Dear Parents, Carers and Families,

On Thursday of this week, I was invited to travel to London to attend a meeting at the Department for Education, the first time in my 24 years working within education that I’ve engaged with the government department responsible for it in person. I’d been invited to speak about the impact of poverty on children and their education and decided to go, as this is the issue I feel most strongly about within all the different areas of school life. Educational success is still one of the biggest factors determining your chances in life, your future earnings, and even your life expectancy. While this remains true, I believe that we shouldn’t accept that children born into low-income families should therefore be served a lesser educational experience and therefore accept less opportunity, lower earnings and a shorter life. The money to support these students isn’t limitless but as the fifth largest economy in the world we are fortunate in that we can make decisions about who and how we help people and I believe as a society we should and could do more to help the very poorest children by giving them a greater chance to use education to lift themselves out of the poverty they find themselves in.

This is a comprehensive school, which means we are joined by children from all backgrounds, many of them from lives of relative privilege, but also some who know what poverty means and have potentially known that all their lives. In these updates, I always try to give a flavour of what the broader issues I write about look like here in school on the ground, but it seems inappropriate for me, a middle-class and well-off man, to try and describe what it’s like to come to school without the same financial support that others take for granted. We very rarely deal with students being unkind to each other about this issue, but we all too frequently deal with students overwhelmed by all the different barriers they face to try and come to school, from issues around school transport, limited uniform, or just being hungry. I’ve worked in education for approaching 25 years, but when I’m taking time to try and get extra food for a student who hasn’t eaten that day, there hasn’t been one occasion where later I’ve not had a little cry.

I’m conscious that writing about this might seem like a political statement, but I don’t see it that way; I see it as an ethical issue. No person should be happy at the thought of children growing up hungry, and I’d support anyone who was trying to make a difference. Our job as a school is to provide a strong education for every child, as this remains their best opportunity to have a say in their own future. For some children, they can’t wait for that; they need clothes, food and warmth now. We provide what we can but also try and work with as many different organisations as possible to offer this support. We also run a Hardship Fund, which parents and carers can support – you will have access to this via ParentPay. When you log in to ParentPay, you should see a payment item titled “Fram Hardship Fund”. Simply click on it to donate – any amount is greatly appreciated. The fund helps families with the cost of school uniform, meals, transport, prom clothing, and other vital needs. If you are fortunate enough to be in a position to donate, even just a small amount, please do so; you can make a real difference to one of our students. In addition, if you’re someone reading this who has connections to an organisation that could help with some of these issues described, please do get in touch and we can look at how to work together to ensure we offer “the most for those that need the most.”

Many thanks for your continued support of the school; I hope you all have a good weekend.  

Michael Wright

Headteacher

Please find this week's key messages below.

What is my child learning?

A reminder that you can find curriculum details about what your child is studying here on our website: Curriculum Overview | Framwellgate School Durham

How to help support your child at home?

Students can use the link below to access resources that will help them study independently at home, such as:

  • Knowledge organisers
  • Revision checklists
  • Past exam papers
  • ‘How to Revise’ instructional videos.

Students have been shown how to access this SharePoint site and a 'how to' sheet has been sent to you via ClassCharts. As parents and carers, you won’t be able to access this, but the link will work for all students. Students learning how to use this excellent resource early in their time here will be very beneficial to them later as they approach their GCSE studies. All GCSE students should be making regular use of it as a matter of course.

Resource Hub