The Flagpole

We had a landmark moment this week when the whole school - back on the same break time for the first time in two years – gathered for an assembly. The pupils of course were in non-uniform to raise funds for the children of Ukraine and the incoming and outgoing heads of school led us in prayer as we remembered all those who are less fortunate than ourselves. A huge thanks to all parents for your support with donations. The Ukrainian refugee crisis was raised this week at school council – if any families are thinking of sponsoring a family then please do let us know so we can see if there is anything we can do to support.

Sleep

As you may know, we are looking closely at the sleeping routines of our pupils and our staff and having conducted a recent pupil survey there are some interesting headline figures:

• 53% of pupils feel they are getting enough sleep
• 48% feel they get at least 8 hours sleep a night
• 35% report (worryingly) they are getting less than 7 hours per night
• 10% report (very worryingly) they generally average less than 6 hours per night
• 30% feel they regularly struggle to get a good night’s sleep.

Sleep is a highly complex and individual process, but health experts agree that getting enough sleep is critical for our physical and mental health and wellbeing and that for the average teenager the minimum healthy amount is around 8 hours per night.

We will be following the surveys up with more work in tutor time and assemblies, but I would ask that you raise the issue of sleep with your children at home and its importance. The Parent Toolkit presentation I did with Paula Greig, our Senior Matron, can still be accessed on the Parent Toolkit section of My School Portal here and goes through many of the key issues.

Vaping

Statistics show that over the last few years (possibly linked to COVID and lockdowns) vaping - the use of e-cigarettes - is, sadly increasing dramatically amongst teenagers across the country. Princethorpe pupils are not immune from this habit and I would ask all parents to be vigilant and talk to their children about this. Whilst some may see this as not as bad as smoking, there are serious health risks associated with vaping and it is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a vape pen or equipment.  Bringing a vape pen or vaping is absolutely forbidden in school with the sanction for breaking this rule being at least a suspension. If you have any concerns or would like support or guidance please do contact us directly at school.

Pupil Voice

There are many ways we get feedback from the pupils in school and it is good to see our school councils being a lively forum for discussion and school improvement. You may be aware that we recently undertook a massive pupil survey of their experiences from their lessons and tutor time. The questions range from how much they enjoy their lessons to the amount of homework they get, their relationships with their teachers and the impact of the BYOD (laptop) scheme on their learning. The results were overwhelmingly very positive and we will use this data to look at any areas where we think we can improve and support the pupils more effectively on a year, department, class or individual basis.

On a related theme, we are planning to do another comprehensive parental survey soon and will communicate further details of this within the next week or so.

COVID

Whilst the government have withdrawn the guidelines for those in educational settings to test twice weekly with a lateral flow test, we are still seeing a slight increase in Covid cases in school.

Common symptoms we are seeing in school include a headache, sore throat, a cough and tiredness. We are also noticing an increase in the number of individuals with symptoms having negative lateral flow tests but a positive PCR. PCR tests are still readily available for those who have symptoms.

Please remember, nobody should come to school if they feel unwell.

While we are no longer required by law to self-isolate if any pupil or staff member has COVID-19, they should stay at home and avoid contact with other people. This helps reduce the chance of passing COVID-19 on to others. This can be for up to 10 days from when symptoms start.

We recommend taking a rapid lateral flow test from 5 days after symptoms started (or the day of the test if there are no symptoms) and another the next day. If both tests are negative and there is no high temperature, it is less likely that you will pass COVID-19 on to others and you can go back to your normal routine. If a test result is positive on day 5, you can carry on doing rapid lateral flow tests every day until you get 2 negative test results in a row.

Having announced our new prefect body today, see here, we are looking forward to the Prefect Inauguration on the last day of term which - all being well - will be the first occasion to get the whole school together inside in over two years. Another positive landmark we are looking forward to.

Lastly, to update you on the recruitment process for my successor, after a strong field of applications, this week we have been visited by a number of potential candidates. These visits which have included, tours of the school, interviews with the trustees and senior colleagues, time spent with a pupil panel and teaching of lessons, have gone very well indeed and we will be looking to invite candidates back for a final interview day next week. We will share news with you regarding this appointment as soon as possible.

With continued thanks for all your ongoing support,

Best wishes

Ed Hester