Dear Parents and Carers
The sunshine this week has been a lovely ending to what has been an incredibly successful and joyful Easter term, it has been wonderful to have the students back in school and we are looking forward to a busy but rewarding Summer term after the Easter holidays. It has been equally wonderful this week to listen to the students’ stories as they have returned to external sporting and activity clubs this week with the ending of certain lockdown restrictions last Monday. In school we are also planning to resume more after school sporting clubs and other activities after Easter which should provide an even greater sense of normality.
Easter Holidays - Summer Term – Home Testing
Please remember that students will return to school on Monday 19th April, and the school site will be closed to all students over the Easter Break and there is no necessity to provide remote or online learning during the Holiday.
Students who have provided consent should continue to test themselves using the Home Testing LFD kits over the Easter Holidays and especially before they return for the Summer Term. Results from including positive results should continue to be reported on the dedicated school webpage (the link to this has been sent out to all participating parents and carers by text and email) and the NHS website www.gov.uk/report-covid19-result
The school website for recording coronavirus test results will be monitored regularly by staff in school over the Easter break and we will of course take appropriate contact tracing actions in the event of any positive cases.
Assemblies – Excellent Standards
The assemblies that we have trialled with Year 11 with socially distanced form groups/bubbles in the Hall have gone exceptionally well so we will resume assemblies for all Year groups when we return to school. The assemblies will focus on celebrating the following areas in which students are continuing to demonstrate extremely high standards:
Attendance: Attendance rates have been incredibly high following the return to school in March
Punctuality: All students understand that they must be in school and in registration/form-time at 8:45am, their dedication to making sure they are in school on time is fantastic to see. I am aware that the local corner shop is understandably limiting the number of students in the shop at any one time due to Coronavirus regulations, this can sometime lead to a queue of students forming. After Easter we will stop students joining the queue for the shop at approximately 8:42am so they can make the short walk to school and still be on-time for form.
Uniform: Students have looked incredibly smart this term and they are aware that wearing our school uniform with pride is one small part of the high standards and expectations that ensure all students have the opportunity to reach their full potential, students also know that as members of our community they don’t wear jewellery or make-up to school.
Attitude to Learning: Since students have returned to school the accelerated progress they have begun to make in face to face lessons is remarkable to witness. Students have shown dedication and enthusiasm towards their studies with excellent behaviour and conduct. Students have also quickly remembered that they must not use mobile phones anywhere on the school site due to their potential distraction to teaching and learning.
Holy Week and Easter Masses.
Today all students took part in a reflection and liturgy presentation in form-time to celebrate and mark Holy Week. We are hopeful that we soon will be able to celebrate Mass in school when the guidance and regulations allow and I will keep families updated when we are provided with a date when we can resume Mass in school.
The following information has been collected from our local parishes regarding Mass times over Easter.
St Mary and St John Fisher
Easter Sunday Masses -- St John Fisher 9:30am -- St Mary’s 11am.
The masses will be live streamed on the Parish Facebook page
Holy Family, Denton
Holy Saturday Mass – Easter Vigil 8pm
Easter Sunday Mass – 10am
The masses at Holy Family require attendees to book a place in advance.
The link to book a seat or to live stream the Mass are available on the Holy Family Parish Facebook page.
Lenten Effort
There was some concern this year that the National Lockdown and Covid restrictions would limit our ability as a Catholic Community to raise charitable donations to help those less fortunate than ourselves during Lent, I am pleased to say however that everyone in school rose to the challenge and during the last few weeks staff and students have raised an outstanding figure of £6873.03
This money we have raised as a community during Lent has been donated to the very worthwhile charity of the Christie Cancer Hospital.
Well done everyone!
Year 11
In order to produce fair and robust GCSE or Vocational grades for exam boards in the Summer all Year 11 students will have formal assessments/examinations for four weeks from the 26th April onwards. Assessments will be spread out over the course of the four weeks with some lessons being used as assessment preparation. It is vitally important that all students revise and prepare fully over the Easter Holidays as this is their opportunity to shine and show off what they can do and what they have learnt. To help them focus their revision in the next few weeks we have produced the attached revision list for each subject, students have received a paper copy this morning during assembly. The revision list gives an overview of the topics/areas that will be examined in each subject. Please note: The revision list includes ALL POSSIBLE subjects but students should only revise the subjects that they are currently studying.
After School Detentions
Due to the effects of the pandemic we amended our detention system in September to take account of class bubbles/staff self-isolating. Now that there is a greater sense of normality in school, from the 26th April we will be reverting back to our original detention system with Year Group Detentions lasting 30 minutes 2:45pm-3:15pm and “on-call” detentions lasting 45 minutes 2:45pm-3:30pm. As you are aware due to the excellent behaviour of students in school we thankfully only have a very small number of students receiving after school detentions, but we do always expect parent’s/carer’s support in ensuring that their son/daughter attends a scheduled detention to maintain high standards for the benefit of all.
Intervention
In the Summer term we will begin our intervention strategy to ensure that pupils have the opportunity to achieve their full potential following the disruption of the pandemic. The long-term strategy will be delivered over the coming months and years with areas being addressed through quality first teaching in the classroom and when appropriate through additional intervention such as after-school sessions, specialist programs and tutoring. Students identified will be invited for additional intervention in due course.
Free School Meal Vouchers
Families who have received Free School Meal Supermarket Voucher during Lockdown will again receive Supermarket Vouchers over the Easter Holidays by the same/usual method.
Finally….
Thank you so much for your ongoing support and messages of gratitude this term, it has been a real pleasure to educate your sons and daughters on site again over the last four weeks.
Have Happy, Holy and Restful Easter.
God bless and stay well.
H Brophy
Headteacher