End of Half Term update - 28/05/2021

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you and your families have remained safe and well as we have moved through the stages of the Government roadmap of restrictions being lifted.

This half term has seen our students demonstrate our values of being calm, engaged, respectful and creative, with the excellent quality of work demonstrated across the school. It has also been pleasing to offer almost a third of our students an opportunity to support catch up through the Governments National Tutoring Programme. Of which, we are now an accredited NTP Research Champion school. Our Year 11 students have also adapted superbly to the change of grading for them this academic year and what has been required of them in such a short time. They have shown themselves to be resilient and adaptive in order to be as successful as possible.

We have been extremely proud of the way in which all staff and students have adapted to our COVID safety procedures and ensured we could keep members of the Sewell Park community as safe as possible. After half term, we will continue our bubble systems within the school, with year group zones for break and lunch and individual student entrances. However, in our own process of returning to a ‘normality’, from Monday 14th June, teaching staff will return to their own classrooms and will be escorting students to and from the year group zones for lessons. This will allow students to be taught for the final half term in the specialist areas which they have missed over the year so far. All other measures will remain in place until the end of the academic year. Over the next half term, we will also be sharing any changes and plans for September which will be dependent on rates and the impact of any new variants.

Thank you to all parents and carers for supporting with the Lateral Flow Device testing and recording since the implementation. This continues to be a vital method in providing safety for our community. Students should continue to test themselves twice per week (on a Sunday and Wednesday) and record the results both on the Government website and the school's system, testregister. This is particularly important on Sunday 6th June before students return to school on Monday 7th June.

Mr Gannon, Assistant Headteacher, has written to you all in regards to our standards and expectations. Again, thank you all with your support for this. These standards are an important part of what makes us Sewell Park and in preparing students for the world and expectations beyond school and education.

Finally, after half term, our Year 10 students will effectively become the most senior students in the school and we will be looking to recruit our new head students. Those students who represent our values in all areas. As a reminder, from Monday 7th June, Year 10 will also increase their period 6 lessons to three days per week (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday). This is part of their legal statutory school day and has been reduced this year to date due to COVID restrictions. These sessions will be tailored to support and teach the students key revision skills, and how to work independently on revision and review, to support their success in Year 11.

Please find attached, details of some local events over the half term break including an exhibition of artwork from some of our very own SPA students.

I hope you and your families enjoy the half term break together and we look forward to welcoming all students and staff back, refreshed, for the final part of the academic year.

Best wishes

David Day

Headteacher

Activities for May Half Term

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