Dear Parents and Carers
Last night we hosted the first of our transition events, giving a warm welcome to our future Year 7 members of the Myton community. It was great to have so many families in attendance to hear about our CARE vision, our SEN and mental health provision, our broad curriculum and our high expectations here at Myton. We are heavily oversubscribed for September and excited to get the next phase of our transition programme underway.
Families were also reminded that Myton will be a smart phone free site from September 2026. It was with great upset that we read about MPs rejecting a proposed social media ban for under-16s despite calls to improve children’s safety online by restricting their access. We know that parents cannot take on the tech giants by themselves and our government seems more concerned about one-upmanship than what is best for our young people. With the disruption and worry from ‘social influencers’ this week we know social media is causing significant mental health harm to many of our young people. The evidence keeps on coming in!
My predecessor, Andy Perry, launched the smart phone free approach last term with resounding support from parents at his face to face presentations. We have a parent body selected to represent our diverse student body who are working with us on our policy, trialling friendly phones and trackers. We are adapting our homework policy so homework is balanced, providing bus information and bus timetables in planners, and working with companies who will provide affordable technology so students can access a device for learning at an affordable price. Our recent survey was provided by Generation Focus and we will be sharing the outcome of this with you after Easter. Our students (nearly 500 respondents) have completed a wider survey about their phone use and all of this will allow us to understand how to best support our young people and the issues they face today.
Kind regards
Mrs Curtis
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