Dear ALS Community,
It’s been a busy week for the Education Secretary, Mr Gavin Williamson. From the return of all school aged children through to the results of the Ofqual consultation on GCSE and A Levels, he’s had a fair few TV interviews to take on. Whilst I am very proud of the quality of the education children have received so far this year, I am absolutely thrilled to be able to write that the full school will return to site from Monday 8th March 2021. Whilst I was expecting for the Juniors to be back on site, I was not expecting Seniors just yet so it is wonderful news! After lobbying the Department for Education, all schools have been granted permission to begin testing pupils for their return as of Monday 1st March. Next week, we’ll test the entire Senior School on Tuesday 2nd March and then Friday 5th March. This will allow us, hopefully, to identify any asymptomatic cases ahead of the full return of school. It also means that the first day back, rather than being a phased return to accommodate testing, will be a full return for all pupils to start their week.
Rolling on from the news around our return, we now also know that GCSE and A Level grades will be submitted by schools based on Teacher judgements. There’s a lot being made about grade inflation and fairness. Whilst there was some inflation last summer, it was relatively small and I would very much expect that this summer it will be similar. Teachers cannot simply hand everyone a grade 7 (or an A in old money) and will only be able to submit grades based on their judgement of the evidence they have. Once grades are submitted, exams boards will randomly moderate and if they find that a school cannot justify the grade awarded to a pupil with evidence, it will likely then result in all grades being lowered or a full moderation of the cohort.
For our Year 11 and Year 13 pupils, they now have several months to work with their teachers to show their very best learning and to justify their best grades. This will be made up by coursework, class work, prior attainment, mock examination papers and some externally set tasks from exam boards. I know that the grades for this summer are being referred to as ‘decided by teachers’ and whilst this is true to an extent it’s now up to the pupils to be so exceptional in their approach to learning that their teachers at ALS have no choice but to award the children their very best grades. So, from that view, I’d like to think the children actually have more control than ever of their outcomes. I've written to Year 11 and Year 13 today to outline the process for awarding grades. A copy of my letter can be found here.
For next week, the mantra comes from Veritas: Embrace, don’t resent, other opinions. From the Brexit referendum through to the Presidency of Donald Trump and then the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been a few polarising issues in recent years. As a result, it’s now more than ever that we encourage healthy, critical debate and support children to develop that skill. We can’t always be right, but we can certainly always be ready to listen and reflect which is central to what Veritas House stands for.
Next week, Mrs O’Sullivan is hosting our first Cook-a-long with Lodge on Wednesday 3rd March at 5.00pm. This week pupils & their families can join Mrs O’Sullivan live via Teams to make a Rogan Josh curry. If you would like more information please do email Mrs O’Sullivan on [email protected].
On Thursday, 4th March, the school community will be celebrating World Book Day with a ‘Disney’ theme. Over the course of the week, pupils will be studying books inspired by Disney films, including Peter Pan and The Jungle Book in Junior School to the Grimm Fairy Tales and Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame in Senior School. To start World Book Day week, the Junior School will be jet setting off for a virtual tour of Disneyland and enjoying some of their rides during Form Time and in Mentor Time, all Senior School pupils up to Year 13 will be completing Disney-themed World Book Day tasks and focussing on how a plethora of books have inspired many Disney films. Here is more information on the books being covered by the different year groups over the course of the week.
I know you’ll be bombarded with communications from ALS in the next week or so as we prepare to return to learning on site so I’ll leave it there. I look forward to seeing Senior pupils on Tuesday and Friday next week (even if they are just popping in for a test!).
Have a wonderful weekend.
Best wishes,
David Preston | Headteacher
February 26th 2021
