On the final Friday of term, we packed up much (and recycled some) of nearly 60 years of accumulated materials from our classrooms, labs, workshops and offices.

Over the two weeks of the school holidays, the furniture from the parts of the school due for demolition have been transferred to the temporary school, as have the books, computers, interactive whiteboards and all other items needed for teaching.

It has been a rapid process – and it seems to have gone incredibly smoothly. I have taken a few photographs of the newly furnished classrooms. It is remarkable how the rooms can be ready for use so quickly. This is also the outcome of huge amounts of work from our school site and IT teams, and we will need to find a way to thank them at a later date, when things quieten down for them.

Return to lessons next week

We are fully prepared for our Year 11 and Year 13 students to return for their full lessons as scheduled. That means that our students sitting their GCSE and A Level exams this week should be in school by 8:25 am on Tuesday 22nd April. As previously mentioned, our absolute priority is to ensure that no students sitting public exams this summer will be disadvantaged by the building work.

Students in Year 12 should come into school from 10:45 on Tuesday. They will have an assembly, receive their timetables (with new room codes for the temporary school) and locate their new classrooms. They will not have lessons on Tuesday, and will be able to leave by about midday.

Details of the timings of arrival at school, and remote learning, for students of all ages remain the same as published last half term. I won’t repeat all of these in detail, but they are available on the school website here. Miss Weatherhead (Assistant Headteacher, Curriculum) will be emailing families on Monday afternoon with a reminder of what learning should take place on the following days.

As I write this on Thursday afternoon, we are awaiting final sign off from the Department for Education staff on the temporary school, and all signs are positive that our plans for next week will all go ahead as hoped for.

I know that this will make for a slightly delayed return to school for some students, but would like to thank families for your support in making the return of students to two brand-new buildings as smooth and controlled as possible. All things being equal, I will be writing to you next Friday at the end of our first week in the temporary school with an update on how it has gone. Exciting times for all of us ahead.

In the meantime, I wish you a restful extended weekend and look forward to seeing all of our students over the coming days of next week. 

Mr N House, Headteacher