Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 177
- October 23, 2026
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 177
- October 23, 2026
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
As we approach the end of this half-term, it feels like a good opportunity to reflect on another exceptionally busy and rewarding few weeks here at Freddie’s.
This week has provided many reminders of what makes our school community so special. On Monday, we were delighted to host our Primary Dance Festival, bringing together pupils from our partner primary schools. The enthusiasm, confidence and talent on display were wonderful to see. Events such as these celebrate not only creativity and performance, but also the strong partnerships that exist across our local community.
I would also like to thank those parents and carers who attended our SEND Parent Forum this week. As ever, your feedback was thoughtful, constructive and invaluable. Listening to the experiences of families helps us continually refine and improve the support we provide for our young people, and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to contribute.
This week also saw us welcome Ofsted inspectors into school. While we are unable to share the outcome of the inspection process at this stage, I can say how incredibly proud we are of our students, staff and wider school community. Over the course of the inspection, inspectors spent significant time speaking with students, visiting lessons, meeting staff and leaders, and learning about life at Freddie’s.
The inspection gave us an opportunity to showcase the many strengths of our school. Inspectors saw respectful and positive relationships between students and staff, calm and purposeful learning environments, students who were proud of their school, and a culture where young people feel safe, supported and valued. They saw the breadth of opportunities available to students beyond the classroom, our commitment to inclusion, the strength of our pastoral care, and the ambition we have for every child to succeed. It was a valuable opportunity for others to see what we see every day: a school community built on high expectations, strong values and genuine care for young people.
Most importantly, our students were outstanding ambassadors for the school. Their confidence, courtesy, maturity and willingness to engage in conversations about their experiences made us immensely proud. They demonstrated exactly what it means to be a Freddie’s student.
As we reach the end of half term, I would like to thank all parents and carers for the support you provide to your children and to the school. The partnership between home and school is one of our greatest strengths, and it plays a vital role in helping our students thrive.
However you spend the week ahead, I hope the half-term period provides an opportunity for students to recharge and for families to enjoy some valuable time together. I recognise that school holidays can look very different from one family to another, but I hope the break brings a change of pace and a chance to return refreshed for the remainder of the autumn term.
Finally, a reminder to our Year 11 students that mock examinations are now fast approaching. Whilst it is important to make time to rest, preparations for the mocks should now be well underway. Establishing good revision routines over the break will place students in a strong position as they move towards this important stage of their GCSE journey.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back after half term for what promises to be another exciting and successful period here in school.
Best Wishes,
Mr Davies.
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
As we approach the end of this half-term, it feels like a good opportunity to reflect on another exceptionally busy and rewarding few weeks here at Freddie’s.
This week has provided many reminders of what makes our school community so special. On Monday, we were delighted to host our Primary Dance Festival, bringing together pupils from our partner primary schools. The enthusiasm, confidence and talent on display were wonderful to see. Events such as these celebrate not only creativity and performance, but also the strong partnerships that exist across our local community.
I would also like to thank those parents and carers who attended our SEND Parent Forum this week. As ever, your feedback was thoughtful, constructive and invaluable. Listening to the experiences of families helps us continually refine and improve the support we provide for our young people, and we are grateful to everyone who took the time to contribute.
This week also saw us welcome Ofsted inspectors into school. While we are unable to share the outcome of the inspection process at this stage, I can say how incredibly proud we are of our students, staff and wider school community. Over the course of the inspection, inspectors spent significant time speaking with students, visiting lessons, meeting staff and leaders, and learning about life at Freddie’s.
The inspection gave us an opportunity to showcase the many strengths of our school. Inspectors saw respectful and positive relationships between students and staff, calm and purposeful learning environments, students who were proud of their school, and a culture where young people feel safe, supported and valued. They saw the breadth of opportunities available to students beyond the classroom, our commitment to inclusion, the strength of our pastoral care, and the ambition we have for every child to succeed. It was a valuable opportunity for others to see what we see every day: a school community built on high expectations, strong values and genuine care for young people.
Most importantly, our students were outstanding ambassadors for the school. Their confidence, courtesy, maturity and willingness to engage in conversations about their experiences made us immensely proud. They demonstrated exactly what it means to be a Freddie’s student.
As we reach the end of half term, I would like to thank all parents and carers for the support you provide to your children and to the school. The partnership between home and school is one of our greatest strengths, and it plays a vital role in helping our students thrive.
However you spend the week ahead, I hope the half-term period provides an opportunity for students to recharge and for families to enjoy some valuable time together. I recognise that school holidays can look very different from one family to another, but I hope the break brings a change of pace and a chance to return refreshed for the remainder of the autumn term.
Finally, a reminder to our Year 11 students that mock examinations are now fast approaching. Whilst it is important to make time to rest, preparations for the mocks should now be well underway. Establishing good revision routines over the break will place students in a strong position as they move towards this important stage of their GCSE journey.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back after half term for what promises to be another exciting and successful period here in school.
Best Wishes,
Mr Davies.
Things to celebrate
- Last Friday, we held our annual Sports Awards at Tyldesley Rugby Club. It was a fantastic event to celebrate the many sporting achievements of our students.
- Our Primary Dance Festival took place in school on Monday afternoon. This was an incredible event in which many of our students worked alongside the primary schools in a leadership capacity.
- On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had the pleasure of welcoming HMI into school for a full inspection. We were extremely proud of how our students conducted themselves when interacting with our visitors.
- On Thursday evening we welcomed our Year 7 parents and carers into school for the Raising Achievement Event. We were delighted to see so many of you there.
- Today we have celebrated our BEST Awards. This involves Form Tutors selecting four students who they feel have demonstrated one or more of our BEST character values. We are very proud of all of the students who received awards this time.
- Last week we celebrated our ‘Freddie’s Focus on the Stars’. A huge congratulations to everyone who received an award last time.
- Sporting Success this week
Students are reminded that nominations for next year’s Sports Awards are based on school sport success and involvement during the current academic year. With so much already happening, we are looking forward to next year’s event already!
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
Students are reminded that nominations for next year’s Sports Awards are based on school sport success and involvement during the current academic year. With so much already happening, we are looking forward to next year’s event already!
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
School Reminders
Excitingly, we will be officially launching the KS3 Study Hub after half term! Students will be introduced to the platform during their Freddie’s Focus sessions in Form and shown how to access and make the most of the fantastic resources available.
The Study Hub is designed to help students build their knowledge, develop good study habits and become more confident, independent learners right from Year 7.
We would really encourage you to have a chat with your child about the Study Hub after half term and support them in making regular use of this valuable resource at home. Even a little independent study each week can make a big difference!
As always, if you have any questions or would like any further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thank you for your continued support – Mrs Potter.
School Reminders
Excitingly, we will be officially launching the KS3 Study Hub after half term! Students will be introduced to the platform during their Freddie’s Focus sessions in Form and shown how to access and make the most of the fantastic resources available.
The Study Hub is designed to help students build their knowledge, develop good study habits and become more confident, independent learners right from Year 7.
We would really encourage you to have a chat with your child about the Study Hub after half term and support them in making regular use of this valuable resource at home. Even a little independent study each week can make a big difference!
As always, if you have any questions or would like any further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Thank you for your continued support – Mrs Potter.
Information for parents of SEND students
We’d like to signpost to parents a new PADLET that has been created by Wigan LA to make parents aware of specific services that are available to support neuro-diverse students.
https://padlet.com/Thrive_in_Wigan/neurodevelopmental-support-n944neepu5gjvosy
This is additional to the other Wigan PADLET which serves as a useful gateway to all the services that support children in the Wigan area. Both PADLETS are regularly updated so it is worthwhile frequently checking-in for current information and updates.
https://padlet.com/WiganCAMHS/wigan-mhst-info-board-nu69chp8ifamla8q
Embrace also offer a range of on-line courses to support parents. Details of these can be found here:
https://www.embracewiganandleigh.org.uk/behaviour-support-workshops/?cn-reloaded=1
The following link provides a useful gateway to all services that support children in the Wigan area. This page is regularly updated so it is worthwhile frequently checking-in for current information and updates.
https://padlet.com/WiganCAMHS/wigan-mhst-info-board-nu69chp8ifamla8q
We can also recommend this website as a source of useful information for the parents of neurodiverse children and teens.
What we do at Freddie's and why we do it
Our Personal Development curriculum:
The Department for Education specify that it is your child’s entitlement to a Personal Development education. The aim is “to promote discussion, challenge misconceptions and allow students to reflect on matters that are usually outside a typical lesson.” We therefore build our PD curriculum into our timetable once per fortnight starting after half term.
How to support your child to become an independent learner
The diagram below demonstrates the fact to learn means to remember. Remembering means that information is embedded into the long-term memory.
Our working memory can only hold a few pieces of information for up to 30 seconds until it is lost/forgotten. This is why we have to do something with that information to make sure it is not lost. Actively engaging with information and tasks which involve retrieval and repetition help information to stick.
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.
Homework Intervention
If your child is not meeting deadlines or completing homework to the best of their ability, their teachers and/or Head of Year will refer them to our homework intervention group. Parents/ carers will receive a letter notifying you and to explain the night that your child will be required and for how long. This is a supportive intervention which is used to get students back on track with homework if they are struggling in this area.
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.
Please ensure your child speaks to staff of any lessons where they miss work due to absence, this is to mitigate any impact of absence.
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.
