Principal’s Update January 2020
Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope you/ your children have all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year break and like me that your child is looking forward with great excitement to the start of the Spring Term 2020. Our team of staff have been hard at work over the holiday period making final preparations for the beginning of term and we cannot wait to move forward on the next stage of our improvement journey as we aim to become the best Alternative Provision school in Birmingham.
As you are no doubt aware, it was a busy end to the Autumn Term 2019 with the opening of our new library, the premiere of our “Facing Forwards” music video at Symphony Hall, an action-packed “Cultural Capital Week” to finish the term and record figures for praise cards being posted home. In addition, I am sure you are aware that as part of our work in listening to the views of the Student Council, we have refurbished our student locker and entry area over the holiday period; in January we will also be making some further improvements to the leisure activities on offer at our highly popular “Breakfast Club” which continues to be free to all students and open from 8.45am every day.
Following the democracy and election project we completed with all students in December, I would like to confirm too that it is no longer compulsory for students to wear uniform at The Edge. In line with a large number of Alternative Provision schools in the local area, all students are more than welcome to wear their own clothes to school from now on- we do request however that:
- students remove coats and caps upon entry to the school as was the case previously.
- students ensure that “hoodies” are not worn with “hoods up” at any time in school.
- students do not wear ripped jeans as was the case previously, or any clothes which are see through or inappropriately expose students’ bodies.
A reminder that any students who would like to continue to wear or borrow the old school uniform are welcome to do so, in any cases from now on where dress code is breached, we will help and support students by providing spare uniform.
We were delighted with the commitment of students during the Autumn Term and we will expect all students once again to fully buy into our “Safe, Ready, Respectful” curriculum. As was the case last year, any student who disrupts learning during the school day or arrives to school after 9.35am 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 during the school day will be subject to our full range of sanctions, this may include fixed term exclusion.
Finally, we are pleased to welcome Natasha Harper, Elizabeth Richards and Lana Walker to our team of staff in January, Carol McCullough, Demi Clutterbuck and Bashir Lateef all continue to work with us also. Piotr Bartocha, Bev Nicholson, Alison McGugan, Trevor Briscoe, Allan Gayle, Sarah Coley and Carrie Houghton left the school at the end of the Autumn Term and we wish them well for the future.
If you have any further questions regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Wakefield
Principal