I am delighted to announce that Nursery is opening on Monday 8 June - Sheena Wilding and her team are excited about welcoming 42 of our little ones to the College site. Our Nursery parents will be contacted via email with all of the instructions and directions to follow for a safe re-entry to the site.

The only disappointment is that we have got so many children in the other year groups who really want to come back. As soon as the government gives us the green light with other age groups, we will open our doors while adhering to the very strict and yet necessary safety measures that we have put in place already. 

And so to this week - what has been happening? While I will let your Divisional Head Teachers give you the specific details of the many successes the pupils have experienced, I will pick on just one…Dylan Moore, one of our Year 3 boys, raised over £1,000 for charity during half term by cycling 100 miles. I would struggle to drive that far! What a brilliant effort, and pictures of Dylan can be seen later on the assembly feed. The money raised will be going to the Will Houghton Foundation. Will was one of our former pupils at Claires Court Senior Boys and one of my absolute stars, a kind and responsible young man, someone who it was a pleasure to teach. A top cyclist, Will tragically died in a cycling accident while training back in 2016. Please feel free to check out the Foundation that his family has set up, and reflect on all of their wonderful work that goes on supporting young people to reach their potential through education and sport.

Courage and resilience, two qualities shown by Dylan, are two qualities that all of your children have had to develop and display during this lockdown period. Please let me reiterate that if you have any concerns about your son or daughter and how they have been coping with the emotional impact of school closure, please contact us immediately and we will support you in every way possible. 

We are planning carefully for the reintegration of Year 10 and Year 12 into school, although as direction from the Department for Education varies from day to day, we are struggling to share with you our exact plans at this point. We hope to do so early next week. I would like to thank all parents of Year 10 and 12’s who took the time to fill out our quite extensive questionnaire regarding ‘coming back to school’. Your feedback and comments have been evaluated by our Senior teams with a view to providing the safest and most welcoming environment possible for your children.

The weather may have turned, but our resolve to work together through this dreadful pandemic will never waiver, and we are inspired by the many messages of support you have sent us, especially this week with the official opening of one of our sites. Those words of encouragement allow us to focus wholeheartedly on the nucleus of all our efforts - that being your children.  

Thank you for your support. I hope you enjoy a restful weekend and please do stay safe.

Best wishes

Justin Spanswick

Executive Headteacher