Headteachers Letter – 25th February 2022

Dear parents and carers,

Welcome back to the second half of the Spring term  – and we are certainly hoping for some more Spring like weather as we embark on the second half of the 2021/22 academic year.   Thank you for ensuring that our students have returned to school, well prepared, well rested and ready for success in their learning. As always, there is much to celebrate this week in terms of our academic, pastoral and extra-curricular achievements.

 

Sporting Successes

 We are enjoying a full range of competitive fixtures and field teams in a number of sports and competitions.

Our girls netball teams in Years 7-10 enjoyed fixtures against Wellingborough School and impressed with their teamwork, tactical skills and creative play.  Wellingborough produce very strong netball teams and all matches were highly competitive. Particular recognition to the Year 8 team who emerged from their match victorious and thanks to Miss Cattell and the PE team for organising the matches.

Congratulations to our Under 17 boys   football team who have secured a semi final spot in the Northamptonshire County Cup. We look forward to hearing if they can make the final!

If the U17 team are successful, they will be following in the footsteps of our excellent Year 10 boys football team. I am please to announce that Wollaston School managed to defeat Lodge Park Academy  3-1 in their County Cup semi-final in a tightly fought game.   Wollaston will now go on to face Caroline Chisholm School in the final at a neutral venue. Congratulations to the Year 10 team and we look forward to the final!

 

Personal Development Day

On Friday we held one of our regular drop down days, which are a vital element of both our academic and personal development calendars.  We tailor provision carefully for each Year group and general details of the work undertaken can be found below:

Year 7 – Enterprise – Cereal Box Challenge

Year 8 – Out of school on Take Your Child to Work

Year 9 – A Taste of Options

Year 10 –Sexual Health & STIs, Consent, Healthy Relationships

Year 11 – exam preparation for options subjects

 

Wollaston Theatre Company Performance

Wollaston School Theatre Company will be performing their National Theatre Connections Festival play ‘Hunt’ in the Drama Studio at 6.30pm on Tuesday 8^th, Wednesday 9^th and Thursday 10^th March at 6.30pm, with a final performance on Thursday 10^th March at 8pm.

The cast and crew are drawn from Year 10 to year 13 and are looking forward to an audience of parents, friends, staff and keen theatre goers!  If you would like a ticket, please email Vic Paltridge PalridgeV@wollaston-school.net as audience space is quite limited due to the staging of the piece.

Please note: This is a piece of theatre which contains content which is only suitable for students in Years 10 and above.

Tickets are free but there will be a donation box on the way out!

 

Coronavirus Restrictions

As you are likely to be aware, there have been  significant changes to the requirements and restrictions regarding suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases.  There is full guidance on the NHS website here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

In terms of how we operate at Wollaston School, the key changes are:

• The requirement for twice weekly asymptomatic testing of staff and students has now ceased. We will not be provided with further Lateral Flow test kits and there  is no need for any members of the school community to undertake asymptomatic testing.
• Face Coverings are no longer advised in any circumstances whilst at school. However, we continue to support all members of staff or students who choose to wear a face covering in any or all circumstances.

We will continue to promote good hygiene in addition to keeping the site as well ventilated as possible.  Although some legal requirements have been lifted, we do encourage all members of the school community to follow all national guidance and advice regarding testing and self-isolation. I know that many families have suffered tragic losses during the pandemic. Whilst it is right that we enjoy and celebrate the educational and personal freedoms which have come with the lifting of restrictions, we also need to continue to act responsibly to ensure that our cases remain as low as possible. As we have done throughout, we shall work as an entire school community to keep each other safe.

 

Welcome to New Staff

We are delighted to welcome a number of new staff to our excellent team. I know that the whole school will make the following members of staff very welcome in their new roles.

Andrew Somerville – Site Agent

Jennifer Sim – Learning Support Centre manager

Sandra Mendonca – Finance controller

Kieran Duxbury – Finance apprentice

 

Feedback from Visitors

We have enjoyed visits from a number of external experts this week, as we continue to work towards excellence in education in all of our provision. Aside from their specific endorsements and advice,  it has been heartening to hear visitors speak of just how warm, caring, friendly, calm and polite Wollaston School is as a place of work and a place of learning. It can sometimes be easy to forget these qualities – as this is our everyday experience. However – as one visitor put it to me, “ Wollaston School is such a friendly, lovely and positive place to spend time in, and lots of schools don’t  feel like that. It is a pleasure to be here.”

I would like to thank all of our students, staff, parents and community for creating, valuing and maintaining  this ethos.  We have a school to be collectively proud of and  can look forward to the future with optimism and ambition.

 

Thank you as always for your exceptional support of Wollaston School. if you do have anything which you would like to discuss, please get in touch FitzhughJ@wollaston-school.net and I would be happy to hear from you.

James Birkett

Headteacher