Update from the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

We are nearly there with regards to the summer holidays, it has been an exceptionally busy year and no doubt we are looking forward to resting over the break and spending some quality time with families. We will be writing again before the end of the term but we wanted to share some information in this letter regarding some changes we will be making in September in light of restrictions being lifted and schools returning to normality (hopefully)  in September.

A few reminders for the end of term:

• Friday 9 July – INSET day, the school will be closed to students and students should return on Monday 12 July.
• Sports Day will run on Wednesday 14 July and students will be informed by their Form Tutors regarding the structure of the day.  Students should come into school in their PE kit on this day. The day will end at the normal time of 2pm. 
• The immunisation team will be in school on Monday 19 July to administer HPV catch up vaccinations for students in years 8 and 9 and Td/IPV & MenACWY catch up vaccinations for students in year 9 – this is for vaccinations that were missed due to isolating.
• The last day of term is Wednesday 21 July and students will be dismissed at 12:15pm, school buses have been rescheduled to accommodate this early finish.
• Term dates for the next two academic years are available on our website and by following this link Term Dates  You are reminded that holidays taken during term time will be unauthorised. 

September return to school dates are:

• Wednesday 1 September – years 7 and 12 only
• Thursday 2 September – years 7, 8, 9 and 12
• Friday 3 September – All year groups

Announcement from the Secretary of State: 

Yesterday the announcement confirmed that from the end of July students will not need to remain in consistent bubbles, face masks will not be required and if there are positive cases students in close contact will not be asked to isolate and instead, will test daily. We will send further information regarding this announcement once we receive further guidance from the Government. In the meantime, please continue to carry out a lateral flow test on Wednesday and Sunday evenings.  Details on testing over the holiday break and prior to returning to school in September will be sent to you in due course.

Times of the day

Our school day will continue to run from 8:40am – 3pm each day (2pm finish on a Wednesday).  We will offer extra curricular activities after school from 3pm – 4pm (with the exception of Wednesdays when staff have professional training after school).  Further details on enrichment will be shared in September.  Please note that the school day will now promptly start with period 1 instead of form time.  It is therefore essential that students arrive with plenty of time to organise themselves so that they are not late as this will result in a sanction. The canteen will be open from 8.15am for breakfast and healthy snacks for students so they will be welcome to arrive early on site from this time. 

Structure of the day

From September, students will continue to remain in the form groups within their year group as this approach has worked successfully in terms of delivering our curriculum effectively especially when it comes to Relationships and Sex Education. Therefore, your child will be remaining in the tutor groups they were assigned to this academic year with some small exceptions. 

The sixth form will no longer be a separate college (Apollo) and instead will join the three existing colleges within the academy structure to ensure they are a part of the wider community. The sixth form team will write with further information regarding this in due course. 

School Uniform

We previously wrote to you in May outlining the new PE kit that is available to buy.  The expectation is that from September new Year 7 students will be wearing the new kit and from September 2022 all students will be wearing the new kit.  This means that your child can continue to wear their current PE kit throughout the next academic year and should buy the new PE kit when replacing items.  The PE kit will be available in shops to purchase from next week and uniform is available from the following suppliers:

• Brigade – online ordering only
• School Time, Chatham – online ordering and shop visit
• Uniform Base, Chatham – online ordering and shop visit

Return in September

We will be staggering the return to school in September to enable our new year 7 cohort to settle in. 

Return dates for students are as follows:

• Wednesday 1 September – years 7 and 12 only
• Thursday 2 September – years 7, 8, 9 and 12
• Friday 3 September – All year groups

I will be writing to you again with further updates before the end of term. In the meantime, please continue with your ongoing support by ensuring your child has full attendance until the end of term.

Kind regards

Mrs Anwar