Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 148
- January 16, 2026
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 148
- January 16, 2026
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
We have come to the end of the second week back after the Christmas Break and I’d like to commend the majority of our students, who have made a positive and successful start to the New Year in school. It can be a difficult half term with the dark mornings, dark nights, cold weather and with spring still being just that little bit too far away. In spite of the time of year, attendance in school has been positive. Good attendance is critical, every missed day of school means missed learning and missed opportunities to engage positively with school life. We have had Wigan and Leigh College in school this week interviewing and speaking with a number of our Year 11 students – a key theme – how is your attendance? Please keep supporting your child, not only for their education but for their overall well-being, by ensuring that they attend school every day. We know for some children there are genuine struggles – we are here to help and support where we can.
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mr Davies
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
We have come to the end of the second week back after the Christmas Break and I’d like to commend the majority of our students, who have made a positive and successful start to the New Year in school. It can be a difficult half term with the dark mornings, dark nights, cold weather and with spring still being just that little bit too far away. In spite of the time of year, attendance in school has been positive. Good attendance is critical, every missed day of school means missed learning and missed opportunities to engage positively with school life. We have had Wigan and Leigh College in school this week interviewing and speaking with a number of our Year 11 students – a key theme – how is your attendance? Please keep supporting your child, not only for their education but for their overall well-being, by ensuring that they attend school every day. We know for some children there are genuine struggles – we are here to help and support where we can.
Thank-you for your continued support.
Mr Davies
Things to celebrate
- Rehearsals for our next school show ‘Oliver’ are well under way.
- This week our Year 11 students have completed exams in Construction, Hospitality and Catering, and MFL. We are incredibly proud of the way in which they have conducted themselves during these exams.
- 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
Supporting our students with reading
At Freddie’s we place great value on reading. We have a reading curriculum in place to support every child to access reading materials in all of their subjects. All classrooms display ‘Read like a….’ posters which contain subject specific tips on how to access reading materials. We also use a variety of strategies to guide students through specific texts (see below):
Our ‘Powerful Words’ booklets for Years 7, 8 and 9 are used to support vocabulary development and our reading curriculum. Students are expected to bring their ‘Powerful Words’ booklets to school with them every day as part of their essential equipment. Please support us by reminding your child how valuable these booklets are in terms of supporting learning and progress.
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
At Freddie’s we set six specific types of homework to broaden, consolidate and enhance learning. Below are the types of homework that your child can expect:
‘Powerful Words’ booklets can be used for independent study, practise it and spell it tasks.
‘Powerful Words’ booklets can be used for independent study, practise it and spell it tasks
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.