We are at the end of a long but really exciting half term. We have had a number of parent events this half term and I’d like to thank all the parents and carers for attending. The Y8 options evening was particularly well attended; a reminder that course information can also be accessed on the website. It was lovely to see so many of you at our ‘tea, toast and talk’ on Wednesday. We will host another one next half term and I will share the date after the February holiday. This half term has been full on with lots of parents’ evenings as well. Feedback on virtual parents’ evenings has been really positive but for those of you who like to come into school, please do make the most of the other opportunities we offer to come in.
Attendance remains very high on our agenda at school. Thank you for all your support and determination. Students can be very forceful in their declarations that they ‘don’t feel well today’. However, the powerful link between attendance and success in school means that every day a student is in, they are benefiting hugely in all sorts of ways. We are keeping a very strong push on attendance from our perspective and everything you do to ensure brilliant attendance is hugely beneficial. A gentle reminder that when booking a holiday that you avoid taking your child out of school. Holidays will not be authorised, and you run the risk of being fined. The school does not issue the fine; this is done by Cheshire East and we do not benefit financially from the fine.
Next half term will be just as busy as this one. For Y11 and Y13 we start the ‘final push’ before their exams. There will be lots of additional revision sessions taking place but the best place to be is in the classroom, actively engaged in learning. Please check on your child’s BfL grades. An 8 means they are arriving late to the lesson, missing out on key retrieval activities and a 3 is not solely about poor behaviour choices but also a lack of work. If you have a child in Y11 or Y13, please encourage them to make use of half term to power on with some revision. For those of you old enough to remember the phenomenal athlete and great Olympian Daley Thompson, I recollect him saying that he always trained on Christmas Day because he knew his rivals would not be. Let’s get ahead of our competition. Please note that week beginning Monday 25th March we will be having a ‘parent support week’ where we will send out key information and have events in school to help you support your child as we enter the Easter holidays. I will send out more details after half term.
The school show ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ is on next half term. Key dates for your diary are Tuesday 19th March, Wednesday 20th and Thursday 21st March. Tickets are available through parent pay.
I would like to thank you all for helping us to maintain our high standards around school uniform. We often have visitors to the school, and they always comment on how smart our students look. If you are struggling to provide uniform for your child, please do get in touch with your child’s head of college and we can put some support in place.
It was lovely this week to have two former students in to talk to some of our Y10 pupils about life post Alsager School. We welcomed Anthony Birchall who works at Bentley, and he spoke with our engineering pupils. Brad Lancaster (head chef at Caster’s and The Vault) spoke to Y10 Food Tech students about the hospitality business. If you are a former student and would like to come in to talk about your life post Alsager School, or you know of a former student, please do get in touch with me. Brad has set the bar particularly high, however, as he came armed with vouchers for his restaurant!
As always, thank you for your continued support and I hope you have a restful and enjoyable half term break.
“Life is an echo. What you send out, comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you.” (Zig Ziglar)
