Dear parents/carers

 

I cannot tell you how good it feels to be stood up again and typing this!  Thanks to Mr Mitchell for stepping in last week and updating you all on what is happening whilst I recovered from my back problem.

 

The Y6 virtual induction week was a real hit. Feedback has been great and we will look at this format to see how we can use elements of it in the future. If any parents/carers of Y6 children still want to visit the school then please get in touch and we can organise that.

 

You will have received a letter outlining our plans for the final week of term. We felt it best to look at getting everyone into school for a face to face meeting so that we can map out what is to come and hopefully provide you with the reassurances you (and we) need for September. It will be great to meet you face to face and to be able to hear about your lockdown experiences. Apologies for not having lessons as normal that week, but we hope you can understand that the staff will be required in their classes full time to host the meetings.

 

Having just read the guidance for schools regarding September, there is much work to be done to ensure that we can get things going safely and it seems to be fortunate that having the pastoral week will actually allow us the time to implement the plans and get them out to you before we all break up for the summer. We hope that you will leave your meetings with information on any catch up that needs to be done, ideas for extension work, reassurance over the site and a copy of our plan for September.

 

If you read the guidance, you will see lots of information on things like school trips (ironic that this should be timetable suspension!) and transport. Obviously these impact us all and so we thank you in advance for a bit of patience whilst we sort that all out. I hope you will agree with me when I say that our feeling is we would all rather finish school on the 17th with a very clear plan and answers to key questions rather than have to wait for information during the summer break. That is what we hope to achieve,

 

Parents/carers of our Y11 class of 2020 will be asking about results day. As it stands, we will be operating our normal results day which starts at 8.30 on Thursday 20th August, but we will obviously be adhering to whatever the social distancing guidance is at the time. We will let you know more on that if it changes.

 

Mrs Balmer has really enjoyed welcoming a large number of students to our virtual Y12 induction and we are so looking forward to seeing you all soon. It will be excellent to pack the campus with students and to see them all thrive.

 

Having felt somewhat out of the loop this week, I have been delighted to read some of the great challenges that the students have been taking on. I am also delighted to say that over 400 commendations have been sent out so far in recognition of the efforts some students have been making during the lockdown. There is still time for more, so do keep trying your best.

 

So, the clock is ticking and there is work to be done.  Amongst this change, please rest assured that we are here for you if you need us. Remember our safeguarding@ email is always checked and you will have contact numbers for key staff as well. Our safeguarding promise to you remains the same and we will always get in touch if you need us.

 

I was trying to think of inspiring songs to end this week, but for some reason, all of the titles had the word 'back' in them! 

 

Have a lovely weekend. Hopefully, your new family bubbles are working well and you are managing to stay safe.

 

Counting the days until we can all be together!

 

Steve Brady