Dear Parents/Carers,

As we near the end of the summer term, indeed the school year, we are sharing our penultimate letter with you, detailing important news and up-and-coming events. 

Year 11 and Year 13 RoA Ceremonies
It was an absolute pleasure to celebrate Year 11’s achievements and successes last Friday at the RoA ceremony. It was a wonderful morning with brilliant speeches and musical performances enjoyed by staff and students alike. It was great seeing so many families attend too and, as always, seeing such spectacular transport! We are now really looking forward to Year 13’s RoA next Friday. 

Transition
As we wave off our older students, we welcome our new: Year 6 students joined us today from 15 primary schools from across Newport.  It’s always a lovely day, meeting the new members of our St Julian’s family and we were also very proud of the warm welcome they received from older students. We hope all 253 of them enjoyed their time with us and feel ready for starting in September. 

Siarter Iaith 
We are both delighted and proud to share with you all that the school has been awarded the Bronze Siarter Iaith Award. This is an award for the use of Welsh language and celebration of Welsh culture and Cynefin across the school.  Some of you may know that this was one of Estyn’s recommendations to us, from our inspection a year ago, so it is great to see the progress we are making. Llongyfarchiadau bawb! 

Hot Weather
We all experienced our second heatwave of the summer earlier this week with temperatures reaching over 30 degrees. We would like to commend our students in coming in appropriate PE kit and being sun safe with hats, water and seeking shade. Whilst such temperatures are not currently forecast, we will carry out the same measures if we do have a third heatwave before we break for the summer holidays. 

Toilet & Time Out Passes (inc trial)
Last week we sent a letter to all parents and carers and also informed students of changes to out of class passes in September. This letter can be found here. We have been increasingly worried about students' lateness to lessons and missed time during lessons and the impact this has on their learning and the learning of others. Therefore, in preparation for the new year, we will be trialling a change to our approach. Students can now access the toilets in between lessons to avoid having to leave a lesson and miss out on learning time. We are also reintroducing the school bell which will have a second sounding shortly after the lesson change to indicate that students should now be in lessons and will be considered as late if not. Those with passes can continue to use them until the end of term. We hope a new approach will address the concerns we have and maximise learning time for all.

Sporting Success
Congratulations to Isaac Barry in Year 11 on his recent success in the World Aquathlon championships in Spain. In a field of 26, Isaac finished in seventh place and was the second British athlete home, out of five. Following his success, British triathlon have confirmed Isaac has automatically qualified for the 2026 World championships in Abu Dhabi. Di awn, Isaac!

End of Term Events
We have many enrichment events to look forward to over the next fortnight. Next week 55 of Year 9 students head off to France for four days on our humanities trip. Our rewards and activities day is on the 15th July (and the 16th July for the LDC), where 700 students are off to theme parks whilst others enjoy a range of fun activities in school. Our talent show and staff Masked Singer is building momentum and the show and reveal will be on the last Monday of term. Equally, our sports days are reaching fever pitch with the finals taking place on the 10th July. To all those taking part: enjoy (and pob lwc!) and to all staff making these events happen: diolch yn fawr iawn.  

Results Days
As always there are two results days in the summer. For Post 16 students, A & AS level and L3 BTEC results are to be collected on Thursday 14th August and then for Year 10 and 11 students, GCSE and L2 BTECs are the following Thursday (21st August). Staff will be in school on both days to support students. Good luck to you all. 

September Events
Whilst we do not want to wish away our summer holidays, we do want to share some key dates for September. Year 7 (current Year 6) will return on Tuesday 2nd September and then students in Years 8, 9, 10, 11 and 13 will return on Wednesday 3rd September. Year 12 students (current Year 11) have a different start: a letter will be sent with further information. There is an Information Evening for students and their families on Tuesday 9th September for Year 10 (17:00-18:00) and Year 12 (18:00-19:00). Later in the month (25th September) we will welcome the new Year 6s to our Open Evening.

And finally…
Please contact the school if you have any general queries. The school phone lines are open from 0800 to 1600 (1530 on Fridays) on 01633 224490 or email on info@stjuliansschool.co.uk. For more specific queries related to your child, you may contact your child’s progress leader (email addresses are on the school website). Updates are also posted on our Instagram and X accounts: @stjuliansschool
 

Yours faithfully,

Mrs A Newton & Miss S Hook
Co-Acting Headteachers