Dear ALS Community,
It has certainly been a quiet week here on site this week and we are looking forward to the positive energy that a full ALS site brings when we have all of our children back. Today, we held our final board meeting for the academic year and I took the Directors for some lunch afterwards. Normally, a 1:30pm sitting on ‘chippy Friday’ would require some pretty pointy elbows as everyone is in the canteen for their favourite meal of the day. Instead, with the Alton Towers Trip and the Rockley residential having taken place, it was like a private service!
This week many of those in Year 6 to 10 have been down at the Rockley Adventure Centre and I’m sure the children will be full of stories to tell you all about from their canoe capsizing through to the whole camping experience. For those in Year 4 – 5 who have been to Folly Farm, we are also looking forward to hearing all about their filming and seeing the nature documentaries once they are completed. Finally, for the Senior School pupils who went to Alton Towers today, I’m sure you’ll hear plenty of stories of white knuckle rides and excitement. For the Junior School pupils who have been on site with us this week, the Lower Juniors have enjoyed their Sublime Science workshop and there was some super plate spinning at the Circus workshop on Wednesday.
Day to day learning matters. Drilling in to academic subject matter and building up knowledge is the core of a good education. But that doesn’t mean that “trip week” isn’t just as crucial a part of a child’s education. The time with peers spent away building independent, resilience and solidifying friendships (or building new friendships) is just as important as anything you’ll find in a textbook. Whilst the knowledge that children will need for their future success is built in their day to day education, some of their fondest memories, inspiration for the future and, indeed, skills for the work place will be built during weeks like trip week. As we look to re-establishing our trip cycle in earnest from the next academic year, I’ll be writing out next week to share our strategic overview of trips for the next five years. For next year, the loose plan is for Year 4 to go to Folly Farm, Year 5 will go Surfing, Year 6 will go to PGL in France, Years 7 and 8 will head to Madrid and Years 9 and 10 will head to the Battlefields with me (though, as Years 11 and 12 missed out on their trip with me last time around I might see if I can convince Mr Owen to let me take them with me, too!). Look out for the full trips letter that will come next week with some exciting additions to the planned cycle.
For next week, the mantra comes from Veritas: Do the right thing at the right time. With just two mantras left to close the school year, it’s important to me that these continue to form a crucial part of our discussions week to week. Over the past two academic years, this mantra has been particularly pertinent to us as school leaders. We’ve had some tough decisions to make over the pandemic and trying to do the right thing and getting this completed at the right time hasn’t been easy! But, the school mantras and principles have kept us grounded to make sure our actions have been anchored around hard work, honesty and kindness. I hope for you, too, that the weekly mantra has helped act as a discussion point around our values at home.
As we look to our last full week of term, there will be much excitement about returning to school following the various trips this week but also looking ahead to Sports Day on Friday 2nd July. A gentle reminder that unfortunately we are unable to invite parents & guardians to spectate onsite this year further to the Prime Minister’s announcement that the final phase of lockdown is to be delayed.
Finally, a reminder that ExEn resumes its normal service this week and there will be no ExEn provision from the 5-7th July.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
David Preston | Headteacher
June 25th 2021
