Dear Parent,
Welcome to the third of my weekly updates for parents.
I do hope that you and your family are well and that you were able to celebrate the joy of Easter and to focus on the hope offered by the resurrection of Jesus. As Christians we are offered this glorious form of herd immunity against the evils of the world, and for this, even in the most testing of times, we should rejoice.
You should already have received an electronic copy of the school newsletter for the spring term. Do please take a moment to read about all the exciting initiatives and developments which took place during more normal times.
This coming Monday would have marked our return from the Easter break and to signal this you should see a return to teachers setting new assignments and more online work. I spent two hours with all heads of department earlier this week and reinforced my expectations about the type of work to be set and the timescale for its return. Teachers have been keen to return completed work as quickly as possible but I would ask for your patience if this doesn’t take place immediately.
This may also be an appropriate moment, where possible, for you to encourage your son/daughter to return to the good work habits evident from so many during the first two weeks of closure. We know that for a small number of families access to electronic devices can be difficult and for a very small number impossible. If this is the case we need to know. Please ring school to alert us to problems of this sort where a member of SMT is on duty each day to respond to your difficulties. You can of course if you prefer continue to communicate directly with heads of year through Synergy.
A number of extra-curricular initiatives are continuing including science club, virtual art gallery and PE weekly challenge. Year 7 pupils should watch out for the new QUEST Award Challenge which is being organised by Mrs Litherland and all pupils (and parents) will want to read the weekly prayer bulletin and Faith at Home communication.
I am keen to reassure the parents of pupils from year 11 and upper sixth students that the protocols followed by teachers in allocating centre assessment grades will follow Ofqual guidance and thus will consider each pupils performance based on a range of evidence and will be fair, objective and ethical. The earliest that we will be able to submit grades to the exam boards will be 29th May and the date for the publication of results has now been set as 13th August for A-level and 20th August for GCSE.
The latest guidance (16th April) for parents issued by the government can be found here.
We do know that the current lock-down arrangements will continue for the next three weeks and that any return to school is likely to be staggered and partial. I am confident however that we will see a return to school at some point during the summer term.
RD Jones
Headmaster