Posted Dec 19 - 2024Headteacher's Newsletter
what's happening at Chesham Grammar
Posted on: February 26th 2021
Head's Blog
Dear parent,
I do hope that your children enjoyed the half term holiday and the opportunity to take a break from the routine of online schooling.
This first week back has been punctuated by government announcements which will affect our school community. On Monday, the Prime Minister set out his 'road map' with step 1 seeing the return to school of all our students, the detail of which is slightly more nuanced than has been reported in the headlines. And yesterday, we had the announcement about the outcome of the Ofqual/DfE consultation on the summer gradings for GCSE and A level. Both announcements are now being worked through and as you can imagine, there is a huge amount we need to do to implement both sets of announcements.
I am delighted that our students will be back with us very soon. I am sure the announcement on Monday was a relief to parents everywhere! As you know, the return to school involves us offering three Covid tests to all students in the school over the course of 10 days or so. Students for whom consent has been given can return to school after their first test, assuming it is negative. The DfE has, thankfully, given permission for schools to start this testing before March 8th so that we can get our students back to school as soon as possible.
Student return dates
In terms of a return date, we will welcome back those in key stages 4 and 5 (ie Years 10-13) on Monday, 8th March with key stage 3 students (Years 7 - 9) returning the following day. Lessons for key stage 3 students on Monday 8th will therefore be on Teams. In order to facilitate this, students will need to come to school for their first test ahead of their return date. We have been asked to stress the need for them to return straight home again afterwards, in accordance with current national restrictions. Details of each child's allocated test slot will be sent home early next week. This is a massive logistical undertaking and I would ask that you do everything possible to get your child to school for the time they are allocated. I know this will be an inconvenience for some parents but I hope you will understand our desire to get everyone back in as soon as we can. As I said, the details of each child's allocated slot will be sent home. It will be within the time frame given below. Mrs Harvell, who is masterminding our testing process, has done an amazing job of setting it up and dealing with the logistics. She has managed to organise it so that a whole year group can be tested within two teaching periods. Given the significant disruption to online lessons there will be during this time, we think the best thing is to say that lessons will not take place during the testing slot for each year group, the details of which are:
Testing
Wednesday 3rd March: Year 11 testing will run from 10.30am to 12.20pm. There will be no lesson 2 and 3 for Year 11 that day.
Thursday 4th March: Year 10 testing will run from 8.15am to 10.15am. There will be no lesson 1 and 2 for Year 10 that day.
Thursday 4th March Year 13 testing will run from 11am to 1pm. There will be no lesson 3 and 4 for Year 13 that day.
Friday 5th March Year 9 testing will run from 8.30am to 10.30am. There will be no lesson 1 and 2 for Year 9 that day.
Friday 5th March Year 12 testing will run from 11am to 1pm. There will be no lesson 3 and 4 for Year 12 that day.
Monday 8th March Year 8 testing will run from 8.30am to 10.30am. There will be no lesson 1 and 2 for Year 8 that day.
Monday 8th March Year 7 testing periods 11.30am to 1.25pm. There will be no lesson 3 and 4 for Year 7 that day.
Each student will have a 5 minute testing slot during this time. They will be sent very clear instructions on what they need to do in advance so that, we hope, there will not be too many surprises. Thank you in advance for your support with this and a huge thank you to those parents who are helping us, without whose support, the whole process would take much longer.
GCSE & A level grades
Those of you with a child in Year 11 and/or 13 will no doubt have listened carefully to the announcement on Thursday about the arrangements being put in place to enable students to receive GCSE or A level grades. I know you will want to know the details of our approach as soon as possible. There is a good deal of thinking to do here. What I can say at this stage, which I hope will put the minds of students and parents at rest, is that we will be giving the students further opportunities to undertake assessments so that they can do themselves justice. These will take place next term: there will be no such assessments this term. When we have worked through the detail, we want to ensure that students have ample time to prepare for whatever it is we decide we need to do and I don't want parents and students to worry that things will be sprung on them at short notice. I also feel it is important to get the students back into school and to focus on settling them in again in the four weeks which will remain of this term. I hope this makes sense. As soon as I can, I will outline our processes for the summer grading arrangements. This will have an impact on other decisions such as how long the students will remain in school (they would usually start study leave in early/mid May) and again, as soon as all this is decided, I will let you know.
National Careers Week
Next week is National Careers Week and Mrs Lovelace, our Careers Leader, has put together a superb programme for our students. This will run across the whole week next week and period 5 each day will be replaced by a careers related activity as detailed in the programme attached (please note this is an updated version of the one sent earlier, following a last-minute change). I have no doubt that the students will gain a good deal from this experience and I would like to thank Mrs Lovelace for her hard work.
Progress Evening
We are looking forward to talking to Year 10 parents about their child's progress in their GCSE courses so far at the Progress Evening next Thursday and to being able to meet Year 8 parents the week after.
Good News
Well done to Tamsin in Year 7 who won the 11-13 age group for her photograph of an Owl in the 'Wild Nature Rotary Young Photographer Competition 2021' organised by Berkhamsted Rotary. Tamsin wins a silver plate and £100 and her photo has now been entered into the District Heat where it will be judged against other entrants in Beds, Bucks & Herts. Well done Tamsin! Ajesh in Year 7 has recently passed his Grade 3 Piano exam with Merit. Well done to him too. Congratulations also go to Ruby in Year 10 who walked a marathon on Saturday. A great achievement, well done.
With best wishes for a relaxing weekend,
Annmarie McNaney
Headteacher
