Dear Parents
With students nearing the end of their second week of the new term, I wanted to inform and remind you of some key information.
| Key Messages |
| 1. Please continue testing and reporting your test results on both the school site and the Government site. |
| 2. Thursday 20th January 2022, the school will close early, students will leave school from 1.25pm. This is to facilitate the 6th Form Open Evening to take place on that evening. |
| 3. Friday 21st January 2022, the school will open slightly later following the 6th Form Open evening. Students should be in their tutor rooms for 9:40am. |
| 4. Thursday 27th January 2022 the school will again close early with students leaving school from 1.25pm |
More detail:
1. Early identification of the virus remains our most efficient way of keeping the virus at bay. It is frustrating for all of us when we have to isolate, potentially on occasions when we are feeling well.
On the first day back to school of this new term 82% of the student population reported that they had completed a test prior to arriving at school, or indeed completed a test on arrival at school, ensuring that we were confident that none of those students were unwittingly bringing the virus into school.
Please could I ask you all to keep testing and registering those tests, thus ensuring we are able to keep the school open and students benefiting from face to face teaching. I am proud that to date we have not had to send any year groups home for a further bout of online teaching and would like to keep it this way if at all possible.
Please can we see if we can achieve even greater coverage of tests reported on the site. Can we exceed 82%? https://testregister.co.uk/login
2. On Thursday 20th January 2022, we are hosting our annual 6th Form Open Evening. This is an event where Year 11 students and their parents are able to discuss their post 16 options. Finding out more about subjects that they are interested in, and talking to subject teachers about the nature of the course. As a result of the COVID restrictions we have had to spread the event over a longer period of time to be able to accommodate but also separate students from Highams Park and other visiting external students. The early finish and late start the following morning are an inconvenience, but will enable our Year 11 students to make informed choices for their post 16 studies.
Normally we would encourage other students and their families from lower down the school to also visit to gain a preview of the choices that they face. But on this occasion, please can I direct all families not in Year 11 to view the information that is available on line, and we look forward to welcoming you in future, less COVID times. For Year 11 we look forward to seeing you during the afternoon and evening of the 20th, please see the separate correspondence from the 6th Form team about the arrangements.
3. Please note the later start time on Friday 21st January 2022, is a result of 6th Form Open Evening event outlined above. Thank you for your cooperation in arriving at your tutor groups at 9.40am.
4. The afternoon of Thursday 27th January 2022 is one of the three afternoons throughout the year where students are sent home early to provide staff with opportunity to collaborate and moderate their assessments and reporting. The last two years of TAG’s and CAG’s being used to award student outcomes for their GCSE’s, A Levels and BTEC’s have further emphasised the value of our approach to these matters.
Thank you for your ongoing support in each of these matters.
Yours faithfully
Phil Grundy
Principal
