Dear Parent/Carer,
I hope you and your family are well. As we approach the end of this term, I would like to update you on what we have achieved at Sharples despite the many challenges posed by the current national lockdown.
Since I last wrote to you, our students have returned to school and have recommenced face-to-face learning. They have settled back quickly into school routines and positive learning habits. It is great to see Sharples returning to ‘business as usual’ and demonstrating that it continues to be a vibrant and focused learning community, despite all of the upheavals of the last twelve months.
I have been particularly impressed by the maturity of the students who have been part of our in-school Covid testing programme. Their behaviour in the test centre has been impeccable and has generated positive feedback from both staff and volunteers. Throughout this week, as students are tested in school for the final time, they will be given two kits, each containing three tests to enable them to test at home. The students should test twice a week over the Easter break and during the first week back at school. Following this, students will be issued with additional kits. All test results must be recorded on the schools Test Register – a link will automatically be sent twice a week (Sunday and Thursday) for students to register the result. Additional instructions can be found by clicking here.
Since returning to in-school learning, we have been very busy and a look at our school calendar reveals that even in the current circumstances we are offering a varied diet of enrichment opportunities for our students, including a range of in-school clubs. As a Science College we celebrate the annual STEM week and this year has been no exception. We have hosted a range of STEM events for our students including: Observatory Workshops, Astronomy Lectures, the Marble Run Challenge, Game Design Workshops and a Maths Virtual Escape Room. As always, I would encourage you to read our weekly newsletter and follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with our school events and successes.
One of my recent highlights was the Year 6 Offer Day on 1 March when the Senior Leadership Team made 240 “welcome” phone calls to our new families. Their positive and, at times, emotional feedback underlined how significant the move from primary to secondary school is within the educational journey of our students. Over the coming months, we will put our highly effective transition programme into action to ensure that these new students and their families are warmly welcomed into the Sharples family.
On a final note, we have high standards in relation to appearance at Sharples that we expect all students to adhere to. The full Uniform Policy and details of our expectations linked to shoes, jewellery, hair and make-up can be accessed on the school website https://www.sharplesschool.co.uk/policies/.
We finish school for the Easter break at 3.05pm on Friday, 26 March and I hope that all of our
students have a safe, enjoyable and restful break. We look forward to welcoming our students back,
to school, on Monday 12 April, with a prompt start to registration at 8.45am.
Take care and stay safe.
Yours sincerely
Ms A Webster
Headteacher
Click here to view original letter as a PDF.
