Welcome to St Mary's Catholic High School Leyland

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that this letter finds you and all your family as well as can be in the current situation. There doesn’t look to be a return to normality any time soon, and we all continue to adapt to the new expectations being placed upon us in all walks of life. Of course, many of you will no doubt be asking ‘When will schools reopen?’ and the simple answer is, we don’t know. However, we all wish that it is sooner rather than later.

School reopening

Ever since lockdown, we have opened school for a very small number of children e.g. children of key workers, children who have contact with Social Care and those with EHCP’s (Education Health Care Plans). This provision has continued throughout the Easter holiday and we will be open during the half-term holiday next week as well.

At the time of writing, there are no plans to widen this provision. As ever, we will be guided by the government and scientific advice we receive before making any changes. I will be writing to the parents of Year 10 pupils soon to outline how we propose to approach the government’s recent announcement that schools ‘offer some face-to-face support to supplement the remote education of year 10 children who are due to take GCSEs next year.’

Year 11

Although this wasn’t the way that anybody would have liked their time at St Mary’s to end, we say goodbye to Year 11. They have been a fabulous set of pupils, contributing in so many ways to the success of the school and we hope that they leave with many happy memories of their time at high school. I’m sure you will join me in wishing each and every one of them all the very best for the future, whichever path they choose to follow.

The staff have put together various messages to share with the Year 11’s and these will be with the pupils very soon. Unfortunately, although understandably, the Year 11 Prom has been officially postponed, but we dearly hope to meet-up with all the leaver’s in the near future.

As we know, GCSE’s and other exams have been cancelled this summer. Teachers are busy finalising their predicted grades for the exam boards. I will remind all Year 11 pupils that schools are not allowed to discuss any grade awarded, and that results day will be as originally planned on Thursday 20 August.

ClassCharts

ClassCharts will continue to be the method by which we will issue work for pupils. Although there have been one or two minor glitches with the system, which have affected all users across the country, it has worked very well in helping us communicate which work needs to be completed.

Whilst we don’t pretend that remote learning is in any way a replacement for the classroom, we continue to be delighted with the level of engagement of so many of our pupils. The teachers are working very hard to ensure that appropriate work is set and monitored, and I am full of admiration for the way they have set about this task. I know many parents appreciate the work which is set, but I would ask that if any family is experiencing any difficulties to get in touch and we will try our best to resolve the issue.

Next week marks the May half-term holiday which means that there will be no work set after Friday 22 May. Teachers will resume uploading work from Monday 1 June.

Free School Meals

Free school meal vouchers will continue to be delivered to all eligible families during half-term.

If any family has been affected by the lockdown and feel they would benefit from free school meals, then in the first instance, I would advise looking at the following webpage to see if you are eligible;

https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/children-education-families/schools/free-school-meals

School Trips

The latest government advice on school trips is that all domestic trips should be cancelled. Therefore, we will not be running events such as the Year 8 retreat to Liverpool, or the end of year rewards trip to Blackpool.

In relation to trips abroad, the government advice is applicable up to 31 May. They say they will update the advice before 1 June. In reality, we must accept that it is highly unlikely the current advice (which is that foreign school trips should not take place) will change. Therefore, it is very likely that the Madrid trip in June will not go ahead.

However, until we get confirmation that this trip is cancelled and refunded, we are not in a position to return any money back to parents. As soon as we hear any more, we will be in contact with families.

Many thanks for your continuing support during this difficult period. I hope and pray that you all remain safe and that we will be together again as a school community as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Mr P Thompson

Headteacher

Good morning to all our Year 11 pupils, parents and carers. Unfortunately due to the ongoing social distancing restrictions we have had to make the decision to postpone the Year 11 Prom originally scheduled for Friday 19th June 2020. We are aware that many of you will be disappointed by this update and we share this feeling with you all, however everyone's health and safety must be our key priority during these difficult times. We shall endeavor to try and reschedule a celebration when restrictions are lifted and it is safe to do so, we are already looking forward to seeing you all once again. We hope you are all keeping well and continue to hold you all in our thoughts and prayers.

Dear Pupils and Parents of Year 11,

The Local Authority have put together the three documents (English, Maths and Science) to support you in the preparation for the  next phase of your education. They will be available through ClassCharts and on the school website.

Remember that teachers are still setting work for you. Your brain is a giant muscle – keep using it to exercise it.

Good luck, stay safe.

Mr Meldrum – Deputy Headteacher

Y11_Preparation_for_continued_study_English.pdf

Y11_Preparation_for_continued_study_Maths.pdf

Y11_Preparation_for_continued_study_Science.pdf