Dear Parents and Carers,
I hope you had a restful and enjoyable Christmas break. I was hoping when we started the theatre renovation project that it would be completed by now, but we’ve been losing a few days here and there and the completion date is now closer to February half term. We’ve done a lot of structural work to remove some underused offices and storage spaces to expand the theatre itself. There will be new seating, new sound and light, new drapes and a new projection screen to make that room as good as we can possibly make it. The performing arts team are about to start work on a summer production, which will be the first large scale event to take place in there. I’m looking forward to welcoming you in to see that new resource.
We had some more news just before the end of term about our buildings. We put in an application for some funding to replace all of our mobile classrooms. They were always meant to be temporary and for reasons I don’t understand were not replaced when the old A and B blocks were demolished. I was surprised and very pleased to hear that our bid had been successful. I don’t have much detail yet, but I’m hopeful that we will be able to replace the art barn, pavilion, M, T and K Blocks and the maths cabins with a new, permanent classroom block. I hope to have more information to share on that development soon.
We welcome a number of new colleagues to the school this term. Mr Smith has taken up post as Teacher of History. Miss Ince has joined the pastoral team in the role of Year 8 Inclusion Officer. Mrs Reader is out new Food Technician, a vacancy created by Mrs Wallace moving from food to become a Cover Supervisor. Miss Greenaway is now leading the Learning Apart Room and Miss Mountford and Miss Connaugton have taken up their new roles as Head of Year 7 and Year 7 Inclusion Officer respectively. Mrs Crawford will be joining us in English next week.
There is a lot of illness about at the minute. Lots of people have had a particularly nasty cold and there is still covid in the community. There is no longer any need for anyone to isolate because they are ill and the latest guidance from the government is simply that, if a student has a high temperature, they should stay away from school until it is normal again. I would think most parents would not send their children to school with a high temperature anyway and we would certainly support that. We will continue to encourage students to wash their hands regularly and to follow the catch it, bin it, kill it approach.
There is another of our regular careers and pizza events coming up next week. Students who are interested in a career in the army can get some “advice and a slice” during period 4 next Wednesday. These events are open to students from any year group. Any student who is interested should sign up by emailing EGodbold@samuelward.co.uk
Happy New Year,
Andy Hunter
Executive Headteacher