Response to Covid 19

On Friday, 20th March 2020, the school ceased to operate in its full and normal capacity. At the time, we were not to know how deeply the Coronavirus pandemic would disrupt all of our lives, nor did we know the impact it would have on the education of children around the world.

As the 2019-20 academic year came to an end, the situation was summarised in three words: Gratitude, sadness and optimism.

Gratitude

We are grateful that this rather strange academic year has come to an end. The efficient management of any large organisation is dependent on routine and certainty. The only certainty we have had over the lockdown was that there has been no overall routine to the school with different groups of pupils coming in on different days to ensure we could spread the coverage of teaching and support as widely as possible. We were very grateful for the combined efforts of staff, parents/carers and pupils to maintain some form of educational continuity. While there are many restrictions and challenges to both home learning and on-site provision under such tight guidelines, we have seen examples of outstanding work from pupils and innovative and effective approaches by teachers. Parents/carers have been called on to support their child/children’s learning like never before and I am extremely grateful for the additional efforts you have made.

Sadness

We are sad about the lost educational experiences and opportunities that children will have missed over the last few months. Our sadness is especially strong for those in Years 11 and 13 whose preparations for final examinations and anticipation of proms, celebrations and other rites of passage were so abruptly brought to an end. We feel the sadness that many have suffered during this pandemic – for those who are bereaving, struggling or stressing.

Optimism

Mostly, we are optimistic about the future. We believe there are many positives that we can draw from our collective experience. The use of remote learning as a tool for staff and pupils when they are not on site, for example, will be developed in the coming months and years and there are likely to be benefits to some of the enforced changes we are having to introduce on site.