We are fast approaching one of the most exciting times of our school year: SPIRIT week. We have a lot of fantastic visits and activities taking place and also a trip to Spain, leaving on Monday. A gentle reminder that your child will only be able to take part in any trips if parental consent has been given. If you have not yet paid, there is still time to do so. If you are struggling financially, please contact your child’s head of college.
You will be aware that there will be two days this half term affected by the proposed strike action by the teaching union, NEU. Unless the strikes are called off, we will be partially open on Wednesday 5th July and Friday 7th July.
As with the previous arrangement, we have considered several options, looked at all elements of school safety and logistics and worked on how best to ensure as much curriculum continuity and progression as we can. I am sorry about the potential disruption to you and to your child’s education. I understand that this situation may be frustrating and ask that all members of our school community continue to treat each other with respect. Alsager School remains committed to providing a safe and secure environment for our pupils and delivering high-quality teaching.
All teaching staff who are not taking industrial strike action will be in school. All non-teaching staff and LSAs will be in school.
- Year 7, 8, 9 and 12 will attend school as normal. Buses will still be running and normal school functions will be in operation for these students.
- Year 10 will stay at home and will be emailed work from their teacher or will be directed to work on the website. If your child is unable to access work, please contact your child’s Head of College.
- Pupils who were invited into school for the last Strike Day will also be expected to attend.
- If your child in Y10 is entitled to a free school meal, they will be able to collect these on the Tuesday at 3:10 from Best Bite and on the Thursday. It will be a packed lunch.
The Year 10 geography field trip on Friday 7th July will still go ahead.
As a reminder, the strike is happening because of a national dispute between the unions and the government with regards to a fair pay settlement and recouping lost earnings over the last decade. It is not teachers striking against the school. Schools nationwide are facing severe recruitment issues which does not bode well for the future.
For those of you with a child in Y6, we have rearranged the transition day to THURSDAY 6TH JULY. We are really looking forward to welcoming our next cohort.
There has been a lot in the press recently about the number of young people vaping. Please do talk to your child about the impact on their health that vapes have. We do put in serious sanctions when we find a vape on a pupil or have good reason to believe that they have been vaping. Also in the news this week is the effect of the pandemic on behaviour in schools. We have had a lot of colleagues visit us this year and they all remark on how calm our school is, and new staff do comment on the high expectations that we have. I am asking that as the adults in our children’s lives, we all role model respect and courtesy; that you support our expectations and standards, even when you may disagree with them. We have approximately 1600 pupils in our school, each living with at least one parent/carer. We cannot create bespoke rules that suit everyone all of the time. Our uniform policy forms part of our standards and expectations and we will not chase fashion. If there is something that has happened to your child that you require clarification on or are unhappy about, contact us and we can seek to resolve the issue rationally and calmly. We would also expect all parents/carers to support sanctions that we put in place.
It has long been an ambition of mine to have a school newspaper produced by our pupils and I am very pleased to be able to share with you our first edition of ‘The Swan’. Please use the link below to access it. I am sure you will be really impressed with it. Journalism club is open to all pupils so if you know that your child would like to be part of this and hasn’t contributed to this edition, encourage them to go along to the club and join the team. A big thank you as well to all of the staff involved.
Thank you to all parents/carers for sharing your child’s successes out of school. It is always a pleasure to catch up with them about their achievements. We have some elite athletes amongst our school community and many pupils doing volunteering with clubs and museums, such a wide range.
I am hoping that the weekend weather will be less ‘mixed’ than this week’s picture; whatever your plans have a lovely weekend and as always, thank you for your continued support.
“Don’t allow your emotions to overpower your intelligence”. (Unknown)
