I hope you all had a refreshing break over half term.
We ended last half term celebrating SPIRIT and subject awards and it was great to have Ross Preston as our guest speaker. Ross is an ex Alsager student who talked to us about his journey post school and the impact that his school years have had on him. It is always lovely to hear from former students; one recently got in touch to let me know what she is up to and to share a quote: “helping one person might not change the world, but it might change the world for one person”. It seems really fitting as next week is anti-bullying week and the focus will be on being kind and supportive to each other. Visitors to school always remark on how friendly our students are but we can all have off days and when peer conflict and bullying do occur, we treat it really seriously. We have a strong pastoral team in place and the Sharps system on the website can be used to raise concerns anonymously, too. In order to raise the profile of Anti Bullying week, we will be encouraging all pupils to wear odd socks on Tuesday. If your household is anything like mine, the challenge was more to find matching socks.
As we move into the colder months it often becomes more tempting for some pupils to stay at home with the slightest of ailments. Unless your child is really too poorly to come to school, please be insistent that they attend. We are here to support you if you are experiencing difficulties. Government figures show at KS4, pupils not achieving grade 9 to 4 in English and maths had an overall absence rate of 8.8%, compared to 5.2%. As well as the lesson time missed, pupils who are absent miss out on social development with their friendship groups and the enjoyment of taking part in our extracurricular offer.
A huge thank you to the parents who have recently made a substantial monetary donation to our school fund and provided a very large number of used laptops. Schools in Cheshire East are frustratingly not as well funded as other schools in neighbouring counties, so we really do appreciate all parental contributions. I will be meeting with the new MP for Congleton, Sarah Russell in the next couple of weeks, alongside other Congleton Headteachers so that we can make it clear what the impact of being underfunded means in real terms for our pupils. If you are in a position to make a donation, there are many areas of school that would benefit from this. Please use the link below which will take you through to the Parents in Partnership page on our website.
Rehearsals for our school show, Shrek, are well underway. Dates for the shows are 10th, 11th and 12th December. Tickets are available on parent pay. Our productions are always fabulous so even if your child isn’t part of the show, I would urge you to come along. It will definitely get you into the Christmas spirit.
This half term is a busy one. Y11, 12 and 13 will have reports and Y11 and Y13 will also have parents’ evenings. Details will be sent out nearer the time. Tea, toast and talk for this half term will take place on December 18th, when it will be fully justified to have a mince pie. Please do come along.
Many of our students are involved in Remembrance parades this weekend. I’d like to wish them all good luck. A special mention also for Toby in Y10 who will be playing The Last Post on Monday in school as part of our act of remembrance. What a fantastic thing to do.
As always, thank you for your continued support and whatever your plans, have a lovely weekend.
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.” (Dalai Lama)
