I, like many of you, watched the inauguration ceremony for Joe Biden with a great deal of interest. American politics fascinates me but even the most ambivalent observer cannot fail to have been appalled, bewildered and captivated in equal measure by what has happened in America over the past 4 years. The Trump years will certainly provide historians with much material in the coming years.

At a time of darkness, the inauguration provided some moments of light. There was the hope and dignity demonstrated by both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The promise of a return to civility and decency. The inspiration of the first woman Vice-President, the first person of colour and the first person of an Asian-American heritage to hold this office. Then there was the inspiration of the performance and the power of the words of the amazing inauguration poet, Amanda Gorman. If ever students say why do we have to study poetry, there was all the evidence you need.

For me the most insidious elements of Trump’s years in power have been the lack of decency and civility and the promotion of what appears to be an anti-science agenda. As a school, we seek to promote a set of values which we believe in deeply; values which we feel will make a difference to each student’s life and the lives of those they come into contact with. We seek to promote courtesy, compassion, honesty, integrity and perseverance. It is made all the more difficult when the most powerful man in the world shows a total disregard for these and promotes an agenda that seems to actively embrace intolerance. I genuinely hope that President Biden can deliver on his inauguration promise and that this new administration places the premium on the key values that we all want to see.

From the rhetorical heights of a presidential inauguration to the more prosaic reality of life in lockdown. Week 3 of lockdown home schooling is now complete and from conversations with staff, students and parents it would appear that a new normal has been established and for the most part everyone is settling into their new routines. Once again, I have been hugely impressed with the levels of participation from students across all year groups. What has been a real delight has been reading the little messages from staff when they have passed on their nominations for Zoom stars. It is so heartening to see quite how impressively so many of our students are dealing with these challenging circumstances.

There has been much confusion regarding the use of Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) in schools. Currently, we are testing staff regularly and have begun the weekly testing of those students in school as part of our key work provision. This has gone well and I must say that the students concerned have conducted themselves in an extremely mature fashion. How this testing programme might develop when students fully return to school is anybody’s guess at the moment. We do know that the use of LTFs for contact testing has been abandoned….. for now. There is still talk of school’s undertaking ongoing mass testing although how that can be undertaken at the necessary scale for a school of our size has not been made clear. 

Talking about the potential return to school, we were given another set of apparently contradictory guidance through the media on Thursday. In the morning Gavin Williamson explicitly stated that schools and parents would be given two weeks notice of a school return date. That seems an eminently sensible proposition and would help all plan accordingly. Unfortunately, by Thursday afternoon Downing Street were far less specific and were saying that schools would be given “as much notice as possible”. Then there was the entirely unhelpful talk about the date of a school return and the potential for this being later than originally planned. I fail to see how anybody can make an informed judgement of this kind. Since little can be gained from this kind of discussion and with 3 weeks still to the February half-term, surely it would be better for all concerned to avoid discussions of this kind.

We do know that a number of our students are finding the current situation really difficult. That is only to be expected. Please remember that our staff remain available to support the students. The best points of contact are always the Tutors or the Heads of Year. There is also a wealth of well-being material and links on the school website here.

As always, I include my weekly reminder about Free School Meals eligibility. If your financial circumstances have changed, your child may be eligible for Free School Meals. If you click on this link you will find guidance on the eligibility criteria and the application process. It's a quick process and we are notified of all FSM entitlements by Gloucestershire County Council each Monday. I would urge you to take a look if you think you may benefit from financial assistance.

Once again I will end this piece by sharing some of the Zoom stars identified by our staff over the past week. These are a selection of the students who have absolutely excelled in terms of their engagement and work produced. So, this week’s Zoom stars are:

Year 7	Year 8	Year 9	Year 10	Year 11
Abbie Nicholls	Beatriz Silva De Faria	Alana Phelps	Adele Smith	Aleksandra Czamara
Ade Popoola	Finley Hopkins	Anja Brotherstone	Amelia Neate	Amiya Ryan
Brooke Jones	Georgia Ashby	Ben Brockbank	Archie Hall	Ayesha Diallo
Charlie Ward	Isobel Brotherstone	Dilawar Oriakhail	Candice Townsend-Jones	Calum Preece
CJ Moroney	Jake Smithers	Dylan Bhatti	Chloe Boulton	Cassie Biggs
Corben Merrett	Julia Telesinska	Ella Toms	Conor Preece	Chloe Sharpe
Dominic Barnes	Kaitlin Cave	Evie Murphy	Ellis Brayshaw	Daniel Robbins
Emily Skipp	Kye Bingham	Grace Harmer	Emily Wadley	Ellie Bundy
Ethan Redding	Lily Gardner	Harrison Page	Eve Rasdell	Harriet Moore
Evie Bell	Luize Rubene	Izabela Stec	Freya Ryland	Harvey Fawlk
Filip Skiba	Maddie Tracey	Jacob Kelly	Holly Thompson	Hetty Dando
Fin Wilkes	Maddison Woodger	Joe East	Immy Williams	Iliana Tsipi
Grace Dyer	Maja Burkacka	Josh Loveys	Jacob Thorpe	Isabel Harrison
Grace Grimmett	Myleigh Tea	Justin Newton	Joseph Nicholas	Jahyquan Vidal
Grace Taylor	Oliver Leonard	Kiana Male	Katy May Watson	Jake Hipwood
Harvey Moor	Oliver Rea	Lewis Chisholm	Keira Penrith	Jarod Grimmett
Jack Greene	Ollie Bond	Lilly Kennedy	Laksh Virk	Joe Robinson
Jacob Pilkington	Phoebe Adshead	Logan Chew	Leona Greene	Kacey Bayliss
Jaiden Brown	Sam Mulligan	Melanie Torres	Louis White	Kallie Porter
Jayden Jefferies	Sam Turner	Olivia Daglish	Matthew Jones	Leaha Meredith
Jenny Jones	Sophie Massey	Olivia Prosser	Millie Maycock	Lucy Whitmore
Josh Day-Webb	Sophie Page	Pippa Anderton	MJ Salih	Marley Oliffe
Josh Moroney	Szymon Beeger	Renato Gomez	Nikol Kalfova	Max Wheeler
Keana Barnes	Thomas Adams	Ruby Ashmore	Phoebe Ford	Megan Gibbs
Lauren Carne		Ryley Beacham	Ruby Cole	Olivia Long
Lily Symonds		Shanaya Taylor	Ryan McQullian	Oliwia Krawczewska
Lucas Prewer		Sienna Mack	Sitranan Pulong	Rasool Jabarkhiel
Maisie Harlock		Thomas Bingham	Skye Clarke	Sam Seville
Martha Parry		Tom Greenaway	Taylor Eadie	Theo Gibbs
Mason Fawlk		Wiktoria Wisniewska	Tom Taylor	Tom Anderson
Nadia Lazar		Zunairah Cross		Wania Imran
Nevaeh Ryder
Pheobe Day
Reece Weston
Riley Jackson
Rose Marsden-Denney
Rosie Meikle
Sam Green
Sasha Ridler
Sebastian Brockbank
Sophie West
Tommi Brooks
Zakir Ali

 

There will be even more Zoom stars next week!

All this left for me to do is to wish you a safe and a healthy weekend!

Kind regards

Richard Johnson
Headteacher