Dear Parents / Carers
I hope you and your families remain safe and well. I also hope you were able to commemorate 75 years since VE day in one form or another last week. There are so many fantastic photos which have kindly been sent in by students and parents / carers and these have all been uploaded to our website and posted on our various social media platforms. One thing that has really shown the community ethos of our school and the ‘togetherness’ that we have worked so hard on over many years, is the number of photos and items we receive every day for the ‘Alsager Still at Work’ section of our website and our social media platforms. Even though we have been unable to physically work together for some time now, we all still feel part of our ‘school community’ and this has been echoed by the many positive comments we have received from parents and carers over recent weeks. In addition, this period of school closure has made us all long for when we can be all physically together as a community again. So many staff, parents / carers and students are all stating how much they miss school (I know I do) and again this speaks volumes for us as a ‘caring community’.
Following the Prime Minsters announcement last night, I thought I would update you on a few key points relating to school;
· There is still no date set when secondary schools will re-open – be that partially or fully open. All schools will be directed by government on this, we will also be given clear guidance on how to ensure this is done safely to protect everyone in our school community. As soon as we receive this information, you will be informed.
· This week should have marked the start of the external exam season and I would like to once again praise and thank our students for how they have handled this whole situation, you have shown great maturity and understanding. Staff across the school are still working incredibly hard on the process of calculated grades for GCSE, BTECs, Vocational Qualifications and A levels and I would like to publically thank them for their dedication and professionalism to this challenging task.
· All year 10 students and parents/carers were informed last week, that for all of year 10 who were due to take GCSE RE this summer, they will be included in the same calculated grade process as years 11 and 13.
· I’m afraid that for obvious reasons, we have had to cancel both the Year 11 prom (which had been booked for 3/7/20) and the 6th Form Ball (booked for 25/6/20). All students who were due to go to these two events will be given a full refund for their ticket. We do hope that at some time in the future we will be able to gather the cohorts of 2020 together again and celebrate their time with us.
· You might have noticed that the Science Faculty have been running ‘Star from Afar’ for some time now. We have now extended this to all subject areas and students who are nominated for their work by a teacher will receive a letter home and their names will be published on ‘Alsager Still at Work’ every fortnight.
· Everyday school remains open to care for vulnerable pupils and for children of key workers and Alsager staff are continuing to fulfil a vital role for our country. Again, my thanks to them all.
As always, we are here for you and your family and please contact us (through your child’s Head of College) or care@alsagerschool.org if you need any help or support. In the meantime, please take care and look after yourselves and your loved ones.
Many thanks for your continued support during these uncertain times.
Best wishes
Richard Middlebrook
Executive Headteacher
