Headteacher blog 6 November 2020
It is an exciting time at school. We are about to launch a 1:1 Chromebook scheme for Years 4-6: something I have wanted to do for many years. Funded by a Catch-Up Grant, the possibilities are huge – both at school and at home. The lockdown closure of school earlier this year accelerated our move along these lines. If used correctly, this is a wonderful opportunity for years of positive impact on our children’s education, providing new ways of working collaboratively and delivering bespoke educational content. The devices will be distributed next week.
This week sees the start of the new national lockdown. This time, schools are staying open which is, I think, a welcome move. We still haven’t had a staff or pupil positive case in term time, but we are not complacent and we recognise that the balance of probability is that we eventually will. We are stretched having had to tell some staff to resume shielding at home, but things are, currently, just about manageable. In fact, this week has been really positive in class as I have toured the school – a calm, purposeful atmosphere and lots of great learning evident. During half term, I did planning and book monitoring and I was delighted with what I saw: a super start to the new school year!
On Wednesday, we had our first full governors’ meeting of the academic year. We said goodbye to a very long-standing governor (and former chair) Graham Foster who has been a governor here for a quarter of a century. That is superb commitment and I would like to personally thank Graham for all his time, support and wisdom over these years. We also elected a new chair of the governing body, as Rob Heap stood down as chair after a very successful period leading the governing body for the past six years. Again, Rob has been a superb governor: well-informed, with a great balance of support and challenge to me and the other school leaders. Rob’s term of office as a governor expires in March and so he stood aside for a new chair to be chosen. We had two super candidates that came forward and I am delighted to be able to announce that Ruth Fain is now our chair of governors.
