No, it’s not an April Fool, it really is two blogs in one week!
I have a couple of things to update you on before the holidays, in particular some changes we are making to the school day which will come in to effect on Tuesday 19th April as we return to school.
New School Day
Over the last couple of years, we have had to make a number of changes to the shape of the school day to accommodate health and safety guidelines put in place during the pandemic. At times we have had to keep students from different year groups apart which caused us to review the timings of lunch and length of lessons.
Now that restrictions have been lifted we have been able to reshape the day to achieve;
- a return to 5, hour long lessons
- a morning break of 20 minutes where the breakfast bar will be open to serve food
- one lunch break of 50 minutes which will allow us to provide more opportunities for extra- curricular and enrichment activities
- a 25-minute form time at the start of the day.
There is no change to the start and end times of the day.
We have consulted staff and students when making this decision and have listened to their views. There has been broad support for the changes we propose. We will be taking feedback from staff and students again a couple of weeks in to the changes to gather comments and any concerns and I will update you on how things are going.
COVID Contingency Plan
Unfortunately, due to the levels of staff absence this week we had to put our contingency plan in place and Year 7 worked from home on Tuesday and Y12 on Thursday. We hope we will no longer need a contingency plan after Easter.
MCAS -My Child at School App – Countdown to End of May continues
I reminded you at the start of the week about the My Child At School App (MCAS) and encouraged you to download it if you haven’t done so already. We will shortly only be sending out information through the APP. The date we are working towards is Monday 6th June. We have already had 150 requests for log ons, so thank you very much for engaging so quickly with the request.
Round up from the Chaplaincy team
We have made a return to assemblies in person in the Salle and it is wonderful to be able to gather again in year group communities to reflect and pray. For the first time in two years we were able to celebrate together on Ash Wednesday. Y11 received their Ashes in the Salle during the service, whilst the rest of the school took part via Teams. Each class then received their ashes throughout the day in the prayer room. Students responded very respectfully and it was a great pleasure to witness. Many thanks to Liam Siggs in Y12 who helped Suzanne distribute the ashes.
We have been thinking about ways in which we can contribute positively to our friends, family and wider world during the season of Lent. I share a lovely prayer from CAFOD with you, written to help us to reflect in Lent, that you may like to join in with at home.
Small acts of love
Generous God,
We thank you, and we praise you,
for we are surrounded
by your abundant gifts.
The table you have laid is piled high,
and yet too many people
are turned away from the feast.
Work through us, we pray, so that,
as the tiny acorn
becomes the mighty oak,
our small acts of love may grow, bringing hope of a world transformed,
where all may eat their fill.
Amen.
I wish you all a happy and Holy Easter (when it arrives), and hope that whilst the school is on holiday during the next two weeks, you are all able to have some time with loved ones and an opportunity for some rest.
God bless,
Mrs Cleary