News

Weekly Update

Please see Mr Walker’s latest update below:

Good afternoon. I hope you and your family are well.  

Year 10 on-site learning 

It’s been fantastic to welcome back our Year 10 students this week; they have behaved impeccably, and staff have really enjoyed having them back at school. You will remember that parents/carers signed students up for the first two-week block. On Monday, we will contact parents/carers to ask if they would like their Year 10 child to come into school for the weeks commencing 6 and 13 July. If your child attended the first two–week block, you will not need to sign up again; we will assume your child is attending, unless you tell us otherwise. 

Home learning  

At home, students are still doing a fantastic job completing their work. Pupils in Year 7, 8 and 9 only have two weeks of online work to complete; Year 10 pupils have three weeks of online work to complete. Please help us keep the momentum – it is so important that students complete all of their work, so they have the best foundations to move forward from in September. Please contact your child’s Head of House if completing work is becoming a problem. 

During the week beginning 13 July, we will be completing our Activities Week for Year 7, 8 and 9 students. This programme is looking really exciting, and we can’t wait to launch this through our Lifestyle department during the next two weeks. During the Activities Week, we will continue setting work and offering on-site provision for Year 10 students. We will also continue to offer key worker and vulnerable student provision on site. 

The Activities Week will also offer our staff the opportunity to complete a thorough review of all their students. This information will be sent to parents by Monday 20 July. We will offer students who still have work to complete the chance to come into school the week beginning 20 July, in order to complete their work with support from staff. We will contact you individually if we are inviting your child to come and work with us. We really need all work completed so everyone is in the best place possible for September.

September 

There has been/will be a lot of speculation in the press about schools starting back in September. Our calendared return date is Monday 7 September. We have not heard anything definitive from the government, but as soon as we do, we will begin our planning and let you know the details as soon as possible. 

Year 11 

We will be writing to Year 11 parents/carers to talk through plans, including returning equipment and iPads. We are also starting to re-plan our Leavers’ Day, Prom and Results Day. I know Mrs Ohly will be asking for a student view on the timing and best way to stage the Prom; parents/carers – please feel free to offer your thoughts. To get involved in this discussion, please follow the guidance in the letter which is due to be sent. Let us be really clear: as promised, we will have a Prom, the questions are ‘when’ and ‘how’!

Online live teaching 

We have had a good response to our online live teaching, and we have more lessons booked for next week. Parents/carers can see when live lessons are scheduled by clicking on their child’s Virtual School work page. 

Finally, thank you for all your fantastic support and feedback. 

Take care and have a lovely weekend.

Paul Walker 

Headteacher