Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 161
- May 8, 2026
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 161
- May 8, 2026
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
We are pleased to share that the school recently hosted a visit focused on our successful implementation of Yondr pouches.
The event was attended by local councillors and representatives from several local high schools, who were keen to learn about our approach and the positive impact Yondr has had on learning, wellbeing and student focus across the school.
Guests observed our systems in practice and took part in discussions with staff and students. They were particularly interested in how the introduction of Yondr has supported calm classrooms, improved engagement, and reinforced positive routines throughout the school day.
We are proud that our work has attracted such interest and that our school is being recognised as an example of effective practice within the local education community.
We also wrote to you earlier in the week with details of a Parent workshop which Wigan Embrace are running here in school on Thursday 21st May – Understanding ADHD. If you wish to attend, you will need to sign up via the link that was included in our original communication.
And finally, on a lighter note, our annual Year 11 vs Staff football match took place last week. In a rare turn of events, the match ended in a staff victory! After a closely contested 1–1 draw at full time, the result was decided by a penalty shoot-out, with the staff team winning 4–2.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support in helping us maintain high standards and a positive learning environment for all students.
Mr Davies
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
We are pleased to share that the school recently hosted a visit focused on our successful implementation of Yondr pouches.
The event was attended by local councillors and representatives from several local high schools, who were keen to learn about our approach and the positive impact Yondr has had on learning, wellbeing and student focus across the school.
Guests observed our systems in practice and took part in discussions with staff and students. They were particularly interested in how the introduction of Yondr has supported calm classrooms, improved engagement, and reinforced positive routines throughout the school day.
We are proud that our work has attracted such interest and that our school is being recognised as an example of effective practice within the local education community.
We also wrote to you earlier in the week with details of a Parent workshop which Wigan Embrace are running here in school on Thursday 21st May – Understanding ADHD. If you wish to attend, you will need to sign up via the link that was included in our original communication.
And finally, on a lighter note, our annual Year 11 vs Staff football match took place last week. In a rare turn of events, the match ended in a staff victory! After a closely contested 1–1 draw at full time, the result was decided by a penalty shoot-out, with the staff team winning 4–2.
Thank you, as always, for your continued support in helping us maintain high standards and a positive learning environment for all students.
Mr Davies
Email sent to Mr Davies this week
Things to celebrate
- This week we have celebrated subject specific successes of students through our ‘Freddie’s Focus on the Stars’. We are incredibly proud of the achievements of all students who received a shout out or our Headteacher’s Award.
- Last Friday, we hosted a summit to celebrate the success of our Yondr mobile phone-free environment.
- Congratulations to the staff football team, who beat Year 11 in the annual challenge last Friday.
- Sporting Success this week
It has been another exciting and competitive week of sport at Fred Longworth High School, with both highs and narrow defeats showcasing the commitment and development of our students.
Overall, it has been a week that highlights both resilience and excellence, with plenty to build on as we move forward.
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
It has been another exciting and competitive week of sport at Fred Longworth High School, with both highs and narrow defeats showcasing the commitment and development of our students.
Overall, it has been a week that highlights both resilience and excellence, with plenty to build on as we move forward.
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
Embrace 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
‘Habits accelerate learning’
In lessons and in assemblies here at Freddie’s, we use something called ‘SLANT’ as a way of ensuring that we get full attention from your child. We don’t want any students to miss out on instructions or key pieces of information. Establishing full attention and avoiding distractions are vital in supporting learning. Above is an image that we present in all classrooms so that we can explicitly share what each part of ‘SLANT’ means. We also regularly remind our students why SLANT matters and why it is there to support their learning and success at Freddie’s.
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
How to support your child to become an independent learner
O.S.C.A.R
The ‘OSCAR’ model is something that we are promoting at Freddie’s in order to support your child with independent/self-directed study at home.
The ‘S’ stands for select. To support your child with this, the following questions and prompts may be useful:
- Have you checked ‘Satchel One’ to see what you have been set and what your priority is?
- Which subject/piece of homework are you going to focus on tonight?
- Which key pieces of knowledge will you focus on?
- If this is self-directed study, why don’t you focus on subjects or topics that you have forgotten or are likely to forget?
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.
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.