Our house assemblies for the first fortnight of this half term are based on ‘community’. Attending a community-based school like Myton means understanding that we are all on the same side, we want our school to be the best it can be, and we want our local community to be a successful, pleasant, safe and positive place in which to live.

On the whole, we see this working well, both in school and the local community, but some students need a little more coaching than others and our assemblies are part of that. The message is clear: we support each other, we recognise that we are all here to learn, and we know that we must avoid conflict. When travelling to and from school, we must be respectful of each other and of other people, aware that any boisterous, anti-social or silly behaviour can impact on others and reflect badly on the school. When interacting with anyone, we must be polite, generous and recognise that we all live very closely together and that our community thrives on positive relationships and is damaged by conflict.

Crucially, social media must be used responsibly. Many of the cases of conflict that end up being resolved by staff in school are the result of extremely poor communication on social media, often overnight. It is a drain on school resources. We have expanded our welfare and behaviour teams to ensure that students and parents are supported and that the issues starting on social media do not impact on school. However, like all parts of public life, our resources are limited and budget cuts each year mean that the expansion of one team results in the shrinking of others.

We have a duty to educate our children in all aspects of life, not just gaining grades. At Myton we are fortunate to have an excellent body of willing students who listen to staff and their parents, but I do not take this for granted so please take a moment to remind your child about their responsibilities to their community.