Update from the Principal – 01 May 2026
Dear Parents & Carers
I would like to wish all of our families a restful break over the May bank holiday weekend .
I would like to take this opportunity to give you some advance notice of some changes, which will be in place from next week at Hanham Woods Academy.
I will be leading a Principal assembly with all year groups on Tuesday 5th May, to share these changes in detail, but I wanted to provide parents with information before that so you might talk about it with your children.
During my time so far at Hanham Woods Academy it has become increasingly clear that some students are not responding as we might hope to the expectation that they should arrive on time to their learning as a result are missing too much of their learning.
We are moving to a position where lateness and truancy will no longer impact students’ attendance to lessons but will now impact on their social time. This is through a detention system that will retain students for 30 minutes after school the same day for any instance of lateness, truancy or behaviour that does not meet our expectations.
This will mean that students will maximise their time in learning, whilst ensuring that we develop the crucial skills of punctuality, respect and resilience. The negative impact on other childrens’ learning and on teachers’ ability to deliver high quality lessons is never acceptable and a key part of my decision.
Whilst we are confident that vast majority of students consistently attend all their lessons on time, we hope that you will support us to encourage promptness to lessons. Should there be repeated lateness or Truancy we will be in touch with individual families to discuss next steps.
During the after-school detention students will have the opportunity to reflect on the impact of their choices and behaviour and hold a rebuild discussion with key adults.
Another enormous impact on students, resulting in lost learning, is the scale and number of students requesting to use the toilets during lesson time that do not have an underlying medical condition. Students without an underlying condition are not organising themselves to plan for the comfort break they require. For clarity the toilets are open and available before and after school, at every break time and in between every lesson. Students repeatedly leaving lessons to visit the toilet is negatively impacting their learning and those of others in classes. Students will not be given access to the toilets during lesson times unless there are exceptional circumstances.
We appreciate for many of our families this will not present any change at all. We request that should you feel that this might be an issue for your child that you discuss this with them over the weekend and contact us at your earliest opportunity should there be any concerns for us to consider.
I remain grateful for your continued support.
Yours sincerely
Mrs K Cooper
Senior Principal
