Posted May 3 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: September 11th 2020
Head's Blog
Dear Parent,
It is good to have a full week under our belt and let's hope there are many more to come! I know that for some parents, the return of our students to school has taken a few days to get used to. As one parent put it this week, after almost six months of the children being at home, I had forgotten what an empty house feels and sounds like! We have been so impressed by the way in which the students have adapted to our new routines. Whether it be following the one way system so that we are all moving in the same direction at busy times or wearing face coverings at the same points in the school day or regularly sanitising their hands, they have unquestioningly done as we have asked. These and a few other changes aside, the school has felt reassuringly normal and it is clear that the students are relishing being back in lessons and back with their friends. Mr Patteson and I are on duty each lunchtime on the field and never has the sight of so many students running around together having fun given us so much pleasure. Our new Year 7s seem to have settled in really well as do those who have joined the school in Year 12. In order for us to continue like this we need parents to ensure that the guidelines sent home last week and which are reproduced in full below are adhered to. Please make sure you read these carefully if you have not already. One school locally has already had to send a whole year group home to self-isolate and while we cannot eliminate the risks altogether, we can work together to reduce them. If your child displays any of the symptoms of Covid-19 please follow the guidance. Our usual approach is to encourage parents to send their child in unless s/he is definitely too ill to attend. At present, however, it is important that we act with caution and so should your child develop a high temperature, a new, continuous cough or a loss of, or change to, their sense of taste or smell, s/he must stay at home and you should book a test. This NHS document may be helpful to parents: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/ I know that some of the symptoms of a cold for example may lead parents to ask whether they should keep their child at home and this may help to decide what is the right course of action.
Parents with a child in Year 7 will be aware that all students of this age are being offered a flu jab this year and this vaccination will be done in school. We have been asked to ask parents to let the immunisation team know if their child has already been vaccinated by their GP. This may be the case if there is someone in your household who is on the NHS shielded patients list. The team can be reached on 01296 567860.
As you will know, we do not have any extra-curricular activities going on at present but we are hoping to start reintroducing these very gradually soon. Of course we can only do so with activities involving one year group. Those which are open to any student from right across the school are not possible currently so a full return is unlikely for some time but those we can run will be risk-assessed following which we can begin to offer activities to students at lunchtime or after school. Our extra-curricular clubs and activities are a key feature of our school life and it is simply not the same without them!
I would like to give you an update on where we are with our IT. As you know, we experienced significant issues towards the end of the holiday and our engineers have been working very hard to get things back up and running. Information has gone home today about student Canvas and Office 365 accounts. The PCs and student laptops used in lessons will be reimaged next week following which we hope to be able to restore student access to our WiFi. The staff and students have been very patient while we work through the backlog and I would like to thank you for your patience too.
Over the next couple of weeks, we will be opening up our online system for recording achievement and behaviour points so that parents can see those related to their child. You will already be familiar with GO4Schools which parents access in order to view their child's progress data and report and it is the same system we use to record our rewards and sanctions. Parents will receive a weekly update which will display the achievement points awarded during the week as well as any behaviour points all of which we think will be useful information for parents to have. Further details will follow from Mrs Dax next week. While I am on the subject of achievements, please do try to get back into the habit of letting us know about your child's out of school achievements so that we can congratulate him or her. For those parents who are new to the school community, we like to know as much as we can about the superb things our students get up to out of school whether it be a music exam or a sporting achievement or anything else they have done of which they or you are proud. This can be done very easily via our website: https://www.cheshamgrammar.org/1233/good-news
With best wishes for a relaxing weekend,
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
