The reason for their visit was to hear about the work that all staff have been involved with to improve students’ attendance to school in this post Covid era and to understand the unique challenges we face as a school in the current Hertfordshire landscape – particularly with reference to SEND provision. Their visit tied in very well with the school’s additional and ongoing focus on this key area after last term’s Ofsted inspection.

Joe and Tom thoroughly enjoyed an in-depth walk around the school site and they were particularly impressed with the students and staff who they spoke to in lessons, in the Pastoral Office and Sixth Form Study Area. They were also hugely impressed with the performance in the Year 8 dance class of their Westside-Story-inspired choreography – commenting how enthusiastic and engaged all the students were.

They saw firsthand how our school is working incredibly hard to engage all students in their learning and were particularly impressed with some of the more vocational opportunities on offer within the alternative and outdoor education area. They saw students learning about hair and beauty, spoke to students on the Kings Trust/AQA Award Programme and saw the outstanding provision for horticulture, outdoor education and on the bike repair workshop programme. Khalid even offered us all some amazingly tasty strawberries picked that morning and which had been grown by the students over the last few months. They were delicious!

Joe and Tom also visited the school’s specialist resource provision ‘The Laurel’ and spoke to students who had just that morning taken their GCSE Maths examination.

As parents and carers do continue to play your part in encouraging your children to aim for 95%+ attendance. The part you play has helped us improve our overall attendance by 1.3% since 2024, but we still have a way to go.

We all know that good attendance opens up doors in the future and continues to be a real focus for all staff at BMS.