Welcome back after what we hope was a great half-term break. Whilst this first week back was only for three days, to celebrate Diwali and Govardhan Puja is always special and yesterday’s celebrations at school were lovely. It was wonderful to see so many students and staff in their traditional dress. Speaking to students at lunch time, it was pleasing to hear so many positive comments about the morning activities and collective worship sessions. Thank you to all form tutors for making the day special for the students and to Mr Gajjar and the PRE team for their organisation of the event. Staff and students were also treated to cupcakes – thanks to the PTFA. 

The club timetable and form has been updated and posted to the school website; please do book if you have not already. As mentioned prior to to half-term, clubs are due to start on Monday next week (8th November). Please complete the form by the end of  tomorrow (Thursday 4th November) when the form will be temporarily closed. You will receive confirmation of places before next week.  

As with last half-term, we are sure you will appreciate that some clubs have a high demand and there can only be a certain number of spaces. We do appreciate this means some children will have to wait.  you have not yet received a confirmation, bear with us and be assured it will be received by lunchtime on Monday for those clubs later in the week. The form will go live again on Monday afternoon, after all initial submissions have been completed. 

For those collecting the children after a club, the gate will be open so you can come onto the school site to wait. Please remember that if your child usually travels by bus, you will need to collect them or arrange alternative methods.

Next week will be a “sweating the small stuff” week when it comes to student behaviour. This means that all staff should be politely challenging the low-level behaviours of our students. This includes: 

• Uniform: blazers and lanyards worn at all times; one small silver or gold stud earring in each ear (no diamonds/diamanté styles or hoops); coats and jumpers not worn within the school building; black leather school shoes, no nail varnish.
• Punctuality: particularly arrival to lessons after break and lunch. 3-minute grace period.
• Behaviour in corridors: Remind students to walk on the left and only access lockers during break or lunch and at the start and end of the day.
• Before school arrangements: as the weather is turning colder, students will be allowed into the school building from 8am and be able to access the dining hall and theatre. From 8:25am, students can begin to access their lockers and move to their form rooms.

A reminder that students need to wear uniform every day.

Students need to bring their PE kit and trainers in a bag to change into at school for both PE and yoga lessons.

As a reminder, physical education kit must be navy blue and hoodies are not permitted. Base layers/skins are allowed  but these must be black or navy blue; Jackets nor coats to be worn in PE. Phones and valuables are student’s own responsibility and we would encourage them not to bring them on a PE day (lockers can be used to store items securely). Staff will not be responsible for any items left in the changing rooms.

A polite reminder to all about parking near school. Some cars are still parking on the drive to the main school gates. This road requires traffic to go both ways and any vehicle parking on the road is blocking the traffic and causing a great deal of congestion. If you need to drive to school to drop off or pick up your child, please do not park on the road approaching the school gates. Please come in find a safe place to park and wait sensibly but do not park where the buses need to stop.

We have been informed of a recent near miss whereby a student cycling to school was nearly knocked off their bicycle. If your child travels to school by bicycle, please have a conversation with them with regards to road safety. We would strongly suggest all cyclists wear a cycle helmet too. For those that walk, a discussion would also be beneficial to remind them to stick to pavements and the safe crossing of roads.

Thank you very much for your support. I hope you all have a wonderful extended weekend. Wishing you a very Happy Diwali. 

Mr Kite and Miss Bardsley

Co-Principals