8 July 2021
Good afternoon,
It has been lovely to see many of Year 10 return this morning for their Sports Day (and to have some reasonable weather!). Work experience has gone very well, both physically and virtually. Our "500 miile walk" in memory of Tim Hindle has been a real success despite the poor weather which affected the Year 7 & 8 Sports Days - if you would like to sponsor the "500 Mile Walk" please follow this link. I have just heard that we walked 1,183 miles between us!
There are a significant number of notices this week - it is that time of year!
Year 10 catchup exams: A number of students missed examinations due to self-isolation. We will attempt to catch these missed papers up in the coming week, starting with Biology and Chemistry catchup on Monday morning followed by Physics and English Literature catchup on Tuesday. The catchup plan for the rest of the week will be confirmed shortly.
Year 10 Performing Arts: All Performing Arts Students will be undertaking their Unit 1 Performance Exam on Wednesday 14th July
Self-isolation: The government announcement the other day stated that the practice of sending home close contacts from school to self-isolate will cease from the mid August. This means that it is still in place in all schools until the end of term. Please be aware that should we have a positive case next week any self-isolation period will last into the summer holiday period. We are also expected to track and trace close contacts for the first few days of the summer break which again has the potential to impact your plans for the start of the summer period. I do not want to have to send students home to self-isolate and affect your plans, but we will have no choice under the current guidance from Public Health.
Start of next term: We will confirm the exact arrangements next week, but it appears likely that we will have a "staggered start" in September, with different year groups returning on different days, as we are required to test students on site as they return. I have been in discussion with our local schools and all of us will be following similar patterns and processes. The government has published information this week about the rules regarding COVID and the guidance for parents and carers is here. We will send out more practical information before we return in September.
Change of INSET day: For unavoidable practical reasons we need to move the INSET day from Monday 20 September to Tuesday 21 September. The term dates on the website have been changed appropriately.
Awards evening: I am looking forward to presenting the awards and certificates to Years 7 to 10 in a virtual manner on Thursday evening at 7pm. The link is here and will also be publicly available on the website on the evening. The presentation will be recorded and uploaded to the website shortly after the event.
Late buses and homework club: Please be aware that the late buses to Preston and Blackburn will not be running next week. Our supported homework club will run next week as usual.
End of term: This most unusual school year finishes on Tuesday 20th July at 12.15pm and the buses will leave at 12.20pm.
Homework - a note from Mrs Long (Assistant Headteacher in charge of Teaching and Learning):
For the final 7 school days of term, your child's teachers will not be setting subject-specific homework. Instead, they will be set two homework tasks that will allow them to get organised for September. This has been published on Classcharts:
- They have been asked to ensure that they are up-to-date with their learning in all subjects. All lessons are available on Teams in the relevant class and should be used as a source of revision where lessons have been missed or not understood.
- Secondly, they should access e-Platform, our online library, accessed via the website (all students have been sent logins) and they should read. This is a master skill that affects all curriculum areas so reading over the summer holidays is really vital to them getting off to a flying start in September.
Letter from Direct of Public Health is on the website here: https://waltonledale.lancs.sch.uk/parents/communication
Best wishes and enjoy the football this weekend!
James Harris
Headteacher
Posted by James Harris
Category: WLD Updates
