Dear Pupils, Parents and Carers,
As we draw further into Holy Week and what would have been the Easter break, I would like first and foremost to send you and your families our very best wishes for a blessed and happy Easter, along with our very best wishes also for your health. I hope that you are all keeping safe and well.
I would also like to let you know that new material for home learning will break for the remainder of Holy Week and for the subsequent week, to resume on Monday 20th April. We have considered this decision carefully and feel that it is imperative that our pupils have a sense of the 'rhythm' of their year by observing a break from their formal learning, this being essential to wellbeing - more so than ever at this tough time.
You will be aware, nevertheless, that there is a huge amount of material already available via Teams for each subject and in the weekly challenges that are being set. As with ‘normal’ holidays, this is only a break from new learning material – it would be a good opportunity to get fully up-to-date by completing any unfinished work and consolidating learning through revision.
To our pupils: in ‘normal’ holiday periods, your teachers would not set new material but we are always delighted to see any work that you have chosen to complete and will continue to be so. We would also usually recommend that you take time to do activities that are relaxing or more creative, perhaps also to develop new interests and hobbies. For that reason, we have put together an activity magazine that can be accessed on the website. It is similar to the weekly challenges in that completion of these activities is entirely optional; there is no expectation of you in this time, but we hope that you find the ideas and material interesting and fun.
We know that many of you would normally have been participating in Holy Week services in your parishes. You will still be able to focus on Holy Week: a resource called ‘Holy Week at Home: Family Retreat’ has been uploaded to Teams for each year group, with lots of activities for the family for each day of Holy Week, as well as a ‘Stations of the Cross' for young people and the Examen, which we use in school on Fridays throughout Lent and Advent.
It has been wonderful to see the work that you are sending back to us, as well as the evidence of you nurturing your creative talents and finding ways to keep fit and healthy whilst staying at home. By staying at home, you are doing the most important work possible: you are keeping safe, reducing the pressure on the NHS and therefore moving us ever nearer to the time when we will be back together in school and able to see our friends as we normally would.
We hope that you find the break from new learning tasks welcome, therefore, and that you are able to relax with your families, consolidate your learning to date, participate in the Holy Week activities and browse through the activity magazine so that you can return to home learning fresh and relaxed on Monday 20th April. All of the staff wish you and your families a safe, happy and blessed Easter, and you are all in our prayers.
Yours faithfully,
Mrs Pole
Headteacher
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