Headteacher's update for parents/carers

Dear Parent/Carers,

HT’s Letter – Thursday 1^st July 2021

Thank you to everyone who supported our outdoor Year 11 and Year 13 Prom events last week. The students looked stunning and were so appreciative to have the opportunity to come together and mark this important milestone with their friends, peers, and staff. Our parents’ support was incredible. Much gratitude to our parent volunteers who helped organise, set up and clear up, fantastic teamwork!

Important Covid-19 Update

The week beginning Monday 5^th July, we will be conducting on-site lateral flow testing for all students for whom we have received consent. Given the national increase in confirmed positive cases, this additional layer of testing will support in keeping our community safe in the lead up to the Summer Break. Students will also be provided with two lateral flow home test kits for testing in the Summer holiday.

As a School we are in continual communication with our local public health team to ensure the school is following the latest guidance. The current guidance is for all close contacts to self-isolate from a positive Lateral Flow Device test, pending the results of a confirmatory PCR test. If the results of the confirmatory PCR test are negative, all close contacts will be informed immediately and allowed back on school site. If the results of the confirmatory PCR test are positive, all close contacts are now required to take a PCR test. If your child’s PCR test is negative, they cannot return to school earlier than instructed.

As a school we seek to speak to each student’s parent/carer before sending them home, as we understand that each family will have their own contingency plan should this occur. Please do keep in mind that our staff work promptly to identify close contacts using seating plans, registers and additional details such as friendship groups outside of the classroom. This is a huge amount of work and can also mean additional hours in the evenings and weekends. We kindly ask that should you be contacted by the school to inform you that your child is a close contact that you keep this in mind, so that we can execute this process as quickly as possible.

NHS Tea Party – Monday 5^th July

We are hosting NHS workers to an outdoor Afternoon Tea on Monday the 5^th July 2021, fundraising for the NHS Charity.

Students have been issued with a letter and sponsorship form, to take up a challenge in return for sponsorship, please support your child with this and should you wish to support the SNS-NHS-fundraising, you can do so using the link: Virgin Money Giving | NHS Big Tea

Parent/Carers of Black, Asian and Majority Ethnic Students Forum – Wednesday 7^th July 2021

Equality is something we unapologetically stand for at Stoke Newington School and we want it to be a place where students feel safe and have a voice. This is also the case for our parents. We are fully committed to ensuring we engage with all sectors of our great community and for equality being at the heart of all that we do.

Since June 2020, we have been holding a parents’ forum for our Black, Asian and Majority Ethnic (BAME) parents fortnightly. The forum is a safe place for parent/carers to discuss issues such as the Covid-19 virus disproportionately affecting the BAME community, issues related to the Black Lives Matter movement and the progression towards becoming an anti-racist school.

The next meeting is on Wednesday 7^th July at 7.00pm, and I would very much like to see as many of you there. This year has been a particularly difficult time for us all and we hope that by having these parent forums you feel able to share your concerns and ideas, so we are best placed to support your child. If you wish to attend the forum group, please contact my PA, Sophie Preedy at sop.pre@sns.hackney.sch.uk.

Summer School - Monday 26^th July – Friday 6^th August

Over the summer Stoke Newington School will be hosting a summer school provision for the first two full weeks of the summer holidays Monday 26^th July – Friday 6^th August. We intend to run Non-Examined Assessment (NEA) curriculum -based sessions for incoming Year 11 and Year 13 students in readiness for next year and a wide range of enrichment activities for our new Year 7 students. More information will follow shortly, we look forward to seeing your child there.

Second Request Out for Astro Turf Boots

If you have any old 3G football boots suitable for use on the School Astroturf, which your son or daughter has grown out of and you no longer require, please could you donate them to us here at school. It is very useful for us to have spares as we sometimes have to relocate lessons to the Astroturf at short notice and this enables us to ensure that our pupils have the proper footwear for the surface. If you do have some available, please could you send them in with your son/daughter and ask them to drop them off at the PE office, give to their PE teacher or by handing them in to Reception.

Year 10 Parent/Carer Forum

Well done to all the Year 10 students for sitting their assessments with maturity and focus. As Year 10 students move into their final GCSE year, we understand that many parent/carers and students may be anxious about the upcoming year, particularly as some young people will have needed to self-isolate.

Given this, we will be holding a parent/carer forum to share our plans for the next academic year and give parents an opportunity to ask questions. Further details to follow shortly.

Parent/Carer Forums and Key Dates

Please see below parent/carer Forums for this half term. These, along with other key dates, can also be found on the school website here.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and for all our sporting fans, I hope you enjoy the tennis, football and cycling.

Zehra Jaffer