Newsletter, 14th April 2023

Good afternoon,

I hope that you and your family are well and that you have had an enjoyable Easter. We are very much looking forward to the new term and welcoming our students back into school on Monday morning.

Year 11 Update

Thank you to our Year 11 students and their parents/carers who attended our parents’ evening on the final Thursday of last term. This was an exceptionally important opportunity for us to meet with students and their families to ensure our students are fully prepared for their final term and for exams in May and June.

It has been fantastic to see so many Year 11 students taking advantage of the Easter School provision we have offered. Scores of students have attended sessions to support them with revision and exam technique – over 100 hours of revision sessions have taken place. Thank you to those students who have attended and worked hard and thank you to our teachers and support staff who have come into school in the holidays to make this happen.

NEU Strike Update

Unfortunately, the government and the National Education Union remain in dispute. We therefore anticipate that school will be disrupted by further strike days that were announced last week. The further strike days are scheduled to take place on:

• Thursday 27^th April
• Tuesday 2^nd May.

The strikes should not impact on Year 10 students who will be on their work experience placements, and we will work on plans in the coming week to ensure that school remains open to Year 11 students who will be preparing for impending exams.

The strike day on Thursday 27^th April may also necessitate a revised date for Year 7 Parents’ Evening. We will share further details of our planned response to the strike days in due course.

Year 8 re-scheduled Parents Evening

Our Year 8 Parents’ Evening that was scheduled to take place on Thursday 9^th March had to be rescheduled owing to NEU strike action. This event will now take place on Thursday 18^th May. Parents/carers of students in Year 8 will receive separate communications detailing how to book appointments.

Return to School – Monday 17^th April

A reminder that school reopens to all students from 08.00 AM on Monday 17^th April, and that all students should arrive in school by 08.30 AM. Thank you for your ongoing support in ensuring your child is fully equipped and ready to learn, wearing the correct school uniform. A reminder of uniform and equipment requirements, and information of how we can support families in providing uniform, can be found here.

Ms Tiffin wrote to parents/carers prior to the Easter break detailing our plans to re-focus on celebrating exceptional Attitudes to Learning and challenging disruptive behaviours as we enter the new term. This letter also outlined our ongoing work to ensure students feel able to use toilets safely, without concerns about other students vaping or congregating in toilets. We really appreciate the positive response we have already received to these plans from students and parents/carers.

Enrichment Activities

We encourage all students to engage in enrichment activities, and as evenings get lighter and the weather improves, we’d like to encourage even more of our students to involve themselves in after-school clubs. The schedule for our broad range of enrichment opportunities can be found here.  

Staff Training & Period 6 – Tuesday 18^th April

We have scheduled an opportunity to work together as a staff team on some areas for development on the afternoon of Tuesday 18^th April, beginning at 15.00. Therefore, period 6 sessions for Year 11 students and after school clubs on this date will all finish by 15.00. Year 11 students will attend a truncated period 6 session and be provided with a revision activity to take-away.

With many thanks for your ongoing excellent support,

Joe Birkbeck

Head of Westfield School