Dear Parents,

It has been a very busy week at school with lots to discuss, share and celebrate. Thank you to all of the parents who attended the virtual 'Coffee with the Principal'. Although it was unusual to host this event online, it was very worthwhile to have a chance to give you some detailed updates and plans about upcoming announcements, school events and some of the areas that we are focusing on as a school at the moment form a pedagogical point of view. Of course, these coffee mornings are best when we see each other in person and although video conferencing and webinars are great tools, nothing will replace the feeling of those parent interactions when you visit the school safely and to experience the buzz from our students working as you make your way to the Assembly Hall for the coffee mornings. I do hope we can revert back to this soon once the guidance allows us to do so safely.

In case you couldn't make it, here is a summary of what was discussed, and my slides are also available here for more detail.

School Announcements

  • Thank you to all parents for your support with Enrichment Days, Adventure Days and helping everyone settle back into school during Block 1.
  • Early Years update: Tapestry email out this week, weekly email update from the Early Years team. Early Years workshop information will be shared out to parents by Ms Rosa.
  • Year 1 update: Ms Blundell to cover Mr Hughes for now, details emailed out by Mrs Železinger.
  • French and Slovene update: Two cover teachers for Mrs Poulet (French) and Mrs Kotnik (Slovene) are Ms Berden (French) and starting next week Ms Zver (Slovene).
  • New Building Progress and developments: Back on schedule after a delay due to rain. Pick up/Drop off back to normal soon.
  • Health and Safety update: 2 fire drill tests on Tuesday 1st September and a further drill on Friday 4th September.
  • Site update: 15 new display boards, 4 wooden planters for Woodland Area, 5 new wooden benches, EY gated corridor cleaned, Healthy Living displays, Adventure Days displays etc.
  • Curriculum plans - all updated and available online for you to look at for every subject.
  • Formal lesson observations continue.
  • Yearbook update: A google link will be sent out next week for parents to register their interest in purchasing a printed copy of the 2019-20 Digital Yearbook.
  • Marking update: All staff use the same format, positives and targets for marking. In Primary this is called ‘2 stars and wish’, in Secondary it is ‘What went well and Even Better if’. Stamps have been purchased and handed out to staff, training sessions organised and book checks by teachers, Heads of Department and SLT.
  • Facebook PTA Group for events - a group will be set up/continued to enable parents to volunteer and support events (Halloween etc.) Further information to follow.
  • Wednesday 21st October (9.00am) - PTA online meeting by Mr Walton.

Upcoming Events

(Please note that many are now online)

  • Friday 9th October - Teacher Appreciation Day has been moved to first week of May 2021 to enable parents to visit school.
  • Wednesday 21st October (9.00am) - PTA online meeting by Mr Walton.
  • Wednesday 21st October (3.00pm) - University Guidance Presentation online by Mr Batson.
  • Friday 23rd October - World Chemistry Day by BISL Science Department.
  • Thursday 28th October - COBIS Art Competition by Ms Clayton.
  • Wednesday 28th October - Business and Enterprise competition by BISL Humanities Department.
  • Friday 30th October - Halloween Dress Down Day for students.
  • Friday 6th November - Coffee with the Principal for parents.

Teacher Appreciation

As mentioned in the updates above, this event has been moved to the first week of May. This is an event that I believe cannot be replicated online as the strength of the past two events has been the opportunity to see people, thank the teachers personally and to bring us together as a community to acknowledge the wonderful work they do. During this time, we need to ensure that we place no one at risk and due to safety measures we have rescheduled this.

In the meantime, we are delighted to create opportunities to bring you closer to our staff to share personal thoughts, memories and insights. As such, have launched our Teacher Feature series, starting with Mr. Batson, coming's up next is Mr Kokalj, followed by many others. I hope you enjoy these articles as much as I have.

Finally, thank you to the parents who have emailed teachers to thank them over the past few months, receiving positive feedback might only take a few minutes from the sender to create but such an email means a huge amount to staff. This is massively appreciated by me personally, as our staff continue to work above and beyond during this time.

Have a wonderful week and I look forward to seeing, hopefully in person, at the next Coffee Morning on Friday November 6, if guidance allows.

Kind regards,

Paul Walton

Principal

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