Welcome to Year 9 at Applemore.

We are a small year group with a huge personality. In year 9 we are preparing to make the first big decisions that affect the next steps in our education: our GCSE options. This takes place in the second term, and this adventure has already started. 

Our personal ethos as a year group echoes that of the Applemore Standard: 

• To Believe
• To have Respect
• To have Determination

It takes an awfully long time to build a good reputation but only seconds to build a poor one. We have been working hard as a year group to make sure that every choice we make every day is working towards creating a positive reputation both in the school and in the community. We have to truly believe that we are able to make a difference both in the opinion of ourselves and that of others. We also know that sometimes mistakes are made, but learning from those mistakes and accepting the consequences of our actions makes us better people in long run. 

The past few years have been extremely tough for everyone, and this has affected hugely our resilience towards difficult situations. As the curriculum gets harder and the teenage years bring their own problems, it is imperative that our students are determined to make the most of every opportunity and work towards their best selves. This includes ensuring that our attendance is as high as it can be, knowing that every day missed will make it harder to catch up. 

A level of respect is imperative to being a success person. In year 9 we work extremely hard to ensure that we are showing a basic level of respect to all other students, school staff and visitors on a daily basis. Sometimes in can be hard to show respect when we feel that we are not being show it in return, however, will the philosophy of treating others as you wish to be treated, we are working towards ensuring everybody acts towards other in a way we would expect our students to act. 

Being in year 9 is a difficult time in a student’s life. Students are no longer the “new ones” nor are they “top of the school”. If we can focus on our own agendas, ensuring that we respect everybody, are determined to be successful, and believe that we can be the best that we can we deserve then I know that we will be an extremely successful year group.