Dear ALS Community,
It feels wonderful to be writing the weekly email with a school full of children. From my view, the return to school couldn’t have gone any better. After much excitement to see their friends for the first time since before Christmas, the pupils settled very quickly in to their learning. By the second lesson on Monday, it was if the children had never been away. I am hopeful that this has been mirrored at home and your children are coming home delighted to be back in school. Whilst we’re not quite there yet, I’m looking forward to a time when we can resume all of our normal provision and even having things like a whole school assembly. We may even manage something like a prize giving in the summer…we’ll have to wait and see!
For next week, our school mantra is one of the “big hitters” (of course, they are all important…) and I’d like to encourage you to discuss this at home over the weekend. The mantra comes from Amicus: Smile. Help others smile, too. This is definitely a contender for one of the three most important mantras we have as a school community - helping each other to feel happy and confident is a crucial part of the school’s success. Acting with kindness first and supporting friends, family and colleagues is an important message to emphasise. So, for next week, let’s all go out of our way, once a day, to help someone smile. Make a phone call to a friend you’ve not spoken to, send flowers to a family member or simply ask someone “are you ok?”.
Today, senior aged pupils will be coming home with a box of home testing kits for the continuation of the asymptomatic testing regime. Each kit contains 3 tests to carry out the testing from home twice a week going forward. Further information can be found in here. Please start home testing from Monday morning. This first kit will last 1.5 weeks after which the children will bring home the next kit. Please ensure you report your results to NHS Track and Trace and also to [email protected]. Please remember that this rolling programme of testing is designed to identify people without symptoms. If your child - or anyone in the home - develops symptoms of Covid-19, you should keep your child home and book a PCR test at your nearest testing centre.
I understand that many children will have put their uniform on on Monday only to find that bits of it may now be too small. It’s important that, now that we are back in school, that the high standards we have for uniform are maintained and so if I can please ask that any uniform that does not fit is replaced as soon as is possible, I would be most grateful. If the uniform is a piece you purchase directly from school, please email [email protected] with the child’s name and year group along with the item(s) and sizes required. Once we have received your email we will confirm when the item(s) are ready for collection from Reception. Unfortunately we are unable to give children any uniform items that have not been requested by a parent/guardian via this email address.
On Wednesday 17th March at 5:15pm we will be hosting our second live ‘Cook-a-long with Lodge’ to make Chicken wraps with Asian coleslaw and potato wedges. This gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their practical cooking skills and produce a simple evening meal for the family to enjoy. To join the session please email Mrs O’Sullivan on [email protected] by 5:00pm on Tuesday 16th March. The last session was a wonderful success and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Mr Gear has now released the next Senior Phase ExEn projects to start the week commencing Monday 15th March. We look forward to seeing what you have been up to, whether its designing a new sports kit, apply for the Junior Bake off or writing a story. If you have any questions about the projects, please speak to Mr Gear on [email protected].
Sunday 21st March is World Poetry Day, as part of this the Junior School are holding 2 poetry competitions for which the entry deadline is Monday 15th March. There is still time to get your entries in, please find more information on the competition here.
Finally, on Monday it was Mr James’ birthday. As part of his gift, we arranged for a message from Mr Jonathan Davies (ex-Welsh rugby player and now rugby pundit). I’ve already shared this with Junior School parents on Class Dojo but if you’d like to see it, the clip can be found here. I really haven’t mentioned the rugby that much…
Have a lovely weekend and for all the mothers & grandmothers within the school community, I hope you are spoiled on Sunday as you deserve. As this is Mrs Preston's first Mothers Day, Henry is looking forward to spoiling her (but not too much as he doesn't want to set the bar too high with birthdays on the horizon).
Best wishes,
David Preston | Headteacher
March 12th 2021
