Headteacher blog 11th February 2022

It’s been another good week at Farfield. Attendance is almost where it usually should be and we are only getting one or two confirmed new COVID cases a day. This half term we have had a couple of children that were due to have surgical procedures, and on both occasions the children have asymptomatically tested positive in the pre-op arrangements: I’m sure that there are many more cases than we know of and children are sat in classrooms now carrying the virus.

I’ve been looking at energy prices and consumption this week: comparing 2021 with 2010. In that decade, school expanded by about 20% and we got the Children’s Centre, additional offices and new Little People building. Over that period, gas consumption remained fairly comparable despite the larger footprint of the buildings, but electricity consumption fell by 23% – thanks largely to LED lighting. In 2022, we will see the impact of the solar installations (the infant installation is still not switched on, but will be soon) and the partial decarbonisation of our heating system (infants).  In December 2021, our electricity price per KW/h was up by 20% compared to 2020 and our gas price was up by a staggering 77%!  All the modelling and assumptions as regards energy use and costing is needing a careful rethink – but it is very difficult to predict in a rapidly changing world. Our long-term contract with Solar for Schools for electricity at 6.7p per KW/h looks like an even better deal at the moment…

Our Year 6s have been doing a practice Maths SAT this week and the results so far have been very encouraging. Everyone appears to be making good progress and our results look on track to be comparable with previous years despite the disruption we have all had. The children are working hard and really want to do well.

On the subject of Y6, I got a lovely email from a parent this morning alerting me to an unidentified Y6 boy picking up litter on the way to school. The parent described the boy – including a Manchester United woolly hat – and we were able to identify him. Despite the poor taste in football teams, this young man is certainly the sort of environmentally aware ‘good citizen’ that we can be proud of, setting a good example to others. It made my day.

Finally, good luck to Miss Wetherill who gets married this weekend and will return to school as Mrs Kenvyn: another 5K!