Dear Parent/Carer,

Thank you to all our parents who joined our Year 7 Parents Information Evening this week, it was good to have so many of you there. I hope the session with key colleagues gave you more insight into all school matters, so that you can best support your child through this important transition from primary school.

Yesterday, October 1st marked the beginning of Black History Month. This year’s Black History Month is more important than ever, and we intend as a school to highlight the contribution of Black Britons with a particular emphasis on our shared history of Britain. There is an exhibition of beautiful photographs of Black British people from the 1860s onwards in our foyer called The Missing Chapter: Black Chronicles donated to us by Autograph ABP, which all art students will be visiting. GCSE Photography students will be researching in more depth the stories behind the photographs. You can see the exhibition using this link.

We continue to take steps to make our curriculum representative of our community not just for Black History Month but throughout the year. It is vitally important to take this opportunity to raise awareness of the important contribution Black people have made and continue to make in all sectors of society. Across all subjects this month, each area will have an explicit reference to Black History and there will be an assembly for all students performed by our resident poet and wordsmith Adisa ‘The Verbaliser’ celebrating Black women writers.

At the end of the month we will be launching the 100 Great Black Britons competition, run by Patrick Vernon, a Hackney resident and historian. There will also be a prize for twenty students from Years 7 and 8 history classes, focussing on producing a piece of writing on what should happen to the statue of Sir Robert Geffrye (who profited directly from slavery), which is currently outside the Museum of the Home in Hoxton. An idea suggested by one of our parents.

We welcome your feedback and ideas for what else you would like to see and maybe you have someone in your network or in the community who could contribute to our work, and overall support our students in the 100 Great Black Britons competition or indeed any other homework they receive around BHM.

Upcoming events

Wednesday 7 October 2020

  • Forum for the Parents of BAME Students | 7.00-8.00pm
  • Community Safety Forum | 6.30pm

The Community Safety Forum is organised by members of the local community on the theme of developing the Public Health Approach to street robberies and peer on peer violence amongst adolescents in Hackney. A link will be sent by the organisers next week)

Thursday 8 October 2020

  • Y13 Parents’ Information Evening | 6.00-7.00pm
  • PTFA Meeting | 6.00-7.00pm

Monday 12 October 2020

  • Parents’ Forum | 6pm-7pm

Forum focus: Continuity of Learning - Led by Mr Bynoe (Deputy Headteacher)

This will be an opportunity to learn about our approach to the continuity of learning in the new era. Mr Bynoe will lead the session giving your more information on our systems and processes together with an introduction to the e-learning platforms for remote learning: MS Teams and Classcharts.

Uniform

A reminder that all students must be in full school uniform at all times. If students have PE and are asked to come into school wearing their PE kit, they must bring their full school uniform including school shoes with them. As the weather becomes colder, students should make sure that they have suitable clothing for PE as we will not be able to conduct lessons indoors. Coats cannot be worn for PE.

Face masks

Face masks are part of our new way of working and we all need to do our part in reducing the transmission of the virus. Face masks must be worn in communal areas and areas of the school where social distancing is not possible unless a student has an exemption from their relevant Head of School.

Please ensure your son/daughter has their face mask with them every day. From Monday 12 October, any student arriving to school without their face mask will be sent home to collect their face mask. The health and safety of our community are of paramount importance and I thank you for your support in this matter.

A reminder that the latest Department for Education guidance can be found here.

Wishing you a wonderful week. Stay well.

Zehra Jaffer