Blog
A Positive List
As we complete our second round of Coronavirus testing this week and adjust to being back in school all together for the first time in 2021 - nearly a quarter of the way into the year! - the weekend afforded a period of reflection.
I made a list of a few things that stood out to me as I reminisced, but I'm sure you'll come up with many more from your own perspective too. Get in touch & let us know if you come up with more suggestions!
- The sheer speed with which everyone in the community embraced virtual school after Christmas.
- The extensive support provided to one another within our *Community* by engaging enormously with our testing programme last week – thank you.
- The incredible buy-in of our Art scholars, who produced so much Art work in aid of Decaf, our dementia cafe, that our auction spanned an entire evening and raised nearly £10,000.
- The dedication and *Enthusiasm* of our choir and Music team, who have come together - yet again from afar - to launch a Comic Relief fundraiser single, which you can donate to here, and watch below:
- Our Sixth Form Mental Health First Aiders who have already refreshed their training and are so keen to support the school *Community* now we're back.
- Our Student Council members, who sourced resources to share with their peers around the theme of returning to school positively, without too much worry.
All the wonderful messages of support that our parents and carers have sent to us throughout the lockdown period - and the helpful feedback that our students and their families have shared with us, too.
I feel sure I have missed perhaps more than I've mentioned but last - and definitely not least - I must mention the hundreds of home-schools that have been part of our Valley Park *Community* since Christmas! Thank you mums, dads, carers, grandparents, aunties, uncles.... we are delighted to have our students back with us, but you've done sterling work in supporting them while they were at home during lockdown.
I know first-hand how challenging it can be to work from home whilst juggling home-school arrangements and the trials of lockdown, but you've done brilliantly!
I enjoyed meeting and greeting many of our students last week as they dropped into our test centre, and I lost count of how many times I was asked "how are you?" What brilliant, caring, *Community* spirit - yes, we are certainly glad to have you all back!
