12th Feb 2021
Dear Parents/ Guardians,
Well done! You have come through again. We have all done 5 weeks of on line learning and we have survived. You have done well and you haven’t killed either a student or teacher – not that we have heard of anyway! You have managed to work on line yourself, work on the front line, survive on less because you have temporarily lost your job, work in an environment you don’t quite feel safe in – all this and have teenagers filled with hormones trapped in a house doing on line school in a way that nobody thought they would. You may have dealt with bereavement or sickness. You may have been worried about money or whether your business would reopen or whether you would get your job back at the end of all this. You have survived – we have survived!
The good news is that engagement has been better this time round – Students have been working really well and their education has continued. The bad news is that the engagement has fallen off in the last week – Students, parents and teachers are tired and in need of a break. This means that in the next week that all students really need to take a break – they need to be encouraged to take part in the PE challenge/ the bake off/ the Zumba / the Yoga / / the meditation. They need to go for a walk, get fresh air, go for a run, sleep listen to music. Students should reconnect with family in a relaxed way. They should use Google meet/ Zoom to connect with grandparents/family. They need to connect with their friends – safely and probably via social media. The students also need to remember that if they are going to post something that they should remember to “think”. The students should recover, regenerate and come back, refreshed and ready for action.
Hopefully by the end of the midterm we will have clarity about the exams – there will be posturing on both sides but it is important that we ignore all the arguing until a decision is reached. Whatever happens will be in the favour of the students. Try and keep the anxiety around the exams in proportion. We are in this together and we will do everything to help our students. We also realise that a lot of the talk has centred around the LC and less around the JCSP. We have not forgotten our third years and hope that they too will soon get clarity.
Thank you for all your efforts. Thank you for your patience and your support and cooperation in these difficult times. We, like you, have the same pressures of illness, bereavement, loss of employment for partners, childcare, Teenagers or young children at home to be home schooled and like you we have survived – probably with a few more grey hairs and a bit wiser. We will face the new half term after next week with renewed energy and we will continue to do our best for your children – Together.
Enjoy the break.
Remember – This too will pass! – vaccinations are on the way!
All at MCS