Headteachers Letter – 1st October 2021

Dear Parents and carers,

We remain delighted with how well students have begun this academic year, our classrooms are filled with purpose and positivity and as a school community, we are thriving now that we are able to once again working in a faculty structure, with access to specialist resources and teaching areas. As parents and carers, thank you for your continuing support, with ensuring that students arrive in correct uniform, with the equipment that they need for each day and for supporting with the completion of all homework tasks. We know that working in partnership is the most effective way to realise our aim of great outcomes for every student and support is greatly appreciated.

 

Open Evening 2021

Thank you to our students and staff for such a wonderful Open Evening last night. It was wonderful to welcome prospective students and parents back into our school again and see the full range of educational opportunities on offer.  As always, it is our students and staff who are the best advertisement for our school, and feedback from visitors was incredibly positive. Thank you to all of our students who gave up their time to help on the evening and I know that our students greatly enjoyed the experience as many can remember their own Open Evening experience and realise what an important milestone this is.   We will be hosting small group tours of the school throughout all of next week, in order that Year 6 parents and students can see the school in operation and understand why we are so proud of what happens everyday, as well as on Open Evenings.

 

Sporting Success

As we return to a more normal curriculum delivery, we are also delighted to resume all of the life enhancing extra curricular provision, which has been so badly missed by students and staff alike during the pandemic.  Wollaston has boys and girls teams for numerous sports and it has been a joy to return to competitive fixtures as well as our programme of regular clubs and festivals.

 

Year 10 Boys Football Team

Congratulations to our amazing Year 10 team, who won their opening fixture of the season 6 – 0 against Wootton in the County Cup.  We have a talented, hard working and cohesive squad in this year group and we look forward to further successes to come!

 

Year 7 and 8 Girls Football Team

Our Year 7 /8 team came up against brilliantly strong opposition in a fixture versus Robert Smyth Academy.  Although we lost the fixture, our PE staff were incredibly proud of the entire team. The girls showed resilience and great team work against a strong opposition with there being lots of positives to take away from the match.

Special commendation was given to our captain for the fixture, Olivia Maxwell, who scored in an amazing penalty in the last two minutes of the match!

 

Primary Sports Festival

Thank you to all of the Wollaston Sports leaders who organised, officiated and led the Primary School Football Festival for Year 5 and 6 children this week. As always, our students were a great credit to themselves, the PE department and Wollaston School. Our partner Primary Schools greatly enjoyed the event and are delighted to once again be able to mix together and enjoy sporting activity with a range of students from a variety of schools!  Seven teams participated in total, (two teams from Yardley Hastings, Little Houghton, Irchester, Bozeat and two teams from Denton.  Congratulations to Little Houghton who emerged victorious and thanks to our amazing Wollaston School Sports Leaders for running the event.

 

PE Kit Requirements

The PE department would like to advise that students wear football boots/studs when participating in activities on the field.  The weather is now becoming more autumnal and the field and ground softer. The boots will help students maintain a firm footing and prevent possible injury.  Also shinpads for their PE lessons when participating in Hockey and Football. It is necessary to protect the students from possible injury and being struck by a stick or ball on the ankles. If a student is selected to play a football match for the school team, then it is mandatory that they wear shinpads beneath the school football socks. They cannot play for the school team without shinpads.

 

 

Student Achievements

Congratulations to Eilidh Johnstone, who is featured on the latest RNIB and British Blind Sport campaign to encourage Blind and Visually Impaired people to participate in sport.   Eilidh is in Year 10 and can be seen ski-ing and heard as a voice over in the “See Sport Differently” Video Campaign. Congratulations to Eilidh and I am sure that she will be an inspiration to all who watch the video, which can be found here: https://www.rnib.org.uk/about-us/see-sport-differently

If you would like to make us aware of any student achievements, please do get in touch with Jade Fitzhugh on fitzhughj@wollaston-school.net, we are always happy to share the achievements of our incredible students!

 

Hot Chocolate Friday – Year 9

Many congratulations to Eden, Richard, Thomas, Abdallah, Jeva, Lacey, Favour and George for being the Year 9 top positive behaviour points scorers so far this year!  It was a pleasure to meet with the students this morning and discuss their ambitions for the rest of their school careers. We are delighted with how all of Year 9 have approached this academic year and we are looking forward to continued wonderful achievements in the months and years ahead.

 

Year 10 Success at GCSE Evening

We will invite parents and students from our Year 10 cohort into school on Thursday 14th October to discuss how we can work together to ensure that every student reaches their maximum potential in their GCSE courses over the next two years. The evening will feature general advice, support and information, in addition to specific sessions on English, Maths and Science. We will also provide guidance on promoting good mental health and  how to ensure that students work with plenty of purpose, but without undue stress or pressure. Booking is available on Eventbrite now HERE, and full details to follow next week.

 

Coronavirus Vaccinations For Students Aged 12-15

We have now heard from the NHS that the vaccination team will be visiting Wollaston School on the 3rd and 4th November 2021. We understand that consent forms will be sent by the NHS directly to parents.  As a school, our role will be to provide a venue and facilitate  students with consent attending at their designated appointment time.

 

Coronavirus Update

We continue to have relatively high case numbers of Covid-19, but cases do seem to have stabilised (i.e. There are as many students returning from isolation as there are new cases emerging).

We remain in regular contact with Public Health Authorities in respect of case numbers and our response as a school and they have advised that our current measures are in line with their recommendations and they do not advise any additional action at this time. Nevertheless, the following actions remain crucial in ensuring that we control transmission as far as is possible.

  • All Students and staff continue to test twice weekly at home (ideally on a Sunday and Wednesday evening). If a positive test is received a PCR test should be booked and the student or staff member should isolate immediately.
  • All members of the school community to wash or sanitise hands regularly. All hand sanitiser stations remain operational and are checked daily.
  • Face coverings are recommended on school transport. Please do encourage students to wear face covering when on the bus. We no longer have a mandate to enforce the use of face coverings on buses, but we do encourage their use.
  • A reminder that students and staff can wear face coverings in any and all areas of the school site, and in any context. This is not mandatory, but we recognise that face coverings can be a means of reducing the risk of transmission.
  • We have appointed an additional cleaner who has begun work this week, to ensure that toilets and high frequency touch points (such as door handles) are cleaned regularly throughout the day.

 

Thank you in advance for supporting all of the above measures. We are greatly enjoying a Wollaston School education without the educationally damaging restrictions of last year. By following the measures above we hope to continue to avert growth in the number of cases.

As always, thank you for your continued support. Please do get in touch if there is any aspect of our provision which you would like to discuss.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mr James Birkett

Headteacher