Firstly, I hope that all members of our school community are safe and well. We have “returned” to school this week for a very different start of term and this presents a great many challenges for all of us but I would like to thank all of those parents and carers who have been in touch with messages of support for the school and our community over the past few weeks.

I am not going to write too much today as I would like to direct parents and carers to the Announcements section of the school website and in particular the latest edition of our House Newsletter. Again, I would like to thank my colleagues for all of their work on this new form of communication and we are already thinking that this is something we will continue with in some shape or format when normality returns. I am also mindful that I stated to parents and carers a few weeks ago that you would probably be receiving even more communication from us during this time and that this has been the case; we are trying to strike the balance between providing lots of useful information and guidance while not overwhelming people but as ever any thoughts or feedback are always welcome.

There is a similar balance we are working towards with the setting of work through Show My Homework. We are now expecting students to return work to their teachers for a number of tasks so that feedback can be provided. We are also about to further develop some other aspects of our online learning offer and information will follow on this. With all of this, we are looking to ensure that students do not feel overwhelmed or confused by work and are working hard to get this balance right.

My final point today is to thank our Design Technology department, and particularly Miss Walker, for the wonderful work they have been doing in manufacturing PPE face shields for our local NHS providers and carers over recent weeks. What they have been doing is nothing short of amazing and we have had a huge number of people getting in touch to express their appreciation. At a testing time, they are making a real difference for people on the front line and it is very much appreciated.