 |  | Senior Girls Bulletin | | | Mr Spanswick's Words Summer 11 |  | | Dear Parents and Guardians
To close our final bulletin of the academic year, your children’s Headteacher has shared many words of wisdom, some lovely memories, and even the odd video! Please take some time to read them, and to also reflect... | |
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| | | Site Wide News | Fee Invoice
Sent via email on 13 July Individual fee invoices are issued for each pupil on the last day of term. Where tuition fees are paid by instalment, a separate invoice for extras is attached. The extras will be debited from your account on 7 September 2020. Fees paid termly by Direct Debit will also be debited on 7 September 2020. Nursery invoices will be sent via email on 15 July
Leavers’ fee invoices will be issued 16 July and are due for payment by return. If a direct debit collection is advised, this will take place on 31 July 2020.
In case of query, please call the Finance Office on 01628 327350 or email finance@clairescourt.com
Holiday Club
Thank you to all those who responded to our consultation. We are analysing the information fed back to us and will advise further at the end of Monday (13 July) of our planning.
School Coach Services
We expect to be able to advise further on the availability of services by early August.
End of Term Reports
Reports for Years R to Year 10 and for the Sixth Form will be emailed later today. Senior and Sixth Form reports take the form of an extended grade card.
Dates for Your Diary
The Autumn Term Calendars are now fully accessible online for viewing and printing.
Term Dates for 2020-22
Our term dates from September 2020 to July 2021 can be viewed online. Term dates for the following Academic Year 2021-2022 will be uploaded shortly.
Insurance 2020-21
Please refer to our website for insurance documents from September 2020.
Purchasing school uniform from Goyals
Goyals, the school uniform suppliers, will be open from 9.30am to 5.00pm Monday to Saturday throughout the holiday period. Please visit their website to see the systems they have in place at the shop which adhere to government guidelines on social distancing. You can order online or if you have any questions, you may also contact them on 01628 639725 or send an email to sales@goyals.co.uk
Sports kits - Hawkinsport shopping guide
With the challenges caused by the Coronavirus pandemic, things are unlikely to be normal with the social distancing measures all retailers have in place. Our partners Hawkinsport are planning so all pupils are able to get the necessary school wear well in advance of September, so we ask for your support to shop for school kit as early as possible.
Hawkinsport wishes to ensure you have the best shopping experience and at the same time look after the health of their customers and colleagues. Please see below their advice:
Shopping online: Please order online at www.hawkinsport.co.uk. A click and collect service is available to provide a safe and secure way to get your goods.
Shopping in-store: There are two designated shopping days dedicated to Claires Court pupils – Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 July from 8.30am to 6.30pm and we request you book an appointment online or book to visit the store at your own convenience.
Covid-19 guidelines:
- Numbers of shoppers will be limited in-store
- Please use the supplied hand gel as you enter the store
- There will be limited handling of kit and uniform items
- There will be limited use of changing facilities (we are currently allowing trying of shorts, skorts, trousers, jackets, but nothing over the head)
- Please respect two metre social distancing using the markings shown on the floor
- One person only; or one parent only with child where possible
- Please pay by card and avoid cash
- Footwear, if needed, then please make this known to Hawkinsport person managing queue as there is limited space in this area
- Hawkinsport is currently unable to offer customer toilet facilities.
Details of the specific kit your child will require will be shared by each school division. |
| | | | | Divisional Updates | From Mrs Rogers, Head of Sixth Form
Mrs Rogers shares a short film clip with an update from Sixth Form this week. You can watch the full video here.
From the Senior School Heads
Mr Wilding’s Academic perspective.
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.” C.S. Lewis.
If ever there was a time when a C.S. Lewis quote rings true, it is now. When ‘lockdown started, none of us had really any idea of what events would unfold or indeed what measure of success or otherwise our school and community would make of the summer term ahead. Chaos, doom, gloom, perhaps something worse still threatened.
And yet that is not what happened at all. Claires Court’s teachers, pupils, students, parents and guardians as co-teachers too have worked their socks off to make the right things happen the right way. Our Year 11 exam candidates worked particularly hard over the first four weeks back after Easter. One of the joys of being a ‘G Suite’ school is that we have the statistics to show just how hard those in Years 11 and 13 worked, and tried their best to complete their courses even though they could not take their ‘finals’.
And so it is for everyone else here too; we took stock, managed the challenges, learned how to work MEETs and Part 1s, and then how to prioritise Parts 2s, all whilst working in Classroom and Drive. Not quite a whole new vocabulary, but one now that, adult or child, has a whole meaning.
And there was challenge, stretch, fitness, fun, music and ...the Taskmaster too. Will there be another term like this Summer’s? I think we do all rather hope not, but Covid-19 and its impact is not temporary; teachers have developed a very healthy respect for the digital learning their students have shown, with new learned good behaviours replacing some of the indifferent ones. For example, given that all work is homework in #lockdown, so long as we don’t ask children to ‘write into the night’, many have surprised themselves with just how connected to their teacher and subject they have become, heralding the good news that we have not fallen behind at all academically, and we are really well set for a full return to school in September.
And of course, if we do have to face #lockdown2, to rephrase C.S. Lewis, we are actually in charge of the beginning too next time!
Mrs Heywood, Head of Senior Girls
This will be my final bulletin. I have spent 39 years in education and almost all of it here at the College Avenue site. In 1992 whilst on maternity leave, James and Hugh Wilding took over the running of Maidenhead College and the past 28 years have been the most fulfilling of my professional career. To work in a school that challenges education on a daily basis and always seeks to find a better way of doing what we do has been refreshing and invigorating. Even more so over recent months. I have always said the staff are your best asset in an educational setting and I have been blessed with working with colleagues who put the needs of children first. They believe that young people will find their way and give them the necessary tools to get there. It has been a joy working with them all over the years and more recently with three separate leadership teams at College Avenue as well as colleagues at Junior and Senior Boys and of course who can forget the efforts of Justin Spanswick this term.
I also cannot forget the wonderful support team that enables us to do our job well and my colleagues in marketing, human resources, administration, housekeeping, transport, site management, catering along with our learning support and teaching assistants undertake work that, if not done extraordinarily well, would mean that the school couldn't function.
Thank you to past and present pupils and parents for your support over the years and more recently your kind words. I will miss you all.
Other Senior faculty news
- Year 10 pupils (girls and boys) who have not returned library books must ensure that they are returned to the school library next term.
- Chromebook return - please use this form to book a one-hour slot to return your Chromebook on either Tuesday 14 or Wednesday 15 July (9.30-2.30pm) to the marquee in the car park at the Senior Boys site. Please note the site is closed to all parents on Monday 13 July due to the large number of staff that will be on site for inset day. Please ensure you hand your chromebook to a member of staff to have it checked over and recorded as returned. All Chromebooks to be returned to school by close of play Wednesday 15 July at the latest.
- Notice to Year 10 pupils: We are planning your first set of mock exams in Year 11 to commence from Monday 5 October to Thursday 15 October. Whilst it is too early to give you your mock timetable, your subject teachers will make available their advice for your revision programme via your subject Google Classroom and the ‘Hub’ by the end of term, and you will receive an update briefing in the last week of this summer term.
Senior School Medical vaccinations to take place during the Autumn term
Medical letter to be sent home to the relevant secondary year groups: Year 8 for HPV, Year 9 for tetanus, polio and booster, Year 9 Boys for HPV boosters and flu sprays for Year 7.
Senior School (Boys and Girls) Summer Reading Challenge 2020
School may be closing soon, but public libraries are due to open! So take the KS3 Summer Reading Challenge!
This year there will be two challenges:
- House Challenge: a House Point prize for the House that reads the most words over the summer break
- Individual Challenge: prizes for pupils who read and PASS an Accelerated Reader (AR) book quiz on at least THREE books between 11 July and 4 September
NB. The books must be inside your AR Reading Range (RR). Books with levels higher than your RR will be counted. Books with levels lower than your RR will NOT count.
Accelerated Reader will be available for Years 7 to 9 to use every day, ALL summer long. Use AR Bookfinder to find a great book inside your Reading Range. Make sure you know your AR username and password before the end of term!
Need help finding perfect summer reads? Try the recommendations in the Year 7, 8 and 9 Library Services Classrooms.
Year 10? We've not forgotten you! See the best summer reading recommendations for your age group in your Year 10 Library Services Classroom.
From Mrs King, Acting Head of Junior Girls and Mr Richards, Head of Junior Boys
Opportunities to develop new skills, overcome obstacles and learn from our mistakes, there certainly have been a few of those recently for us all. Our final celebration assemblies both got the gremlins in the wifi and streaming but we carried on and demonstrated the resilience that we encourage our children to have. Sometimes it does not work out but we pick ourselves up and keep trying. We hope you have all now received the recordings of our end of year celebrations.
Well done to our Year 6 pupils. We know you have missed out on milestones but regardless of whether you were a prize winner or not you have all achieved so much. We are so incredibly proud of the courage you have shown and your efforts, accomplishments and spirit throughout your time with us. These challenges will hold you in good stead for your new adventures, the blossoming of relationships with new friends and teachers whilst those bonds you hold most dearly will only be strengthened. We know you will all be successful. Well done to all those in other years have all climbed the highest peaks with a fantastic energy and infectious enthusiasm.
To the parents we thank you for your support, contributions, encouragement and the occasional delicious nourishment. Our partnership has never been more tested but we rejoice in the fact that the children certainly do come first at Claires Court in everyones’ minds.
Our colleagues have worked tirelessly to provide a safe and thoughtful education over these last few months and we are so very grateful for those who have adapted in front of a screen, those who have worked tirelessly to maintain the highest of hygiene and medical standards, to our admin team and grounds staff who have kept the wheels turning even this week with the usual Wimbledon weather - didn’t someone tell them that the Championship was cancelled?
Thank you everyone - have a safe, restful, screen free and splendid summer.
See you in September!
Other Junior faculty news
- If your son or daughter is interested in receiving individual chess tuition as from September please see here to complete a form.
Junior School (Boys and Girls) Summer Reading
Claires Court School is very passionate about reading and instilling a love for reading amongst our pupils.
“Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” Mason Cooley
If you haven’t done so already, you might wish to sign up to the national annual Summer Reading Challenge. This year the challenge is all online. See the link to the “Silly Squad” below to sign up.
Summer reading suggestions
https://www.lovereading4kids.co.uk/blog/collections/summer-reading-2020-6092
https://www.booksfortopics.com/branching-out
https://www.booksfortopics.com/summer-reads
On behalf of our librarians and all teaching staff, we wish you a fantastic summer of reading.
From Mrs Wilding, Head of Nursery
We’ve done it and in so very many ways since lockdown!
This week we had our Nursery Sports Day on the big field, something we have done every year since I joined and have only ever had to postpone a couple of times because of the weather. Covid-19 was not going to stop this event for Claires Court Nursery! OK, we had to simplify it and not invite parents and friends but the children had enormous fun and ran for the world! Each “bubble” had a hoops race (hoops cleaned between groups) and a running race, the groups all sat trackside at safe distances to cheer each other on and the music we had playing in the background added to all the excitement. Well done everyone and thank goodness the weather report was good for Tuesday and we did it then. Wednesday would have been a washout!
We have survived intense sunshine, heavy rainfall and strong winds (unfortunately one of our gazebos didn’t survive the latter last weekend!) but the children have enjoyed every moment and I can only hope that in the future they will have the glimpse of a memory of a lovely summer when they spent all their time outdoors on the big field.
We have learnt about life cycles of frogs, chicks and butterflies, have grown beans and sunflowers, each group has played with a different set of toys every day for the last 25 days,(well done staff for organising boxes of toys on a Monday to Friday rotation which then rotated around the six groups. We have painted, drawn, created masks, puppets and collages, extended our phonic and mathematical knowledge through games and stories and the learning goes on. The children have played on climbing equipment, developed ball skills, used scooters, tricycles and ride-on toys, worked together creating with tyres and planks of wood, and have used gross motor skills with playground chalks, water with decorators paint brushes and paint on large rolls of paper on the ground. Most importantly the children have been together, developing their communication and social skills and have been happy. I could not ask for more.
The team around the children has been amazing. Stewart and Tony, our maintenance support, have been at our beck and call with the gazebos, netting and posts to create “walls” around each “classroom” which needed regular adjustment, line marking to make the running tracks for us, getting the heating on for our outdoors wash basin stations bright and early each morning and generally helping when anything needed fixing. Thank you so much.
Ronnie and Surjeet need a big thank you for all the constant cleaning they have done. Without them it would have been impossible to use all the large equipment around the field in the frequent way we did. As soon as they saw a group coming off the climbing equipment or leaving the balls and hoops for example they were straight over to clean. As soon as a group had been indoors to go to the toilets they were in cleaning. Big support - big thank you.
Aneeta and Johanna, our school nurses on the College Avenue site, have been keeping us all safe by taking temperatures and asking health questions for both staff and children everyday since our return and, as always, checking and caring for our little ones when they have had a bump or a fall. Thank you for all your care and compassion.
A special thank you goes to all in administration who have looked after me and my department and I need to give particular thanks to Helen Phipps, the College Avenue site secretary, who has made me laugh, helped organise my diary and reminded me of things I need to do!
My Nursery staff, as always, have pulled out all the stops to make this work and work exceptionally well for the children. They always give 100% but these four months have needed that and much more. From the home learning with all the videos they created (not a thing any of us had a clue about or relished doing!), the planning which was adapted and sent out weekly and the return to the real rather than virtual way of doing our work has stretched us all but we get a sense of achievement when we hear the laughter and smiles on your children’s faces. A huge thank you goes from me to my staff and a special mention to Miss Kujawa who normally works with our Junior Girls as well as in the breakfast club and after school care facility and joined our team when other members of my staff were unable to return in June. She has been an asset.
Have I missed popping into the Transition, Beehive, Busy Bees and Honeycomb rooms to see children playing and learning in those areas as ordinarily I do, regularly to escape sitting in my office? No. It has been an absolute joy, having temporarily moved my working area to the Holiday Club cabin and the desk overlooking the field, seeing all the children together outside with their teachers and clearly learning and enjoying life. Thank you parents for sending your children back and providing me with a happy memory.
My biggest thank you of all of course goes to Hugh Wilding, my husband, and James Wilding, two remarkable brothers who have created the most amazing environment for children to learn in and for staff to work in.
With my very best wishes to you all, children and parents, for a safe, healthy and happy future. |
| | | | | 1 College Avenue, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 6AW
Tel: 01628 327500 Email: seniorgirls@clairescourt.comPlease note all our School privacy notices can be found here. Please ensure you keep you and your child's information up to date. You can login to the report portal to change any details or alternatively, please contact your school office. | | | | | | |
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