Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope this bulletin finds you and your families well as we approach the final weeks of term. Students have conducted themselves so well through internal exams; they really deserve congratulations on their dedication to revision and giving their best on the day! Fingers crossed for some great results and great end of year reports!

The Roof!

Since my last bulletin, we have had some wonderful news in that we were successful in securing the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) bid to replace the roof on the English Centre area of school! We cheered!! This large area of school has been closed for 18 months now and we will finally be able to start work to replace, refurbish and repair over the summer. This work will take a while to complete and therefore when we come back in September there may be some temporary amendments to where students can/can’t go but we will of course give you more information as soon as we have it. We will continue to ensure we keep everyone safe on site, at the start and end of the school day.

Student Leadership

Today, it was my great pleasure to interview Y10 students for Head Student from September. I was joined on the interview panel by Mr Keegan and Mr Guy. Students had produced a manifesto in order to be shortlisted, then delivered a five-minute presentation followed by formal interview – almost the exact replica of a staff SLT interview!

We were completely taken aback by the standard of presentations, the way in which all candidates conducted themselves and the amount of preparation they had put in. They excelled and did themselves and their families proud!

We decided this year that as it has been a tough 16 months we would appoint three Head Students and three Deputy Head Students – more ideas, more energy, more strong student leadership!

The Head Students for 2021-22 are: Steph J, Daniel C and Oliver T – many congratulations to them! Deputy Head Students for 2021-22 are Harriet A, Nils VD and Nisha (“Smiler”) B-K! Amazing students all of them! I am very proud to be their Headteacher!

More Amazing Year 10s!

Huge thanks to Ms Mitchelmore and Ms Parkins plus several other key staff who made today’s employer (online) interviews with our Y10 students so successful! Students had prepared brilliantly for this event, which continues next week, and really were great advocates for our school. Employers attending today said they were very impressed by their respectful conduct and amazed by their full and informative answers to questions. Well done everyone and good luck to those being interviewed next week!

Safeguarding Review

Also this week, we invited a local Consultant into school to conduct a review of our Safeguarding procedures/provision. Miss Diffley led this, with staff and students being interviewed around how the school keeps them safe and informed. Mrs Pennington was impressed by all the school does to look after its students and staff and we received some extremely good feedback! Thanks go to everyone involved in this over the past two days.

Coronavirus Update

Unfortunately, the spike in Covid cases in Trafford has now seen a very small number of positive cases in our school. The impact has been that from three positive student cases this week, 75 students have been identified as close contacts and need to now self-isolate. This is still quite a low number compared with other schools in our area but we must all ensure we continue to follow the guidance and school risk assessment for a little while longer.

As required by the DfE, our Testing Centre in school will be set up again ready for the return to school in September and we intend to phase students back in from Monday 6^th September.

More details will follow on this but we are hoping that by Wednesday 8^th September all students will have been tested, new Y7 students will have had an Induction Day (not possible this term) and Y8 will also have had plenty of time to familiarise themselves with a timetable outside of bubbles – moving to different lessons in different rooms! We really can’t wait to meet our new students in Y7 and Y12 and to return to being a whole school community again rather than a community of different ‘bubbles’!

As you know, testing has been playing a vital role in our response to the virus. It is helping to break chains of transmission by identifying asymptomatic positive cases quickly. With the increase in cases we are encouraged to continue regular testing in order to detect cases of coronavirus, stay ahead of the virus and keep Covid out of the classroom.

This means that regular lateral flow testing for all will continue, and it is recommended that staff and students who are in secondary school carry on testing at home, twice a week throughout the Summer holidays and before returning to school in the Autumn.

To support this, Lateral flow kits will be distributed to all staff and pupils prior to the end of term as follows:

Form time distribution	Year 7 & 8	12th July
Form time distribution	Year 9 & 10	13th July
Drop- In  Collection	Year 11 - Main Reception	7th & 8th July
6th Form distribution	Year 12 - 6th Form Reception	w/c 12th July
Staff distribution	Collect from Main Reception	w/c 12th July & Inset Day

 

 

 

Student Star of the Week

The award this week goes to Nitjeet G in Year 9! Nitjeet only started at Altrincham College a couple of weeks ago but he has settled in really well. Staff comment that he is an incredibly polite and considerate young man – we only wish he had started here with us sooner! Well done Nitjeet from everyone here at AC – we are very proud to have you in our school!

Staff Star of the Week

The award for Staff Star of the Week this week goes to Mrs Waring, our Year 7 Pastoral Support Manager! Mrs Waring has been a calm, caring and highly skilled member of our support staff who, like all our PSMs, goes out of her way to support students, their families and other staff!  Many congratulations Mrs Waring from all your AC colleagues! You had several nominations this week!

 

                        Thank you for your continued support of our school!

Stop the spread! Stay safe!

Have a wonderful weekend!

 

Kind regards
Ms. Earle
Headteacher