June 10th 2022
| Dear ALS Community, This week’s email comes to you courtesy of your favourite Heads of Houses (Mr Dobson – Amicus, Mr Hawkins – Veritas and Mr Scott – Dedicas). As we enter the final half term of the school year, it feels like the perfect time to update you on what has been happening in the House competition since our last update, and how each house can continue to build points until the culmination of this year’s extravaganza. Before the Easter break, we celebrated the outstanding talents ALS had on offer with the emergence of two ALS Got Talent Productions. The Senior show saw a victory for the Year 9 Dance troupe of Eliza, Maddie, Claudia and Ryan, earning house points for Amicus and Dedicas in the process. The Junior finals saw a shared victory between football mastermind Nidhan and improvisation duo Serena and Isla. Points were therefore once again shared between the houses. Last half term, the kindness of our school community was on full display as we collected for food for local and international food banks. A huge number of items were collected across Juniors and Seniors, with house points being delivered accordingly. Meanwhile points have continued to be provided for our weekly House Quiz, as well as work both inside and outside of the classroom. We have been running a series of House rounders competitions within our games sessions, keeping the House Competition at the forefront of our summer lessons. As we prepare for September, there are a few staffing changes to confirm that teachers have already shared with pupils. At the end of this year Miss Alice Cox will be moving on and, in her stead, Mr Joshua Browitt will be joining us (if you’re interested to see some of Mr Browitt’s work, you can find his website here). Mrs Meagan O’Sullivan will also be leaving for a new opportunity as a Head of Department. Joining us for September to take over the teaching of Food & Nutrition are Mrs Emma Crocker (who is currently Head of Food & Nutrition at Sibford School) and Mrs Natasha Triassi (who joins us from Trinity School with experience of both Food & Textiles). In very exciting news, earlier this week Mr Matt Lowe was released from ALS to become a professional footballer. Though we were very sorry to see Mr Lowe move on, I am sure you will understand that we could not stand in the way of Mr Lowe pursuing his dream of playing professional football and we are delighted for him as he begins to prepare for pre-season. Unfortunately, we can’t yet share the club Mr Lowe has signed for but we will do as soon as it is publically announced. I think we’ll find a few new supporters from ALS of a League One club in the very near future! As we enter the final phase of the 2021/22 House Competition, Dedicas retain the lead, closely followed by Veritas and Amicus a little further behind. However, all is still to play for, with the arrival of our final House Competition – Sports Day!! Indeed, Friday 24th June will see every student from reception to Year 12 take to Leamington Cricket Club to take part in a range of athletic events to achieve House bragging rights. We simply cannot wait. Here is a letter from Mr Gear which gives more information on the day itself. Parents are welcome to bring a picnic and watch the sporting events take place. Outside of the House Competition, the three of us are looking forward to a number of exciting events this half term. As well as having the chance to bid farewell to our Year 11 and 13 students at their end of year proms, we are looking forward to the End of Year performing arts showcase, taking place on Tuesday 5th July. It would be wonderful to see as many parents there as possible to celebrate the wonderful musicians, actors and artists of the ALS community. Mr Dobson in particular knows how much effort his Drama club have put into their scripted performances. Purchase your tickets through our Evolve Shop here. As noted before half-term, we will be holding our first annual Prize Giving ceremonies on Wednesday 6th July 2022. Juniors Prize Giving will take place in the late morning and then Seniors in the early afternoon. There are limited tickets available for both sessions and we will be inviting the parents of prize winners before opening out tickets more widely for both sessions. In both cases, we will be holding a BBQ on site to celebrate the school year and invitations will be sent out with timings for these events shortly to explain the close to term and the organisation. Finally, we look forward to seeing you all at the end of year Prize Giving & BBQ, where we will celebrate and commiserate our final House competition results. Veritas are our reigning champions, so Mr Scott and Mr Dobson are keen to get on the board. So get out your house scarves no matter the weather and keep cheering on your house until the very end. Don’t forget, it’s not over ‘til it’s over! Have a great weekend and best wishes, Mr Dobson, Mr Hawkins & Mr Scott |
