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February 2022

Dear Parents/Carers,

As we approach the half-term break, I wanted to write to thank you for your support and cooperation during what has been an uncertain period as a result of Covid-19.  The last 2-3 weeks saw a spike in cases at St Mary’s which affected both staff and pupils alike and made things quite challenging, but thankfully we seem to be over the worst of it now.

With case numbers continuing to fall, I am anticipating that we will be able to relax the mask wearing that has been in temporary operation after the half-term break.  We re-introduced masks in lessons and communal areas to help combat the rise in infection rates but this hopefully should not be necessary when we return.  If there is any change to this, I will of course communicate with you.

Since the start of the spring term, some of my SLT colleagues and I have been working on comprehensive monitoring and evaluation work across St Mary’s and to date we have conducted reviews in Business Studies, Music, Art & Design and most recently RE.  By the summer term we will have reviewed all subject areas within the school with a view to providing the very best education we can for your children.  Within the Department Review Process, I have had the pleasure of conducting some ‘Pupil Voice’ exercises and hear directly from our pupils about things that are going well and areas where they would like to see improvements.  Such feedback is vital and we will of course build it into our next steps and priority planning.

After the break we are hoping also to be able to resume further enrichment and extra-curricular activities, something which has been limited in recent weeks.

We are running a number of trips later in the year and we hope to be in a position to re-introduce as many aspects of school life as we possibly can.

Parents of Year 11 pupils will no doubt have seen recent announcements about this year’s exams and received our parentmail providing further detail on the changes and expected adaptations.  In light of this Head of Department and teachers at St Mary’s are constantly tailoring their plans and programmes of study to ensure that our Year 11s will be as well prepared as they can be.  May I remind Year 11 parents/carers that details of our Revision Sessions Timetable can be found on the school website.

There’s lots to look forward to in the weeks and months ahead, but in the meantime I would like to wish you a restful half-term break.

Best wishes
Stuart Wetson
Headteacher