Dear ALS Community,
It seems strange to close out a term having spent, relatively, so little time back on site. At the same time, I can’t help but feel like we’ve managed to cram an awful lot back in during the weeks we’ve been back on site. Having had the past few weeks back in school and having the chance to re-adjust to learning on site, I’m sure that our children are ready for the Easter break. I am sure we can look forward to a Summer Term that will increasingly feel like a ‘normal’ term. As it stands, school leaders have not received any guidance about potential changes to the restrictions for the Summer Term. As/when I have an update, I will write out and let you know.
At the end of a term, I’m left without any mantras to write about as we ‘reset’ for the next term. I can only say that I am very proud of the children in the school and how they have continually lived up to our expectations in regards to their hard work, honesty and kindness. Our youngest children continue to approach school with a hugely positive outlook and our eldest children, who faced an uncertain time with examinations, kept focused on securing their best outcomes and continue to impress with their work ethic.
You will have seen, I am sure, that the Government has announced a review in to sexual abuse in schools as a result of the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ movement. By the end of March 2021, there were nearly 9,000 testimonials on the ‘Everyone’s Invited’ website and this prompted the Government to take action to investigate what is happening in some schools and to ask Ofsted to undertake a review of policies in State and Independent Schools. The NSPCC has also set up a dedicated helpline [0800 136 663] to provide support. For all school leaders, the stories emerging are harrowing and we must take every opportunity to reflect on policy and practice in order to ensure the highest standards in schools nationally. Whilst it is not an easy topic to talk about, we must not shy away from such an important matter. At ALS, we intend to carry out a full review of our policy and practice, our curriculum delivery of SRE and PSHEE throughout the school as well as looking to engage with official guidance as and when that is released from the Government. Regardless of whether we believe our policy and practice to be excellent or not, we must always reflect and strive to be better for the future in order to keep our community safe.
It might seem strange to be thinking of September 2021 when we haven’t started the Summer Term just yet but we have been preparing for our growth ready for next year with some new positions in school. We have recently appointed Ms Jessica Dearman to join our Science team as well as Ms Charlotte Pearson to join our Music Team. As well as this, we have a new senior position in school to lead our whole school Co-Curricular provision from Reception to Year 13. I am delighted to share that Mrs Louise Bottrill will take up the new post of Assistant Head: Co-Curricular from September 2021. I am sure you’ll join me in wishing Mrs Bottrill the very best in her new role.
Today, thanks to the kind donation from ALPA, our Junior and Senior School aged children have all received an Easter Egg today. The Junior School received theirs after our annual Easter Egg Hunt. I was walking the school when the children began their countdown to begin the hunt - suffice to say it was the most wonderful type of chaos. Whilst we must keep a health conscious eye on the things that children consume and our role in facilitating a healthy life style, I also think that a chocolate egg from school to celebrate Easter is a lovely way to finish the term. Obviously, the eggs will be eaten over several sittings at home covering the whole of the Easter holidays.
When we return from the Easter break, we will be on ‘summer’ uniform which means summer dresses, shorts, summer boaters and short sleeve shirts in the Juniors and short sleeve shirts in the Seniors. Please note that we do not have a ‘summer shirt’ for the Senior girls’ uniform and all pupils in Seniors should continue to wear a buttoned up shirt and tie. If your child requires some items from the uniform stores for the summer, please do contact [email protected].
I hope you managed to find plenty of time to enjoy as a family over the next few weeks. We aren’t far away from the next phase of changes on April 12th where I’m sure we’ll see us all having some much needed haircuts. I’m looking forward to spending the mornings with Henry and taking him for a walk each day whilst trying to stay away from chocolate. The operative word in there is, of course, ‘trying’…
A very happy Easter from all of us at ALS and have a wonderful Easter break.
Best wishes,
David Preston | Headteacher
