Dear Parents/Guardians
What an incredible two weeks of Students Led Conferences (SLCs) – I think you will agree that students have handled their first SLCs brilliantly and have reflected on their work and progress with integrity. It has also been fantastic to see parents face to face and to finally meet in school! A big thank you to all of our parents for supporting our first SLCs. We hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.
This coming week students will begin the first case study in their science expedition, Staying Alive with the guiding question, ‘Is Survival Sufficient?’ They will be studying digestion, nutrition, heat transfer, and separating mixtures amongst other things as we look at the food we need to survive, the importance of staying warm, and the importance of access to clean water. Underpinning our expedition will be a theme of social justice as we work with experts on nutrition and local organisations concerned with food poverty. Our final product will be a food box which will contain all the ingredients needed (plus recipes) to feed a family of four for a week. The recipes will be based on the food books by Jack Munroe who wrote ‘Cooking on a Bootstrap’ and ‘The Tin Can Cook’.
They will also be continuing with their HUMAN expedition, Do Your Bit, learning about the Sikhi faith and the involvement of Indian soldiers in World War I, ready for a fieldwork to a Gurdhwara following the February break – see below.
We will also be interviewing this week for teachers of Humanities and Maths and also for a SENDCo. Successful candidates will join us next year.
Extended Study and after school clubs
Extended Study and after school clubs will be running as normal this week.
Half Term and early finish Friday
Please be aware that it is half term w/c 14th February and so as normal students will finish at 1.30pm this Friday (11th February) to allow staff to replenish resources and to degunge rooms and teaching spaces ready for after the half term holiday. Students will return to school at the normal time on Monday 21st February.
Visit to Sikh Temple – Monday 21st February
Note that on the morning of Monday 21st February students will be visiting a Sikh Temple as part of their expedition “Do Your Bit” – further details will be provided in due course by Ms Tatters, the expedition lead.
Lateral Flow Testing
Please continue to support us with lateral flow testing your each Sunday and Wednesday evening and that you make sure you enter results into our website on each of these occasions
This is especially important now that the government has decided to remove “masks” as one of the mitigation measures in schools although we are happy for students (and staff) to continue wearing masks if they feel more comfortable doing so.
COVID infections are still very high in the community. If you require any extra LFT testing kits please let us know.
We will continue to keep doors and windows open for ventilation so students are advised to bring multiple layers to school to keep warm. This is how we look after each other – We are Crew.
Calendar dates
Our basic calendar can be found here, or the Google Calendar with additional important dates such as SLCs can be found here.
As usual if you have any questions please get in touch with your child’s crew leader in the first instance.
Best wishes
Mark Lovatt
Principal