Dear ALS Community,
This week, Christmas has been officially declared at ALS. Whilst I’m sure there’s joy to be found in the trees going up in the main reception, doors opening to advent calendars and the tinsel around Mr Owen’s office, the official point of Christmas at ALS is when our Reception pupils step on stage for their Nativity performance. On Thursday, the Reception performance followed by the Year 1 and Year 2 performance took place. Congratulations to our youngest pupils (and the teachers who helped the children) who were all superb.
Our final mantra of this term comes from Veritas: Do the right thing at the right time. Another Veritas mantra - “Live the school values; don’t just talk about them” neatly dovetails with this to create an underlying message of integrity for us to all aspire to. Dedicas’ mantras require us to put hard work in which leads us to successful outcomes. Amicus’ mantras encourage us to act with forgiveness, to support others and to help spread a smile. Over the three pillars of our values, Veritas is the one that holds us to account to “do the right thing” and, of all the mantras, this is therefore perhaps the most difficult for us to model for the children in our community…which is exactly why it is such a crucial mantra to highlight for us all to reflect on.
You may have seen on social media the heroic effort of Mr Hawkins (P.E) who competed in the Israeli Ironman event last week. Despite some challenging weather conditions, Mr Hawkins completed the event and managed to raise a great deal of money for a local charity that is close to our school community. Well done, Mr Hawkins, the dedication to train and prepare and the resilience to complete the race; a fantastic inspiration to our school.
I would like to bring to the attention of the school community a far-right social media influencer named Andrew Tate who is becoming high on the radar of safeguarding leads up and down the country as he promotes harmful behaviours like misogyny and violence. Whilst now banned from social media, he continues to have a presence online and young people can be interested in his content as they see a ‘glamorous’ lifestyle and fast fame. If you overhear your child discussing Andrew Tate or his views at home, please contact one of the Safeguarding Leads in school (Mr Colledge; Ms Crisp; Mrs Sweetman; Mr Owen) who can provide support. We will making pupils aware of the dangers of such online personalities as a wider education piece in school through assemblies, PSHEE and mentor time. On the topic of Online Safety, Internet Matters have provided us with some helpful tips for parents regarding gaming. Please see more information here.
On the sports front, particular congratulations should go to Maddy, Year 11, who has competed today at Swim England National Winter Championships. To contextualise the level Maddy was competing at today, there were multiple Olympians in the pool also competing at this level. Regardless of the outcome (I watched the race whilst writing the weekly email and thought Maddy was brilliant), I want to champion Maddy’s ‘Dedicas’ attitude as she balances her commitments as a national level swimmer alongside her school work. Keeping with sport, congratulations to our U15 Netball players who performed exceptionally well at Campion on Tuesday night. Despite it being a cold afternoon, the girls in the A team won each quarter with the final score an ALS victory at 17-6. Congratulations to Claudia who received player of the match. The B team showed great defence and took a 5-0 lead, finishing with an 11-4 win and congratulations to Scarlett who received player of the match. To take us back to the pool, this weekend sees Isla, Erik, Dhiran and Jemima representing ALS at the ISA National Swimming Championship at the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford. Good luck to all.
Next week will see our last week of our Extension and Enrichment clubs for this term for both Juniors and Seniors. Please note that on Wednesday 14th December our aftercare provision will not run as it is the last day of term. Our much anticipated Spring Term ExEn timetable will be available next week for you to see what provision we will have on and to book your child’s clubs. Please do keep your eyes peeled for it.
Returning to Christmas spirit, our annual tradition of sending our Sixth Form pupils to Holy Trinity Church to decorate the church has continued this year. As our local Church, and the space we celebrate important school events in like the Carol Concert or Prize Giving, it is important that support as best we can. Reverend Peers has written to school to praise the efforts of the Sixth Form, saying that “not only did they set about decorating the church with the necessary Christmas spirit, but they were delightful in doing so. I was particularly impressed when I saw the hoover in action after the tree was done”. Now, to get them to hoover at home…
A further reminder for the upcoming Christmas festivities, in particular Thursday 8th December which is our Christmas Jumper day and Christmas lunch. In the evening, we have Year 8 Parents’ Evening. Whilst a Christmas Jumper isn’t compulsory wear for parents attending (though absolutely encouraged!), please excuse that the staff will be wearing Christmas Jumpers rather than their normal attire. Then, on Friday 9th December, ALPA are organising the annual ALPA Christmas Fayre which will take place in the school hall. More information can be found here. In the usual tradition, ALPA will be running a tombola and any donations of bottles for the tombola would be gratefully accepted. Please bring these to reception by Friday at 12:00. The Fayre starts at 3.00pm and will close at 5.30pm. Parents & guardians are welcome to collect Junior phase pupils from 3.00pm to then enjoy the Fayre. If you are unable to collect your child at 3.00pm we will continue to look after Junior pupils until 3.50pm, the end of the school day. Unfortunately, Junior pupils are unable to attend the ALPA Christmas Fayre without parental supervision. The Senior day will finish at the usual time of 4.00pm for pupils to enjoy the school Fayre as they wish. The ALS School Bus Service will run as normal on this day.
Then, to close the term, we have our Christmas Carol Service on Tuesday 13th December in the evening at Holy Trinity Church. With only a few tickets still remaining it’s sure to be a lovely evening.
Before we close the weekly email for this week, we have had a special request from the Heads of Houses to announce some special Pop-up House Competitions’ which will take place next week.
- Beat the Goalie - To celebrate the Football World Cup during Monday Lunchtime pupils will take 3 penalties against Mr Scott, Mr Dobson & Mr Hawkins. If you score all 3 penalties, you will continue until you miss. The highest score will get a prize! Open to all ages and abilities.
- Guess the Sweets - During all of next week, pupils will guess the amount of sweets in the jar. One guess per pupil. Closest to actual amount, or the correct guesser will win the jar of sweets.
Both House competitions will cost 50p to enter. The money raised will go to our 3 House Charities: Abbie's Army, WWF & Young Minds.
On that note, as the Heads of Houses disappear behind the towers of shoeboxes thanks to the generosity of the ALS Community, we hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes,
David Preston | Headteacher
