“My first contact with South Wirral High School was while my daughter was still at primary school – she attended Kids Can Cook Club after school once a week with some friends; Mrs. Connelly in charge with two friendly Sixth Form student helpers and it was a great after school club for the primary school children.
I had heard excellent reports from parents of children already at South Wirral, and the special atmosphere at South Wirral’s open evening clinched it for us. My daughter started there in year 7, and she will be moving up to the Sixth Form in September, to study for her A-levels.
She was more nervous than most moving up to high school, and I was the naturally concerned parent! However, she loves sports and games and within a week or so she was staying after school most days for netball, football, tag rugby, rounders, and dance. I was so grateful to Ms. Adu and Ms. Batch for their commitment to running the sports sessions after school because it helped my daughter to gain confidence and she soon flourished, settling in with a new group of friends.
On the academic side, I have seen how teachers go the extra mile to help students reach their potential, particularly in the run up to GCSEs, with additional lessons timetabled out of regular school hours. I also remember how impressed I was by the homework set by teachers on Moodle, using various types of learning activities and offering extension work to those who wanted to take things a step further. All the teachers I have met at Parents’ Evening have shown commitment to their subjects, and I believe that teachers at South Wirral are amongst the best. The topics for any project work were exciting and encouraged a variety of academic skills and talents. My daughter’s particular talent is dance, and so I am especially grateful to the dance teachers who supported her.
I had expected my daughter would be a number in a big school, but it’s never been like this at South Wirral. It’s a community school in the actual sense of the word and regularly gets stuck in to support good causes. I recall how they supported The Lyndale School right to the end and how they helped the refugee crisis at Calais.
One of my daughter’s highlights was her trip to Oaklands in year 8; mine was the Christmas show in 2013 when staff dance included Gangnam style.
Despite these past few years being a time of budget constraints for all schools, I know that the pastoral support at South Wirral has remained excellent. I have seen how all staff play a part in developing happy, confident, young people, encouraging their talents whether it be academic or performing arts.
I will always speak highly of South Wirral as a great school and my best wishes to the leadership team and governors, teachers, teaching assistants, pastoral staff, admin and reception staff, caretaking and cleaning staff for the work they do. I sincerely hope I haven’t left anyone out because it seems, as a parent that you work together as a great team to make South Wirral an outstanding school.
My daughter achieved excellent results in her GCSEs (2016), including 2A*s and 4As. I couldn’t be more proud and appreciative of all the staff at South Wirral High School.”