Head Master's Weekly Notes - 27 January 2017

The January Blues should hopefully be over soon, but there has been a couple of nasty bugs doing the rounds. As a result staff absence has been particularly high at the moment, with many students also being unwell. The school is doing its utmost to ensure a subject-specialised teacher is covering teacher absence but, as some of the notifications from staff are being received by the school last-minute, this isn’t always possible. In these instances, lessons are covered by other members of teaching staff, and even when staff are unwell, they try hard to ensure work is set for their classes and that the lesson time is used productively (I have enjoyed teaching ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to Y9 and ‘Percentages’ to Y8 this week). We ask that you please bear with us whilst we are managing this challenge and also that you do not send your child to school if they are unwell. If your child is a boarder and they fall ill, it would be very much appreciated if you could arrange to collect them as soon as possible because the strain on the Health Centre is apparent. Sister Rosemary has had a baptism of fire this week and I thank her and other colleagues who have stepped in to support and I hope that over the exeat, staff and students will have the time to recuperate and will be back in school on Monday fighting fit.

My congratulations to the Y11 students who sat their Core Exams this week and conducted themselves with great maturity – I hope they found them challenging and rewarding and will learn from any mistakes they may have made. The results of these exams will be out in due course. It was refreshing too this week to hear the newly elected MYP for South Somerset, our very own Lower Sixth Former Katie Leeming speak at assembly about her hopes and aspirations as she embarks on her political career where she will debate issues in Parliament such as education, health, policing and Brexit, amongst others in this uncertain political world. I just hope that the next generation of leaders learn from the past, hold on to our cherished values and pave the way for a brighter future. Choose Education - which will be put to the test at tonight's PSA Quiz.