Dear St. James’ School Parents and Guardians,
Tuesday’s minutes silence to remember those whom COVID-19 has taken from us marked the anniversary of the strangest twelve months. I pray for the souls we as families, communities, and nations have lost, but find comfort in the continued strength of our school. To those of you who have lost someone dear, know that we are thinking of you, that we are here for you.
When the government made the decision to close schools in January, we perhaps all feared the worst. The national lockdown of March 2020 was an unprecedented event, the virus in its infancy was not yet fully understood. This time around, whilst forced apart once again, I did not feel the same fear. I had new hope.
Not hope born out of the vaccine, but hope born out of understanding. We now knew more about how to cope, about how to keep ourselves and others safe. Our experiences from this time last year provided a blueprint from which to build, from which to evolve. I could not be prouder of our online efforts this term: pupils, staff, and parents. The changes we made to our online learning helped keep us better connected. Our Class Teachers and Form Tutors offered attentive and outstanding pastoral care. Lessons were interactive, engaging and whilst for some people the narrative is about ‘catching up learning’, at St. James’, I feel we did a superb job at keeping the learning going throughout the lockdown, and particularly on our return to school.
Returning to school has been difficult for some. We understand. I spoke in this week’s Mindfulness session about empathy blind spots. Since December we have all spent so long in our own family bubbles that the potential exists for us to have forgotten how other people live, or how they laugh. What is important to them, may not be as important to us. Their goals may not be our goals. Occasionally pupils have mismanaged these moments over the past few weeks, but we understand why. Such moments rarely happen by design, usually there is an empathy blind spot. Helping our children identify these takes time, practice, and of course, willingness, but most importantly a well-developed ability to self-reflect. Our Growth Mindset programme, The Power of Yet, is designed to help build this ability in our pupils.
Today we celebrate the retirement of two distinguished members of staff: Dr Theaker and Mr Johnson. On behalf of a grateful school, I thank them for their many years of excellent service and wish them every fulfilment and happiness in their retirement. I hope is it both long and luxuriant.
We are also bidding farewell to Mrs Langley in the Prep department, who leaves us to focus on her freelance work with dyslexia. Mrs Langley joined St. James’ as an NQT and leaves us as an accomplished teacher who has thrown herself into all areas of school life. We wish Mrs Langley every success in her new venture, which we hope may see her return to St. James’ from time to time.
Those of Mrs Langley’s Year 6 pupils who sat the 11+ this academic year, with an average mark of 245, recently found out whether they had been offered a place at their chosen grammar school. Whilst this is always bittersweet for St. James’, we celebrate these successes and wish them the very best with their transition this summer. 11+ is not every child’s pathway, and for those who have not taken this route, we very much hope you are looking forward to the thought of life in our Senior department.
With this, I am pleased to be able to announce the appointment of three members of the Senior School Staff for September 2021:
- Dr Greg Parker Head of Science (Biology & Physics specialisms)
- Mr Kevin Chan Teacher of Chemistry
- Miss Emma Halstead Teacher of Mathematics
I look forward to introducing these new members of staff to you when COVID allows, but I am tremendously excited at their arrival.
If the COVID ‘roadmap’ continues as expected there is the chance that some of our traditional events can take place next term. With just one ‘normal’ end of term during my tenure (December 2019), I very much look forward to some full school/parent occasions; these are incredibly important. Our leavers are always keen to mark their time at the school, as are we, and I hope this summer that we may be able to do this properly. I am grateful, however, for the manner in which we have all adhered to the COVID rules as applied in St. James’. This solidarity has been instrumental in keeping our community safe.
To maintain our levels of safety the School will continue to review the latest guidance over the Easter break, including the requirement to wear face coverings in the Senior department. Testing, for those who have undertaken it, should continue over the Easter break. Pupils are asked to take at least two tests over this period and continue to communicate the results of these with us.
Spring brings new hope, and happily some sunshine. I very much hope you all enjoy the upcoming holiday and that our community comes back together in a fortnight refreshed and renewed.
Have a lovely Easter!
