Headmaster’s Notes: Planning our work and working our plan

Planning our work and working our plan

A very warm welcome back to you all after our half-term break.

What a great joy it has been to enter the next phase of our staged return to normality this week as we welcomed back our Reception, Year One and Year Six pupils on Monday with an extraordinary 96% attendance figure, well above the predicted national average.

Nonetheless, we are mindful that we will only feel truly satisfied when we are in a position to welcome back our remaining year groups and do please be reassured that our commitment and support to those at home remains as strong as ever. This week we have needed to carefully balance resources between remote live-learning, on-site teaching, support to our children of key workers, and to those pupils who are needing to self-distance as a result of family members who are clinically extremely vulnerable. This next phase has presented an extraordinary challenge to staff who have responded so well in support of Team Prince’s Mead. My sincere thanks go to all the staff who have made this happen and who make our School the very special community that it is.

What a pleasure it has been to finally open our doors to our Nursery children this week. The youngest members of our School community certainly seem oblivious to the tight restrictions we have in place on site, and rightly so. They have very quickly adapted to the warm, welcoming and nurturing environment of their new home in the Coach House and our outstanding Nursery team have already created some very happy memories for them as they begin their magical journey through the School.

We have also been delighted to welcome new pupils through our doors this week in other year groups, who have joined us on our reputation of remote provision that we have in place. We can’t wait to meet these families in person when restrictions are eased on those year groups they have joined.

It was a great pleasure to announce our new Heads of School in Friday Prayers this morning and deserved praise must go to Chloe and George whose leadership will certainly be put to the test during these challenging times, albeit of course with my full support. Many congratulations to them both.

In between our pastoral care of all pupils, academic rigour is never far from our minds, particularly for those pupils in Year Five as they prepare in earnest for their entrance examinations early next year. It was a great pleasure for senior staff to meet with those parents during our webinar this week to offer an update on preparation and communicate any changes to the admissions procedures of the many outstanding senior schools that we feed.

May I take this opportunity to wish you all a most relaxing weekend and we look forward to seeing you on our screens or on-site next week.