Dear Families, 

I hope this finds you all well.  We were delighted to welcome back staff and pupils who had been shielding upto the end of March.  Whilst we are still being extremely careful on site, it is lovely to feel things gradually getting back to normal!

Covid

We have had no confirmed cases of Covid in our community since the last bulletin.

Testing

For those pupils whom have home testing kits, please continue to complete two a week and log the results on the NHS system. 

You only need to notify the school if your child has a positive result.

We do have some Lateral Flow Test kits in school, so should the home test indicate a positive you can either book a test at a walk in centre or arrange to come to school to collect a kit.

If you have not previously given permission for your child to have rapid testing in school and then at home, but would now like to do so, please complete the online permission form.

Exams

As you may be aware, most externally accredited courses have opted not to have exams this summer. The exception to this, for our school, is Functional English and Functional Mathematics exams which are still scheduled to happen in person in June.

The number of pupils taking these exams are small and we have strong plans in place to allow pupils to take the exams, and for staff to invigilate and support in the exams, in a Covid secure setting.  Letters will be sent home next week to those pupils sitting these exams.

Build

Over the Easter break I visited our new building with a group of staff. The Build Team is now completing the construction of the individual internal rooms and spaces, so have got a really good sense of just how big the building will be! Our first pupil group from our Scout troop will be visiting the site in the next few weeks. This is under strict Health and Safety procedures and will include being provided with steel toe cap boots, high viz clothing, a hard hat and safety goggles. Whilst on site the pupils and staff supporting them will be escorted by the three senior on site members of the build team.

Assembly

Assembly this week was about being patient. We watched a really interesting experiment which looked at children and whether they are able to wait for a treat (or not!). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo4WF3cSd9Q

We also looked at situations and people that might make us impatient and how we could develop our patience.

We also finished the assembly with a lovely thought from one of our Year 9 pupils, Rafia 

“Butterflies can't see their wings.
They can't see how truly beautiful they are,
but everyone else can.
People are like that as well.”

Thanks Rafia for sharing this lovely thought with us all.

Very best wishes to you and your family,