Dear ALS Community,
I hope that this first weekly email of the new term finds you having had a wonderful Easter. As has been the case throughout the past two school years, our pupils have returned to ALS this term with a wonderful sense of positivity. The children, as they always do, have simply cracked on with their learning and returned to school with enthusiasm.
For next week, the mantra comes from Dedicas: Only expect from others what you’re willing to put in. We consistently ask children to give their best in school and to work hard to achieve their aspirations. Whilst this is an important part of our ethos, so too is living the values of the school and role modelling the behaviours we expect from children for all of the adults in our school community. Over this term, which includes trips (both day and residential), annual reports events such as Sports Day, I know the staff in school will be living this value in particular.
It's at this time of year that I would start writing about our Prize Giving dates which serves as the big set piece to close the year out. For this year, I have taken the decision that we will not hold our annual Prize Giving. Whilst this is, in many ways, disappointing, I believe it is the right choice in the context of the pandemic and for our school ethos and culture. Even though such a gathering would technically be allowed late on in the term, I do not believe it to be a responsible action to bring several hundred people together for an indoor event. Beyond that, given the circumstances we have found ourselves in, a prize giving does not seem to fit with our school culture. Positive, healthy competition is an important part of an education and I look to our prize giving - a chance to celebration the exceptional achievements of our children - as one of the most wonderful days in the school calendar that helps to celebrate achievement and inspire children to aspire for awards in the future. However, for this year, when all of our children have shown such resilience and such positivity, I want to celebrate all of our pupils rather than the smaller number who may receive an award at Prize Giving.
As such, we have elected to celebrate the school year by combining our Sports Day with our annual BBQ and I am delighted to invite our school community to our annual ALS Sports Day & BBQ on Friday 2nd July 2021. Sports Day will be held at the Leamington Cricket Club followed by the BBQ back at school after the final race. I understand the challenges caused by Covid-19 may mean that taking time off work to come to school may be difficult - by combining Sports Day and the BBQ together, I am hopeful that we will be able to see a strong turn out from the community to close the school year.
We are delighted to be hosting our first Cook-a-long of this term on Wednesday 5th May at 5:15pm. We will be making a Mexican Stack with Guacamole, please see more details here. If you would like to join, please email Mrs O’Sullivan on [email protected] by 5:00pm on Tuesday 4th May.
Please note that as part of the senior pupil’s Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculum, we will be inviting in a guest speaker and holding one, off timetable, 2 hour workshop for each year group on the 4th and 5th May. Your child’s mentor will inform them when this will be.
We have a request for volunteers from any parents or members of the school community who would be happy to help our Sixth Form student prepare for interviews and their next steps after ALS. If this is something you would be happy to help with, please do get in touch with Ms Davenport on [email protected].
I hope that you have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend!
Best wishes,
David Preston | Headteacher
April 30th 2021
