Newsletter, 22nd July 2022
Published on 22/07/22
Good morning,
I hope that you and your family are well and that your child has enjoyed the first few days of their summer break. This is the final newsletter of the 2021/22 academic year – however we will be in touch later in the summer with some reminders about the start of term.
A FANTASTIC END TO THE YEAR
Our students continued to show us just how brilliant they are right to the end of term. On 8th July, 75 of our Year 8 students attended an OAA residential at Canberra Farm on Hatfield Moor. Activities enjoyed by the students included caving, fishing, archery and open water swimming at the aqua park. Thank you to our students for showing a great attitude and to our staff who made the trip such a success.
Earlier this year, eleven students from Years 7 and 8 entered a Young Coders competition in which they had to design their own game based on the theme ‘My World, My Planet’. The challenge was to create a reactive game which encourages children to take care of natural resources and to improve the environment. We recently found out that Westfield’s winning entry, by Rebekka in Year 8, was recognised as one of the top 50 entries to the competition, which came from young people across the globe! What an achievement Rebekka, well done!
YEAR 11 PROM & GCSE RESULTS DAY
It was a joy to be able to celebrate with our Year 11 students who attended their Prom last week. With the previous two years’ Proms having been cancelled owing to the pandemic, it was a relief to be able to reward those students who showed a positive attitude to learning all year with the opportunity to enjoy a happy evening together. We look forward to seeing our out-going Year 11 students again on Thursday 25th August, which is when they collect their GCSE results from school from 09.00 AM. Students in Years 9 and 10 who are expecting results from ‘early entry’ courses such as Photography and English Literature will also be able to collect their results from school on this day.
CELEBRATION EVENING POSTPONED
We were disappointed that the extreme weather earlier this week meant we were forced to postpone our planned celebration evening. We have moved the celebration evening to September and look forward to celebrating with those students nominated for awards at the beginning of the new academic year. Students who have been nominated for awards should have received their updated invite.
CHANGES TO BUS SERVICES
We were notified last week by the South Yorkshire MCA that there will be significant changes to bus services for our students from September 2022. We are, of course, very disappointed to learn that neither the 720 nor the 752 service will be operational from September as they have been cancelled by provider First. First will also no longer operate the 730 service, although the SYMCA have told us that this service will continue to operate in September, albeit with a different provider.
We know that these changes may be disruptive for some families, and we have lodged our concerns with the SYMCA – in particular we have voiced our concerns about not hearing about these changes until the very end of term. Families wishing to find out more about the changes can do so here. Anyone wishing to raise a concern or make an enquiry can find details of how to do so here.
RETURN TO SCHOOL
A reminder that we will welcome our new Year 7 and Year 11 students back to school at the new slightly earlier time of 8.30 AM on Monday 5th September 2022. Year 7 and Year 11 students will be joined by students from Years 8, 9 and 10 at 8.30 AM on Tuesday 6th September.
If you are planning to purchase new uniform for your child over the summer break, please be reminded of our uniform policy, details of which can be found here. In addition, we very much welcome donations of pre-loved uniform that your child may have grown out of so that we can pass these onto families who need them most.
PET FOOD BANK
The current cost of living crisis is impacting many families across our city and beyond. The charity Blue Cross have shared with us information that may help some families. Blue Cross now operate a Pet Food Bank in Sheffield on Old Station Drive, S7 2PY. For more details contact them at sheffieldpetfoodbacnk@bluecross.org.uk or on 0300 777 1591.
FAREWELL AND THANK YOU
As this academic year comes to a close, we bid farewell to a number of staff who have made a great contribution to Westfield School. Rob Gardiner, Idris Waheed, Callum Cousins and Tina Griffiths are all moving on to new and exciting challenges/opportunities elsewhere, and we wish them the best of luck. In particular, I’d like to thank Mr Gardiner who has been a committed member of our leadership team for the past 5 years. Mr Gardiner leaves us to lead the lower school at King Edward VII school where we know he’ll do a fantastic job!
With many thanks for your ongoing excellent support.
Joe Birkbeck
Head of Westfield School