I hope that you and your families are well and that you have had an opportunity to enjoy the sunshine we’ve been having over the last week. I’ve spoken to a number of students who enjoyed the opportunity to go fishing last weekend and landed some enormous catches, and others who enjoyed playing with sports teams. It is great to hear that life outside of school is returning to something closer to normality!

 

Calculators

Our maths and science departments have asked that I remind students and parents/carers that a scientific calculator is an essential part of the equipment we ask students to bring to school on a daily basis. Without it, they can disadvantage themselves in not only maths and science, but also the many other subjects where calculators can be necessary. While we endeavour to loan calculators to those who forget them, this isn’t always possible. Moreover, it is really important that students learn and understand the functionality of their own calculators to enable them to use them accurately and independently. Please can you ensure your child has packs their scientific calculator along with the rest of their equipment. Scientific calculators are widely available, and can be bought from school via Parentpay.

 

Attendance

Pleasingly, rates of COVID 19 infections nationally and in our local area have fallen significantly, and continue to fall. We have had no confirmed cases of COVID 19 in school this week. Unfortunately we are still seeing our attendance rates somewhat lower than we would hope or expect. We know that excellent attendance leads to excellent outcomes for our students and that students with low attendance almost always underachieve. If your child’s attendance has fallen below 95%, please ensure you do everything you can to get them to attend school every day. If you would like support in improving your child’s attendance, please contact your child’s Head of Year or Pastoral Manager in the first instance.

 

Year 7 Parents’ Evening

Thank you to the parents/carers of children in Year 7 who attended yesterday’s remote parents’ evening. I am sure that you were all able to hear some really positive reports regarding your child’s progress and attitudes to learning, and I hope you found it a useful opportunity to meet your child’s teachers.

 

Home testing kits

We are aware that some students will be due a further delivery of home testing kits next week in order to maintain the routine of twice-weekly testing on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. We have contacted the Department for Education to ask that a further delivery of kits is sent to school so that we can distribute them to students.

 

With many thanks for your continued excellent support,

Joe Birkbeck
Head of Westfield School