Principal's Letter, 27 November 2020
Covid 19
I continue to liaise frequently with the Trust, locality and other headteachers and am aware that the Covid 19 situation for many schools is incredibly hard with workforces and multiple year groups isolating. We have thus far been very fortunate, perhaps due to the measures we have in place, but I feel it is prudent to share with you the action that would be taken should the situation change.
In the event of a positive case, I will follow the steps taken by the majority of local schools. I will initially ask the whole year group to self-isolate, pending investigation into the close and proximity contacts (in and out of school) of the infected person in line with guidance. Once all possible contacts have been identified, I would look to end the self-isolation of peers who are confirmed as not being in contact with the infected person. I will always aim to keep disruption to daily school life to a minimum, but must act in the best interests of the whole community and work to stop the spread of the virus. As mentioned in my last letter, any student required to self-isolate will be expected to complete and submit the work set on Satchel One for remote learning.
In order to further protect the community and ensure we have the best possible ability to maintain a safe and well academy, we have this week introduced virtual delivery of assemblies which are now played by tutors in tutor rooms. Windows and doors remain open to increase airflow. As you may have seen in the news recently now that the colder weather is upon us, if children are seated near the windows and doors they may at times need to wear coats and staff are authorised to allow this. I would expect, however, that the school jumper and blazer should suffice most of the time. A reminder that hoodies and non-uniform jumpers are not allowed and will be confiscated. If anyone is having difficulty meeting the cost of school uniform, please contact your child’s Director of Learning in confidence.
Year 7 and 8 Maths set changes
The delayed set changes in year 7 Maths and year 8 Maths, Science and English will commence from this Monday 30th November. If you have any questions, please contact Miss Jones, Associate Assistant Principal of STEM, on [email protected].
Christmas Lunch
Christmas lunch will be on sale for students on Wednesday 9th December at a cost of £2.25.
Instrumental lessons
Invoices for Spring Term 2021 instrumental lessons have now been added to parent pay. Please ensure if you want your child to continue next term this is paid as soon as possible, to ensure they are on the timetable. A limited number of spaces are available for new students to start lessons in the new year. Information on the instruments available, tuition charges and application are available here.
Ofsted ParentView
Firstly, thank you to those of you who have shared your views over the last week. If you have not yet provided your feedback, I would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to log into https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/ to do so. If you have not logged in before, you will need to register. The academy’s postcode is PO20 3UE.
SIM data cards
The academy has been supplied with a small number of free SIM data cards valid for 70 days. If your family would benefit from being allocated one of them, please contact Miss White on [email protected]. These are for use to aid learning and will not allow phone calls or text messages.
Arundel Museum
I have been approached by Arundel Museum who are asking for feedback from people via a survey. The survey can be accessed by following this link: https://arundelmuseum.org/events/arundel-museum-wed-like-to-hear-from-you/. The museum has received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and is keen to review its programme of workshops, activities and events to help shape its provision to the community.
School fundraiser
For a number of weeks, a local family member of one of our teachers at Six Villages has been raising money through knitting Christmas novelties and selling them through her Facebook page ‘Christmas knits’, in order to donate funds raised to a primary school in the area and to Six Villages. So far Mrs Janet Jones has raised nearly £200 from her knitting.
She has also put together a raffle of wonderful prizes that we will be running to raise money for specialised Science and Mathematics equipment for our students. Miss Jones, our Associate Assistant Principal of STEM, will be dropping into tutor rooms in the coming weeks to sell raffle tickets, which also be available to buy through parent pay. Tickets will cost £1 each or £5 for a full strip.
Some of the prizes on offer are a luxury M & S Christmas hamper, a musical biscuit box (with biscuits), a luxury Christmas throw and much more. The draw for the raffle will be made on Tuesday 15th December when the winners will be contacted. This will also be published in my final letter of the autumn term on Friday 18th December, along with the total raised.
Mr P Slaughter, Principal
