Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 168
- July 3, 2026
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 168
- July 3, 2026
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
In this edition of Freddie’s Focus for Parents, I would like to extend a warm and special welcome to the families of our new Year 6 students, following what has been a highly successful and enjoyable transition period.
It has been a genuine privilege to meet our new students and to see first-hand the confidence, curiosity and enthusiasm they are already bringing to our school community. You should feel extremely proud of how positively they have engaged with every aspect of the transition programme.
Starting secondary school is a significant milestone, and we are fully committed to ensuring that every child feels supported, valued, and prepared for this exciting next chapter. Over the coming months, we will continue to build on the strong foundations established during transition, so that all students feel a true sense of belonging from their very first day in September.
As part of our commitment to personal development and wellbeing, I am pleased to introduce Freddie’s Focus for Parents. Shared through our communication platforms and school website, it provides regular updates and highlights key themes, enabling you to support and reinforce important messages at home.
We strongly encourage all families to take a few moments each week to read Freddie’s Focus together – it is a valuable way to spark conversation and support your child’s personal development journey.
Thank you for your continued support and for entrusting us with your child’s education. We very much look forward to welcoming you formally in September and to working in partnership with you in the years ahead.
Mr Davies.
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
In this edition of Freddie’s Focus for Parents, I would like to extend a warm and special welcome to the families of our new Year 6 students, following what has been a highly successful and enjoyable transition period.
It has been a genuine privilege to meet our new students and to see first-hand the confidence, curiosity and enthusiasm they are already bringing to our school community. You should feel extremely proud of how positively they have engaged with every aspect of the transition programme.
Starting secondary school is a significant milestone, and we are fully committed to ensuring that every child feels supported, valued, and prepared for this exciting next chapter. Over the coming months, we will continue to build on the strong foundations established during transition, so that all students feel a true sense of belonging from their very first day in September.
As part of our commitment to personal development and wellbeing, I am pleased to introduce Freddie’s Focus for Parents. Shared through our communication platforms and school website, it provides regular updates and highlights key themes, enabling you to support and reinforce important messages at home.
We strongly encourage all families to take a few moments each week to read Freddie’s Focus together – it is a valuable way to spark conversation and support your child’s personal development journey.
Thank you for your continued support and for entrusting us with your child’s education. We very much look forward to welcoming you formally in September and to working in partnership with you in the years ahead.
Mr Davies.
Things to celebrate
- Last Friday we held our Year 11 prom at Haydock Park Racecourse. This was a superb evening for all involved.
- On Tuesday our Year 8 students took part in the annual ‘World of Work Day’. This event provides students with an opportunity to start to consider future careers and the skills required when they enter employment. Our students were a credit to us.
- This week our DT department have worked with one of our local primary schools to create bird houses. This has provided these students with an opportunity to see what Design Technology is like in secondary school and how design and technology can be used in real life.
- On Wednesday night, 19 students from Years 7–10 performed at the Lowry as part of the Salford Dance Explosion. They performed an original piece of choreography by former student Ruby Hampson, who is currently in her second year at LIPA, set to Weak Become Heroes by The Streets and Born Slippy by Underworld. What a performance!
- On Thursday we hosted our Year 6 evening for parents and carers of our new intake. It was wonderful to see so many in attendance.
- On Thursday, our school winners of the National Careers Challenge travelled down to Telford to compete in the national final. All teams represented the school brilliantly, and we won the Most Enterprising School nationally! Congratulations Team Freddie’s!
- Sporting Success this week
Playing in extremely hot conditions, the team showed tremendous determination, resilience and teamwork throughout the match. Every player contributed positively, displaying excellent attitude and commitment from start to finish.
The game remained closely contested throughout, with Fred Longworth matching their opponents for long periods and creating plenty of opportunities to take control. However, after a thrilling contest, West Hill High School managed to edge ahead in the final couple of overs to secure a narrow victory.
Despite the result, the players can be incredibly proud of their efforts. Their performance, sportsmanship and determination in challenging conditions were a credit to both themselves and the school. The future of cricket at Fred Longworth looks very promising if this display is anything to go by.
Well done to all involved.
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
Playing in extremely hot conditions, the team showed tremendous determination, resilience and teamwork throughout the match. Every player contributed positively, displaying excellent attitude and commitment from start to finish.
The game remained closely contested throughout, with Fred Longworth matching their opponents for long periods and creating plenty of opportunities to take control. However, after a thrilling contest, West Hill High School managed to edge ahead in the final couple of overs to secure a narrow victory.
Despite the result, the players can be incredibly proud of their efforts. Their performance, sportsmanship and determination in challenging conditions were a credit to both themselves and the school. The future of cricket at Fred Longworth looks very promising if this display is anything to go by.
Well done to all involved.
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
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
Encouraging our students to take ownership of their learning and celebrate their successes through Student-Led Conference
At the end of every academic year, we hold our Student-Led Conferences. This is where the students talk to their parents, carers and Form Tutors about their learning journey through the year, celebrating success and reflecting on their areas for improvement as they approach the new academic year. At various points in the year, students have completed self-evaluation weeks during form time where they have reflected upon their strengths and areas for improvement. They have set themselves targets so that they are clear about the next steps and how to get there.
On their Student-Led Conference Day, they have an allocated time to share their reflections and some pieces of work that they are incredibly proud of. Students are asked to bring their work along so that they can talk about why they are proud of this particular piece(s) and the challenges that they faced along the way in getting there. Parents, carers and the students gain a lot from this opportunity, and we receive positive feedback about the event every year from some very proud parents and carers.
We look forward to welcoming you into school for this event on Monday 6th July.
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 is the amount of mental effort and brainpower required to complete a task or process new information at any given moment. Think of your child’s working memory as like a small mental workbench. It can only hold a few items at once before things start falling off the edges.
Below are some of the things that we do in class to reduce Cognitive Load for every child:
- Very clear routines which provide certainty
- We use ‘SLANT’ to re-establish focus so that instructions can be given without distraction
- Opportunities for silent, independent study
- Breaking things down into smaller chunks
- We guide students through tasks bit by bit using an ‘I, we, you’ structure
- We provide modelled examples of things and explain how to get there
- We reduce visual clutter on resources
We strongly encourage all of our KS4 students to access the self-directed study hub.
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.
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.