Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 135
- September 26, 2025
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 135
- September 26, 2025
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
I’d like to start this week’s message with a huge Thank-you to all the students who gave up their time on Thursday to volunteer for our Open Evening either as guides or as helpers in our faculties. We have received numerous positive comments from prospective parents about the positive attitude and delightful manners of our students. They were a credit to the school and their families.
It is important that I draw your attention to an important communication that was sent home this week inviting you to take part in a parent survey for the Neurodiversity in Schools Project which we are currently involved with. I would urge all parents to engage with this survey. The link was sent out via email, and the subject was ‘Parent Feedback Required’. The email contains the link to the survey. Students have also been invited to take part in the survey. The link to their survey has been sent via Satchel One.
Finally, I continue to raise awareness of the importance of attendance to school. As we approach the winter months students will inevitably have occasions when they feel unwell, but this does not necessarily mean that they need to take the day off school. The NHS provides clear guidance to help you make the decision whether or not you need to keep your child off school.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mr Davies
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
I’d like to start this week’s message with a huge Thank-you to all the students who gave up their time on Thursday to volunteer for our Open Evening either as guides or as helpers in our faculties. We have received numerous positive comments from prospective parents about the positive attitude and delightful manners of our students. They were a credit to the school and their families.
It is important that I draw your attention to an important communication that was sent home this week inviting you to take part in a parent survey for the Neurodiversity in Schools Project which we are currently involved with. I would urge all parents to engage with this survey. The link was sent out via email, and the subject was ‘Parent Feedback Required’. The email contains the link to the survey. Students have also been invited to take part in the survey. The link to their survey has been sent via Satchel One.
Finally, I continue to raise awareness of the importance of attendance to school. As we approach the winter months students will inevitably have occasions when they feel unwell, but this does not necessarily mean that they need to take the day off school. The NHS provides clear guidance to help you make the decision whether or not you need to keep your child off school.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mr Davies
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
I’d like to start this week’s message with a huge Thank-you to all the students who gave up their time on Thursday to volunteer for our Open Evening either as guides or as helpers in our faculties. We have received numerous positive comments from prospective parents about the positive attitude and delightful manners of our students. They were a credit to the school and their families.
It is important that I draw your attention to an important communication that was sent home this week inviting you to take part in a parent survey for the Neurodiversity in Schools Project which we are currently involved with. I would urge all parents to engage with this survey. The link was sent out via email, and the subject was ‘Parent Feedback Required’. The email contains the link to the survey. Students have also been invited to take part in the survey. The link to their survey has been sent via Satchel One.
Finally, I continue to raise awareness of the importance of attendance to school. As we approach the winter months students will inevitably have occasions when they feel unwell, but this does not necessarily mean that they need to take the day off school. The NHS provides clear guidance to help you make the decision whether or not you need to keep your child off school.
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/is-my-child-too-ill-for-school/
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mr Davies
Things to celebrate
- On Thursday we hosted our Open Evening. This is always a superb event as it really showcases our school and what we can offer.
- We are delighted with the number of our students who volunteered to take part in this year’s Open Evening as guides or speakers. This indicates the pride that our students have in their school.
- Congratulations to former student, Emily Burgess, on winning the Women’s World Cycle Speedway Individual Final at Great Blakenham on Sunday.
- Sporting Success this week
- Year 7/8 girls beat St Gregory’s 6-2 in the ESFA Cup
- Year 11 boys beat St Gabriel’s 4-3 on penalties (FT 2-2) in the ESFA Cup
- Year 9 boys beat St Anne’s Academy 4-2 in the GMSFA Cup
Overall, an impressive week of football, well done to all participants involved. Keep up the hard work.
We are always excited to learn of any sporting successes outside of school so we can celebrate the student’s achievements. Please email Mr Gregory with any information so we can share with everyone on Freddie’s Focus – gregoryi@flhs.wigan.sch.uk
Sporting Success this week
- Year 7/8 girls beat St Gregory’s 6-2 in the ESFA Cup
- Year 11 boys beat St Gabriel’s 4-3 on penalties (FT 2-2) in the ESFA Cup
- Year 9 boys beat St Anne’s Academy 4-2 in the GMSFA Cup
Overall, an impressive week of football, well done to all participants involved. Keep up the hard work.
We are always excited to learn of any sporting successes outside of school so we can celebrate the student’s achievements. Please email Mr Gregory with any information so we can share with everyone on Freddie’s Focus – gregoryi@flhs.wigan.sch.uk
Key Events
We will be holding the following events for parents and carers during this term:
We encourage all parents and carers to attend these events if they have a child in any of these year groups. Further information about these events will be communicated to parents and carers in due course.
What we do at Freddie's and why we do it
‘Habits accelerate learning’
At Freddie’s, we encourage our students to use their manners at all times. This is a way of explicitly teaching what good manners look and sound like. It is also something which we feel contributes to a positive school environment and the Freddie’s community. ‘STEPS’ is used as a reminder in all classrooms and around school. Where we see students exhibiting good manners, we praise and reward them. If students forget to use their manners or need to be supported to correct their behaviour, ‘STEPS’ is something we would refer them to.
Year 7 to Year 10
100 HoY Mug/Earphones/Water Bottle/Skip the queue pass
175 MTA Power Bank/Skip the queue pass/Calculator/£5 Amazon voucher
250 MTA £10 Amazon voucher/Skip the queue pass
350 PDA £15 Amazon voucher/Skip the queue pass
Year 11
100 HoY £5 Amazon voucher/£5 off Prom
150 MTA £10 Amazon voucher/£10 off Prom
200 PDA £15 Amazon voucher/£15 off Prom
Homework and Independent Learning
Cognitive Load Theory was developed by John Sweller. ‘Cognitive load’ relates to the amount of information that working memory can hold at one time. Sweller said that, since working memory has a limited capacity, instructional methods should avoid overloading it with additional activities that don’t directly contribute to learning. With this in mind, here are a few things that we do in class to reduce Cognitive Load for your child:
- We build in periods of independent, silent study time so that students can focus in silence on a piece of work which has previously been scaffolded by the teacher. This allows the teacher to move around the classroom and target any students who may require further support.
- SLANT is what we use to gain full attention when it is required. This means that students are encouraged to sit up, get everything out of their hands and track (follow) their teacher. We use this to reduce additional distractions and to ensure that information and instructions are heard and understood by all.
- We break information and instructions down into smaller chunks in a guided ‘step-by step’ way rather than bombarding with too much information all at once.
- We provide modelled examples of work that we are building towards and explain how to get there so that students are clear about the end goal and are gradually guided to get there.
Applications that we use for learning
The following applications are used by our students during their time at FLHS to aid their learning. You can learn more about them below.
Microsoft Office
Did you know that your child can access Microsoft Office at home for free? As a student at Fred Longworth High School, your child is allowed to download a fully working free copy of Microsoft Office 365 to use on their computer, smartphone and tablet whilst they are a student at our school. Click on the button below to learn more.
Satchel:One
Satchel:One is the school online learning platform for students and is the parental portal for all information related to your child’s overall progress within school. You can keep track of your child’s homework using Satchel:One. It is advisable to remind your child to get into the habit of checking their homework on Satchel:One regularly. Relying upon notifications is not the right approach and we advise students to turn off notifications so that they are not disturbed by them.
GCSEPod
GCSEPod is an online study platform and is the perfect resource to help your child learn, retain and recall all the information they need to achieve their GCSE goals. GCSEPod provides 3-5 minute bursts of audio-visual, teacher written learning which can help to reinforce and consolidate key GCSE topics covered in lessons. Experts read and explain everything clearly including all the right facts, quotes, keywords, dates and diagrams on screen. GCSEPod is only available to students in Year 10 and Year 11.
Homework Club
Please remind your child that homework club is available to all students Monday to Thursday where they can complete work in a quiet environment with staff on hand to support them, and computers for online quizzes and research.
Attendance
We want to do all we can to support your child to be in school every day and ask that you support this important message from home, encouraging your child to avoid missing curriculum content through absence. Here is a breakdown of the absences for the following attendance percentages:
Thank you for your continued support with attendance.
Please encourage your child to be in school every day.
Can we please remind all our parents and carers to use the correct channels of communication should they wish to raise a concern or question. Your continued support is invaluable to us.
Belonging, Engaging, Succeeding Together.
Can we please remind all our parents and carers to use the correct channels of communication should they wish to raise a concern or question. Your continued support is invaluable to us.