14 May 2021
Good morning,
A slightly earlier weekly update than usual. A number of things for this week....
ePlatform and reading: This is a really great initiative! We have a new library of e-book and audiobooks which are free to all our students and staff. All the information about how to access it is in a powerpoint towards the bottom of the Walton Reads page of the website. Reading is a key focus at this time with all teachers working on strategies to encourage reading in their lessons. To help us with this we are measuring the reading ages of our Year 7 to 10 students twice a year - you will receive the first report of that over the coming week.
Paracetamol: As I said in the update last week, national guidance and our resulting medication policy means that we can no longer follow our custom and practice of giving paracetamol or similar non-prescribed medication to students following a phone-call home. From Monday, we can only give students prescribed medication under certain specific conditions where they need to take it during the school day. Apologies for the inconvenience that this may cause.
Lateness to school: We seem to have an increased number of students arriving late to school - this has an obvious impact on their learning at a time when every minute in lessons is particularly important. Please can you discuss this with your son or daughter, particularly if they make their own way to school.
Face coverings: I updated you earlier in the week following the government's announcement. If you missed it the update is on the website here.
Parents & Carers of Year 10: Please see the email from Miss Royal regarding Preston's College Taster Day which was sent earlier this week;
Year 11 assessments: If you are a parent or carer of one of our excellent Year 11 students please can I encourage you to look at the dedicated page on our website which explains the process of teacher assessment this year. In particular it is important that you notify us of individual circumstances due to the pandemic that have affected the assessments for your son or daughter. The relevant form is on the dedicated webpage.
Final day of this half-term: Just as advance notice.... We are celebrating the final day for our wonderful Year 11 group in the afternoon of Friday 28th May (the final day of this half-term). In order to enable an appropriate celebration for this year group lunch for some of the other year groups will need to be really quite early. It may be a good idea to send your son or daughter in with some additional food on that day!
Best wishes for a good weekend....
James Harris
Headteacher
Posted by James Harris
Category: WLD Updates
