continue share appointments with tutors for Year 11 students’ 1-1 careers advice session during school time. This will be with a fully qualified careers guide. Some students will have these in October and others will have them in November and December. This appointment will help you think more about your future and of course your Post 16 options too

Ministry of Science

We had a brilliant time at the Ministry of Science show! There were fire tornadoes, smoke cannons, electric shocks, mind boggling facts and more explosions than we could count!

To top off a wonderful trip, the theatre manager commended our students on their exceptional conduct throughout!

Bike Safety Reminder

We would like to remind all students and parents that riding bikes onto the school site is not permitted. This is to ensure the safety of everyone on our grounds. Please make sure that bikes are walked onto the site at the beginning of the day and walked off at the end of the day.

For those who cycle to and from school, we strongly recommend wearing a helmet, using bike lights, and wearing a high-visibility vest or jacket over your coat. These simple steps help keep everyone safe, especially during the darker mornings and evenings.

Thank you for supporting us in promoting safe and responsible cycling.

Club Timetable Week Beginning 3rd November 2025

Building Belonging Through Gratitude at Manor High School

We believe at Manor High School that fostering a sense of belonging is important now, more than ever because of:

Increased social isolation – The Covid-19 pandemic led to some students feeling disconnected to their peers, school and community. This has been further exacerbated by the increased usage of mobile phones and social media. This has led to feelings of loneliness and sadness for some students.
Decline in attention and persistence – Linked to the above, the constant digital distractions have led to shorter attention spans. Studies suggest an average teenager’s attention span is just 8 seconds.
Erosion of trust and belonging – Across society there is less trust in institutions like the government, police, hospitals and schools.

To try and support our students, parents and community we are doing some form time work with students around gratitude. Studies demonstrate that gratitude practice, leads to pupils who notice more good in the world. However, we would like your support. Please talk to your children about what they are learning regarding gratitude. Try praising and rewarding your children for showing gratitude. Let your child’s form tutor know when they have done something outside of school that has exemplified this value. Lastly, if you would be interested in joining a parents action group to look at some of the ways, we as a school, can install values that you would like to see in your children then please email across@manorhigh.leics.sch.uk

Safeguarding Update

The NHS Mental Health Service Team are now accepting self-referrals. Previously, referrals could only be made by school staff.

Please have a look at the information below that has been sent through by the team, regarding support for your child and the referral process.

Letter to Parents re: Self Referral

My Self Referral

Please see the attached document produced by the NHS Mental Health Service Team. Here, you will find some useful resources and signposting – Self Help Resources & Mental Health Support

Please follow the attached link for more information on how to keep children safe this Halloween – How to keep children safe this Halloween | 12 top tips