Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 173
- September 25, 2026
Freddie's Focus
For Parents & Carers
- Issue 173
- September 25, 2026
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
We would like to extend a huge thank you to the more than 120 students who gave up their time to support our Open Evening. Their enthusiasm, confidence and pride in Fred Longworth High School played a huge part in making the event such a success.
Many visitors commented on how welcoming, polite and knowledgeable our students were as they guided families around the school, demonstrated activities, performed, shared their experiences and answered questions. They were outstanding ambassadors for our school and showcased the very best of our community.
We were particularly delighted that many of those involved were members of our new Year 7 cohort. Having only recently joined the school, they demonstrated tremendous confidence and maturity, speaking positively about their experiences and helping prospective students feel excited about the opportunities that await them here at Freddie’s.
The evening provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to demonstrate our school values in action. Their willingness to get involved, support staff and warmly welcome hundreds of visitors reflects the strong sense of community that exists across our school.
We are incredibly proud of every student who took part and would like to thank them for their commitment, energy and professionalism. They were a credit to themselves, their families and our entire school community.
Thank you to all of our students for helping to make this year’s Open Evening such a memorable and successful event.
Mr Davies.
Message from the Headteacher
Dear Parents & Carers,
We would like to extend a huge thank you to the more than 120 students who gave up their time to support our Open Evening. Their enthusiasm, confidence and pride in Fred Longworth High School played a huge part in making the event such a success.
Many visitors commented on how welcoming, polite and knowledgeable our students were as they guided families around the school, demonstrated activities, performed, shared their experiences and answered questions. They were outstanding ambassadors for our school and showcased the very best of our community.
We were particularly delighted that many of those involved were members of our new Year 7 cohort. Having only recently joined the school, they demonstrated tremendous confidence and maturity, speaking positively about their experiences and helping prospective students feel excited about the opportunities that await them here at Freddie’s.
The evening provided a wonderful opportunity for our students to demonstrate our school values in action. Their willingness to get involved, support staff and warmly welcome hundreds of visitors reflects the strong sense of community that exists across our school.
We are incredibly proud of every student who took part and would like to thank them for their commitment, energy and professionalism. They were a credit to themselves, their families and our entire school community.
Thank you to all of our students for helping to make this year’s Open Evening such a memorable and successful event.
Mr Davies.
Things to celebrate
- Last week we celebrated becoming an OCR Sports Studies ambassador centre in recognition of the outstanding delivery and success of our OCR Cambridge National in Sports Studies qualification. To learn more about this, click here.
- On Wednesday we welcomed visitors into school for our Open Evening. We are always incredibly proud to show off our school and also of the way in which our students volunteer to guide parents and carers with such pride and confidence.
- Last week our attendance was 93.56%, which is an increase on the same week last year. We cannot emphasise enough the importance of excellent attendance. Keep up the good work!
- Sporting Success this week
The commitment and dedication shown by the squad has been outstanding, with training attendance reaching exceptional levels. It was particularly pleasing that every member of the squad was involved and contributed in some capacity on the night, demonstrating the strength and unity of the group.
With several fixtures still to come this term, the boys have made a positive start and are eager to continue building momentum. We look forward to seeing their hard work rewarded and wish them every success for the season ahead.
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
The commitment and dedication shown by the squad has been outstanding, with training attendance reaching exceptional levels. It was particularly pleasing that every member of the squad was involved and contributed in some capacity on the night, demonstrating the strength and unity of the group.
With several fixtures still to come this term, the boys have made a positive start and are eager to continue building momentum. We look forward to seeing their hard work rewarded and wish them every success for the season ahead.
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
Year 11 students should now be using the Study Hub regularly to support their revision and preparation for their GCSEs. The platform provides a one-stop hub packed with revision resources, knowledge organisers and independent learning activities, giving students the opportunity to revisit and apply their knowledge independently beyond the classroom.
Year 10 students will be receiving their introduction to the Study Hub in the coming weeks, helping them to understand how to navigate the platform and make the most of the resources available to them from the beginning of their GCSE courses.
Even more excitingly, our brand-new KS3 Study Hub is almost ready to launch! We can’t wait to share this with you and introduce younger students to resources and activities designed to help them develop strong independent study habits from the very start of secondary school.
Keep an eye out for more information coming soon, and please encourage your child to explore and make the most of the opportunities available through the Study Hub.
School Reminders
Year 11 students should now be using the Study Hub regularly to support their revision and preparation for their GCSEs. The platform provides a one-stop hub packed with revision resources, knowledge organisers and independent learning activities, giving students the opportunity to revisit and apply their knowledge independently beyond the classroom.
Year 10 students will be receiving their introduction to the Study Hub in the coming weeks, helping them to understand how to navigate the platform and make the most of the resources available to them from the beginning of their GCSE courses.
Even more excitingly, our brand-new KS3 Study Hub is almost ready to launch! We can’t wait to share this with you and introduce younger students to resources and activities designed to help them develop strong independent study habits from the very start of secondary school.
Keep an eye out for more information coming soon, and please encourage your child to explore and make the most of the opportunities available through the Study Hub.
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
At Freddie’s, we encourage our students to use their manners at all times. This is a way of explicitly teaching what good manners look and sound like. It is also something which we feel contributes to a positive school environment and the Freddie’s community. ‘STEPS’ is used as a reminder in all classrooms and around school. Where we see students exhibiting good manners, we praise and reward them. If students forget to use their manners or need to be supported to correct their behaviour, ‘STEPS’ is something we would refer them to.
‘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
Cognitive Load Theory was developed by John Sweller. ‘Cognitive load’ relates to the amount of information that working memory can hold at one time. Sweller said that, since working memory has a limited capacity, instructional methods should avoid overloading it with additional activities that don’t directly contribute to learning. With this in mind, here are a few things that we do in class to reduce Cognitive Load for your child:
- We build in periods of independent, silent study time so that students can focus in silence on a piece of work which has previously been scaffolded by the teacher. This allows the teacher to move around the classroom and target any students who may require further support.
- SLANT is what we use to gain full attention when it is required. This means that students are encouraged to sit up, get everything out of their hands and track (follow) their teacher. We use this to reduce additional distractions and to ensure that information and instructions are heard and understood by all.
- We break information and instructions down into smaller chunks in a guided ‘step-by step’ way rather than bombarding with too much information all at once.
- We provide modelled examples of work that we are building towards and explain how to get there so that students are clear about the end goal and are gradually guided to get there
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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.