This lockdown is different in many ways and I have been delighted with the positive way the staff have adapted and the students have engaged with their online lessons. 

This week’s assembly focused on perspective and partnerships. We spend some time looking back at what the most successful students did during lockdown and how we can all repeat these behaviours. We talked about how staff would work tirelessly to prepare the best possible online lessons but all lessons require commitment, effort and dedication from the students. The world is changing very very quickly and our students are already ahead of many but they should see this next period of confinement as an opportunity to get further ahead and to work with their teachers to make every lesson count. 

We then spent time looking to the future and I shared my love of skiing through the trees (that’s not me above). The point about skiing through trees is that if you keep looking at the obstacles you will hit them but if you stay focused on the openings you will sail through. If the line closes out, you stop, traverse for a while to find another path and get going again. I tried to communicate this message to the students; there will be lots of obstacles this term but stay focused on the gaps and try not to focus on what could go wrong.

If at any point you need us, please contact us. We already have great partnerships here and we will always be able to help with any issue that ups up out of the trees.