Keep up to date with all the latest news happening in school at the moment.

• Headteachers News – 2022 01 28

  Fri 28 Jan 2022

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  I have spent some time this week going through the initial responses to the parent survey that went out last week; it has been extremely informative and while the results are very positive, there are clear actions for the school to improve further.  I appreciate the time that parents have taken to fill it in, though I am keen to ensure we have as much coverage of the parent body as possible.  I have included the link again, below, and would be very grateful if you could find time to fill it in, if you haven’t already:

  https://forms.office.com/r/Lewhpd1zP3

   

  One area that has been identified by a number of parents, as a strength of the school in the survey, is the advice and guidance given to students to ensure they make the best choices at each stage of their journey.  For Year 11 students, we recently had Sixth Form Taster Day, which enabled students to sample the subjects on offer, both here and at Windsor Girls’ School. The next step for them will be our IAP (Individual Action Plan) Day on Thursday 10th February, where all students in Year 11 will be given a one to one interview with a member of Senior or Pastoral staff to discuss their post-16 options. Students who want to stay on at TWBS will also be able to make their applications at this time, using the online tool, Applica.   This is a hugely important exercise, which helps students understand their choices and provides focus and structure in the build up to the GCSE exam period. To run this in the most effective way, and ensure students are given the support they need, Year 11 will be required to study from home on Thursday 10th February.  This means that staff will be able to offer their support fully to this impactful and important process. Year 11 parents will receive a letter next week providing more detail.

   

  As in any school, the health and safety of students is always a priority, and I would like to ask parents of any students that cycle to school not to park in the car park at the Maidenhead Road gate. Not only is this unsafe, it risks damage to bikes (and cars) when cars are reversing into or out of spaces; there is plenty of room in the biked sheds, which is where we require students to leave their bikes, safely locked, during the day.

  Lastly, I must take this opportunity to thank the staff for their efforts over the last four weeks.  While we have been fortunate with staff absence through the pandemic, we have a significant number of staff who have had to isolate since Christmas.  While this was inevitable immediately after Christmas, we had hoped it would have settled back to ‘normal’ (remember that?!) by now, but staff absence remains high.  There are several options when this happens; to collapse classes and teach large groups in bigger spaces (which are not always available), to send year groups home, or to try and keep the school functioning and provide students with their regular timetable of lessons, albeit with cover staff in more lessons than is desirable.  I feel, very strongly, that after the last 2 years, it is vital to keep school open where possible and to ensure that the routine of school continues to offer support and certainty; I hope you, as parents, support this.  However, to do this, it requires a huge effort from our staff to go above and beyond, to cover duties and lessons where necessary, and to do all they can to support our students.  I am so proud to work in a school where staff are so committed, and I thank them for everything they have done; it has been a tough few weeks, but they have worked incredibly hard.

   

  Another key element of keeping school functioning, is to ensure that students are testing twice a week. All students received a new box of kits last week via their tutors, and I would urge you to ensure that students are testing regularly to keep everybody safe.

  As ever, thank you for your support, and have a great weekend.

   

  Sean Furness
  Headteacher

• Headteachers News – 2022 01 21

  Fri 21 Jan 2022

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  I spoke last week in the newsletter about the importance of communication, and the best communication is about ensuring that information is exchanged, not just imparted. Since September I have been lucky to have had a huge number of conversations with staff and students about their views of the school, both what we do well, and what we can improve. However, with the exception of a few events, the ongoing pandemic has limited the opportunities to speak in depth to parents to ascertain your views about the school.

  I believe very strongly that being open to feedback is the most important aspect of improvement, and this is a principle we often share with students. With that in mind, I would ask you to please take 5 minutes to fill in the Parent Survey below, which will give you an opportunity to let us know how we can continue to improve. I am very proud to lead this school; but also understand that we must always aspire to be even better and not stand still. I have deliberately kept this newsletter brief in the hope that you will be able to find time to complete the survey – it should only take a few minutes, and will be vital in terms of letting us know your opinion of the school.

  https://forms.office.com/r/Lewhpd1zP3

  Best wishes,

   

  Sean Furness
  Headteacher

• Headteachers News – 2022 01 14

  Fri 14 Jan 2022

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  Having listened to the news this week, as I’m sure you have, I am struck by the importance of open and honest communication; in a school this is vital in every way.  We always do our utmost to keep parents and students apprised of everything that is going on in school, whether that be celebrating the achievements of students, or contacting parents where there are issues with students’ progress and behaviour, or simply in letting you know what is going on.  This is one reason the newsletter is so important, and I hope that you find it informative and interesting.

   

  Speaking of communication, I hope that all parents are signed up for ClassCharts, which is our preferred communication platform, helping parents and students to stay informed with regards to your ward’s timetable, attendance statistics, behaviour points, detentions, view homework and receive notifications from teachers.  Having recently launched the homework function of the app it is vital for parents to see what students should be doing at home.  I hope you find it useful, and if you have not yet accessed it, please head to your preferred App store to download the App and contact your ward’s Director of Pupil Progress for log in details. Likewise, should your ward have misplaced his log in details, his form tutor will be able to assist him.

   

  Another vital area of our school communication strategy is parents evening.  It was great to speak to Year Eleven parents over the last two weeks through our online parent booking platform which we use.   As a school we really want to engage with parents and this gives us a chance to have a face-to-face conversation about progress so that we can all support learning; my belief is that education can only be truly successful when there is communication between, and amongst, parents, staff and students.   The next set of these evenings will be for Year Nine and they are coming up at the end of February, just after half term.   Please look out for the email communication closer to the time which will take you through the process.

   

  The term is well and truly in full swing already, and it remains a real privilege to be able to see so much going on.  So far this week I have been able to see the hockey and football teams perform well, seen music rehearsals continue to flourish, as well as seeing the industry of staff and students in the classroom.  For our Year Eleven students, we are looking forward to Sixth Form Taster Day on Thursday.   The Sixth Form is such an important part of our school of which we are justifiably proud and I look forward to seeing Year Eleven getting involved in the sessions.  This will be followed up with one-to-one appointments for all students to discuss the best pathways at the end of the year.

   

  Thank you for all your support and have a great weekend.

  Best wishes,

   

  Sean Furness
  Headteacher

• Headteachers News – 2022 01 07

  Fri 07 Jan 2022

  Dear Parents and Carers,

  Welcome back to another term! Although the news remains dominated by Covid (something none of us expected to be saying at the start of 2022), it has been great to have all the students back in this week, settling back in to school life.  There have been a number of stories in the news this week about the difficulties schools are facing with staff absences; while we have seen a slight increase, please be assured that we continue to provide all students with the usual high quality educational experience, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff who are working so hard to ensure this is the case.  The school remains an industrious and exciting place to be, and we would not want it any other way; this will be evident from this newsletter and those that follow throughout the Spring term.

   

  Since my letter at the start of the week, there has been a change to the guidance regarding lateral flow and PCR testing. I have copied this information below, should you have missed it in the news (and I would not blame you for trying to avoid the news at the moment!):

   

  From 11th January in England, people who receive positive lateral flow results for COVID-19 will be required to self-isolate immediately and won’t be required to take a confirmatory PCR test. This is a temporary measure while COVID-19 rates remain high across the UK. Whilst levels of COVID-19 are high, the vast majority of people with positive LFT results can be confident that they have COVID-19.

   

  Lateral flow tests are taken by people who do not have COVID-19 symptoms. Anyone who develops one of the three main COVID-19 symptoms should stay at home and self-isolate and take a PCR test. They must self-isolate if they get a positive test result, even if they have had a recent negative lateral flow test – these rules have not changed.

  We had hoped, as you will note from my letter at the start of the week, that we would be able to give all students a new set of home test kits this week. Unfortunately, our delivery has been delayed but we have been assured that they will arrive next week.

  I have also included with this letter details about how parents can help the school via the voluntary contribution fund; your help and support with this is hugely appreciated and, as stated in the letter, is an important part of continuing to maintain our high level of provision for all students.

   

  Voluntary Contributions Fund Letter

  Thank you, as always, for your support.

  Best wishes,

   

  Sean Furness
  Headteacher