Dear all,

We have had a good week in school. Along with Year 10 lessons continuing, it has been great to see almost all of Year 12 in person for their first academic review meetings.

Many of you will have seen the reports in the Media this week that secondary schools will return full time in September. I’m cautiously pleased about this – our staff are desperate to get back to normal teaching! However, we need to be confident that whatever we do is safe, and there are a number of important questions which have not yet been answered – particularly around how we deal with students moving between different groups for each subject. Schools have been told to expect guidance before the end of term, so as long as this is released on time (it wasn’t last time!), then I should be able to update you on our plans before the summer holidays. Please can I also draw your attention to our 2020-21 term dates, which can be found here.

I also wanted to update you on our Governing Body. The new Governing Body covers the three Greenshaw schools in Gloucester; Henley Bank, Gloucester Academy and Holmleigh Park. We had our first meeting yesterday, and I am excited to work with the governors to continue our journey of improvement. We have received nominations for parent governor, and as we have multiple candidates, an election will take place in September.

Finally, a rather sad reflection is that this week should have seen Year 11 attend their prom, and Year 13 attend their leavers’ Barbeque. We’re all so proud of how hard they have worked, and what they have achieved this year. Over the last week I’ve been reading some of the transition work Year 11 have been completing, and I’ve been blown away by the quality. It’s a hugely positive reflection on them that, even when many other schools have not set any Year 11 work, they’ve kept working right up until now. Similarly, it’s been great to hear about some of the online university modules which Year 13 have already completed. I’m sorry neither year group has had the celebration they deserve. We intend to hold both events once we’re able to do so safely.

Best wishes,

Mr Farmbrough

PS – A reminder that that today is an INSET day. We have set work as normal as I feel it’s important not to undermine the excellent study routines most of students have settled into, but please bear in mind that staff may not respond to emails until Monday.