WLD Update for Parents & Carers - Tuesday 2nd Feb 2021

Good afternoon,

** !! ** For parents & carers of Year 7:   A Year 7 Parents’ & Carers’ evening is planned for Wednesday 3rd March (4.30 to 7pm) with subject teachers.  This will be a virtual event using SchoolCloud.  Bookings will open on Monday 22nd Feb (the day after the half-term break) and full guidance will be sent out - this is just to notify you so that you can hold the date and time in your diary.

** !! **For parents and carers of Year 11:  Ofqual have now given a date that they will give guidance on the next steps in assessing the final GCSE grades as a result of their consultation - this will be issued during the week beginning 22nd Feb.  Exam boards will then need to make sense of it and issue specific guidance for each subject.  We are planning a a Year 11 parents' & carers' evening, but it has to wait until we know the arrangements for assessing each subject otherwise there will be more questions than answers!  I would hope that the parents' evening would take place towards the end of March once we have all the relevant information.

** !! ** Key worker and vulnerable student provision:  If your child is using the school bus or public transport to access school at the moment please remind them that it is essential that they wear a face-covering.  They also need to wear one in the corridors in school.  

Lancashire Equality Mark:  Walton-le-Dale is an inclusive school where every individual child is important. Our vision and ethos includes the statement: "We acknowledge that every person is unique with individual strengths and weaknesses, needs, likes and dislikes, regardless of age, sex, race or ability and we seek to value everyone equally". This philosophy also extends to our staff and everyone who enters our school.  To support this we are going to work towards the Lancashire Equality Mark, looking at ways in which we can improve our practice in this area.  We are seeking parents or carers who might be willing to meet as part of a small group to agree the general direction and specific targets and actions for the Equality Mark programme at Walton-le-Dale.  Any meetings would be virtual at this time and the commitment in terms of time would not be significant.  If you think that you could help us in this way we would be very grateful - please email head@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk.  You will find further information on our website and also on LCC's website here.

Children's Mental Health week (notice from the Department for Education): Children’s Mental Health Week, an annual week-long campaign run by children’s mental health charity Place2Be, began on Monday and will run until Sunday 7 February. This year’s theme is “Express Yourself” with the focus on children finding ways to share feelings, thoughts, or ideas through creativity. Mentally Healthy Schools have created a toolkit of resources for children, staff and parents to use during Children’s Mental Health Week.

** !! **We are here to help: If you are struggling in any way, we can help. Please get in contact.

• We can help with shopping and food parcels.
• We can offer immediate help with access to remote learning.
• We can even help if you need some stationery to support your home learning. 
• Email in total confidence - v.shaw@waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk

Best wishes,

James Harris

Headteacher