Principal’s Update September 2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
Further to all of the recent letters we have sent out regarding the Coronavirus pandemic, we hope you are well and that your children have enjoyed the start of term. It has been a pleasure to welcome students back this week and we have been hugely impressed by the positive attitude they have shown and the way in which they have followed instructions around safety measures. As always, I wanted to write to you at the beginning of the academic year to highlight some of the key changes in school life.
Firstly, a reminder that the academy is now fully open on a full-time basis for all students. Opening, closing and lesson times are all exactly the same as they were in 2019/20 with our free Breakfast Club at the start of the day fully open also. The only small change to 2019/20 which I would ask you to bear in mind is that for Key Stage 3 students (those in Years 7,8, and 9), Breakfast Club opens from 8.45am in the canteen but for Key Stage 4 students (those in Years 10 and 11) this now takes place in the Hall and starts a little later at 9.15am. Breakfast Club has been hugely popular at The Edge in recent times and we would continue to encourage all students to attend this to give them a nutritious start to the day!
Secondly, I wanted to inform you all of our up to date staffing. This year we are delighted to welcome Ryan Taylor (Lead Teacher of Science) and Sarah Coley (Cook) to The Edge, we very much look forward to having them as a part of the team! Claire Whittlestone and Janet Gray have now left the academy and we wish them both well for the future.
We were delighted with the commitment of students in attending in such large numbers during the “lockdown” period earlier in the year and we will expect all students once again to buy into our “Safe, Ready, Respectful” ethos. As was the case last year, any student who disrupts learning during the school day remains in school for a “resolution” session for up to 30 minutes at the end of the day. As was also the case last year, any student who verbally abuses a member of staff, vandalises property or attempts to smoke on site will be subject to our full range of sanctions, this may include fixed term exclusion.
As we have shared with you previously, please be aware that all of our term dates for 2020/21 are still available on our website at: https://www.theedgeacademy.co.uk/calendar-2020-21/. Don’t forget that Friday September 11th is a staff training day on safeguarding so school is closed to students on that day. You may also want to make a note of the following dates for Parents’ Evening which we will give more detail on shortly:
Thursday 24th September 4-6pm Key Stage 4 (Year 10 and 11) Parents’ “Fish and Chip” Evening
Thursday 8th October 4-6pm Key Stage 3 (Years 7,8 and 9) Parents’ “Fish and Chip” Evening
Finally, we will, as you would imagine, continue to monitor all of the government and scientific guidance around school safety closely. Further to various updates we have shared with you recently, you may be interested in the government’s contingency planning for any scenario during the school year where a “local lockdown” may be necessary (this is available in full at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/all-possible-measures-to-be-taken-before-schools-and-colleges-close). You may also be interested in the government’s latest guidance on what you can and can’t do during the Coronavirus outbreak which has recently been updated and is now available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do
If you have any further questions regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Wakefield
Principal