Posted May 3 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: October 22nd 2020
Head's Blog
Dear parent,
It is good to have made it through what has been a long half term in this strangest of years. I know that the students are ready for a break as are the staff. Everyone has worked really hard over the past few weeks and the students have impressed me as they always do with their energy, commitment and zest for learning. I have visited superb lessons in a range of subjects and always delight in listening to the questions our students ask and to the quality of the answers they give as well as to the discussions they have with each other. Our Year 7s have settled in well as have those new to Year 12; long may this continue.
As you are aware, we had our first confirmed positive cases of Covid-19 this week amongst Year 13 students. Parents in this year group will know that I took the decision yesterday to ask all Year 13 students to work at home today. This was because we had a new case yesterday which was not directly linked to the previous few in any obvious way. Each new case required a good deal of detective work - and some time in classrooms with a tape measure! - to make sure that all those deemed 'a contact' were quickly identified and asked to go home to self-isolate. We received very clear and helpful guidance at every step from the DfE and Thames Valley Public Health which was most reassuring, especially given the negative press I had read from other Headteachers up and down the country about these helplines. So, the half term break is well timed for us and I do hope that you will talk to your child about the necessary precautions (hands, face, space and rule of 6 etc) s/he must take over the break in order to ensure that the school is as safe as it can be when we all return on November 2nd. We obviously do need to be aware if there are any students who have a positive test result so please remember to notify us of any Covid-19 related information which can easily be done via the Covid tab on our website https://www.cheshamgrammar.org/3681/covid-19 It would also be helpful to be aware of students who live in a home where there is a vulnerable person so that in the event of any possible outbreak, we can make sure parents are informed.
This week has been a good test of our plans for remote learning with a significant number of Year 13s self-isolating from Monday while most of their peers were in school. I know from talking to some of those students and their parents that the use of the webcams has gone down well. The beauty of them is that they do not involve additional work for the teacher, beyond setting the webcam up in the lesson, and they also allow a student at home to join a lesson in real time from home. While purchasing one for every teacher required a significant financial outlay, I have no doubt that this will prove to be money well spent given what may lie ahead. Balancing the needs of the students with the workload of the staff at this time is not easy. We want to do everything possible to ensure that any student who has to self-isolate does not feel s/he is missing out on their learning and we believe that giving them the ability to 'be' in the lesson with their peers via a webcam is a good solution for everyone.
Thank you so much to those parents who have signed up to support the school through the FoCGS Shop Smart and Shop to Give schemes following the information sent home recently by The Friends of CGS. You can find out more about these and other FoCGS initiatives on the updated Friends pages on our website: https://www.cheshamgrammar.org/190/the-friends-of-chesham-grammar-school. We hope you will join us and support activities and events later this term including a Virtual Wine Tasting on Friday 20th November (booking details coming soon) and FoCGS Virtual Christmas Market. If you’d like to help with organising the market or are a Canva whizz and can help create the accompanying ebook, please email focgfundraising@gmail.com. The FoCGS are working incredibly hard to continue to raise money for the school in a year when it would be so easy to say that this is not possible given the pandemic so I do hope that parents will get behind them and sign up to Shop Smart, which as you know requires no time or effort on your part, and/or support the events which are being organised. I know the virtual wine tasting last term was a great success so I am sure it will be equally popular this term. My thanks again to the FoCGS Committee members whose energy and enthusiasm make all this happen.
Well done to Louis Ray in Year 10, who is another student to impress Mr Harvey by making a robotic MeArm from scratch and learning how to programme it. Last weekend, Daniel in Year 7 competed in two dressage competitions, coming 1st in one and 4th in the other. Very well done, Daniel.
Every year, we run the Duke of Edinburgh Award and we are recruiting an in-school coordinator to replace Mr Longworth who left in the summer. Following this, we will be able to launch the programmes for 2020-21. I know the Year 10s who get to do their Bronze Award this year are very much looking forward to getting started.
Finally, I would like to say how much we have loved having your children back in school this half term. Several times since we returned in September, I have thought back to the start of lockdown when there were a couple of students, a caretaker and me in the school. Schools are eerie places when they are empty and quiet and, while I have no doubt that next half term will be challenging given what is happening at the moment, I look forward to welcoming your children back after the break. I would also like to pay tribute to the staff whose dedication and relentless optimism have helped to ensure that things have been as normal as possible at school. And finally, thank you to you, our parents, for your support of your children and the school and for the messages of support and positivity we have received which have helped to keep me going! Students, staff and parents too, no doubt, are exhausted and I hope that everyone in the CGS community has a much-needed rest over the next 10 days.
With very best wishes,
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
