Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 141
- November 14, 2025
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 141
- November 14, 2025
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
I’d like to thank all of our students who attended the Remembrance Parade on Sunday, in whatever capacity – as a school representative, as part of a youth organisation, Tyldesley Brass Band or even just as a spectator. The Parade in Tyldesley is a truly unique and important occasion which not only brings the whole community together to commemorate the fallen, but from our perspective as a school, provides an opportunity for our students to learn powerful lessons that will encourage them to build a more tolerant, peaceful and respectful society. It was a pleasure and privilege to be there with our students.
On a very different note, I want to take this opportunity to make parents aware of the school’s involvement in the Neurodiversity in Schools Project which is being funded by the NHS. As part of the project, we recently sent out surveys that have been filled in by staff, students and parents alike. Thank-you to all parents for this feedback because it gives us useful insights into how we can improve our provision. Over the coming months and weeks, you will receive notifications of various events and workshops that will be hosted in school by various NHS services and professionals for parents and carers of neuro-diverse children and other SEND needs.
We continue with our attendance drive, and we ask parents to keep in mind that just one day of absence means five missed lessons, as well as missing time spent with friends and doing extracurricular activities. You support your child’s physical, social and mental wellbeing by ensuring they are in school every day.
Finally, next week we continue the roll out of the YONDR pouches with Year 10.
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mr Davies
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
I’d like to thank all of our students who attended the Remembrance Parade on Sunday, in whatever capacity – as a school representative, as part of a youth organisation, Tyldesley Brass Band or even just as a spectator. The Parade in Tyldesley is a truly unique and important occasion which not only brings the whole community together to commemorate the fallen, but from our perspective as a school, provides an opportunity for our students to learn powerful lessons that will encourage them to build a more tolerant, peaceful and respectful society. It was a pleasure and privilege to be there with our students.
On a very different note, I want to take this opportunity to make parents aware of the school’s involvement in the Neurodiversity in Schools Project which is being funded by the NHS. As part of the project, we recently sent out surveys that have been filled in by staff, students and parents alike. Thank-you to all parents for this feedback because it gives us useful insights into how we can improve our provision. Over the coming months and weeks, you will receive notifications of various events and workshops that will be hosted in school by various NHS services and professionals for parents and carers of neuro-diverse children and other SEND needs.
We continue with our attendance drive, and we ask parents to keep in mind that just one day of absence means five missed lessons, as well as missing time spent with friends and doing extracurricular activities. You support your child’s physical, social and mental wellbeing by ensuring they are in school every day.
Finally, next week we continue the roll out of the YONDR pouches with Year 10.
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mr Davies
Things to celebrate
- It was lovely to see so many of our students involved in the Tyldesley Remembrance Parade last Sunday. We also marked Remembrance Day on Tuesday by observing a minute silence. Grace Anderson, Year 10, beautifully played the Last Post for us on this day, and our library team created a stunning exhibition of poppies and messages of thanks.
- On Thursday evening we welcomed parents and carers of Year 11 into school for our core exams support event. We thank everyone who attended for their support and feedback.
- Sporting Success this week
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
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
What we do at Freddie's and why we do it
During lessons we use the ‘Learning behaviour wheel’ to ensure that all talk in lessons is purposeful and enhances your child’s learning experience. We want our students to be excellent orators and communicators which is why partner and group work is an aspect of our teaching that we encourage where appropriate.
‘Independent silent study’ is a vital part of your child’s learning experience. At key points in lessons teachers will use this for a period of time to allow students to fully focus and apply their understanding to a specific task without any distractions. This is a valuable opportunity for teachers to then circulate and see how well students have understood the work and offer support where necessary.
‘Habits accelerate learning’
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
Organisation, Selection, Creativity, Association, Repetition
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 ‘A’ stands for area. Ask your child to consider if the space where they are choosing to complete homework is the most appropriate. Distractions, such as the TV or iPads, won’t help them to focus and really think hard about the work they’re producing. Mobile phones (unless being used for the homework) need to be out of sight to avoid distraction or procrastinating.
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.