PRINCIPAL's BLOG - 24th March 2023

Half-term 5 

Next half-term is set to be a busy one as the Year 11 students start their final exams on 15th May 2023. Parents should note that the exam timetable can be found here. It is essential that your son arrives in school having had a good night sleep, eaten a healthy and nutritious breakfast and is in school ahead of the exam start time. 

In order to ensure your son has the very best opportunity to succeed we are running an Easter School programme for Y11 students. You can see the timetable here. Students have been made aware when they are required to attend and Mrs. Kang will be writing to parents before the end of next week to outline all of the details you need to know.

Students will be provided with a bottle of water for each exam but it is a good idea for your son to have his own refillable water bottle with him too.

We will be sharing more details about the exam season before the official start to ensure parents/carers and students are fully prepared.

Between now and when the exams start please monitor your son's independent study at home and continue to encourage him to complete his revision as specified by his revision timetable.

Bus Strikes

The bus strikes have caused a considerable amount of disruption this week and it is unfortunate to report that this will likely continue into next week too. It is essential that parents/carers attempt to make every effort to ensure your son is in school each day even if that means that he wakes up a little earlier to walk to school. 

Please see the email that Mrs. Greatrix sent to parents on Thursday 23 March below:

Dear Parents/Carers,

Thank you for your support this week as we continue to manage the disruption in school caused by the ongoing bus strike action across the city. We know that you will share our concerns about the impact that this will be having on students' learning, particularly our Year 11 students who are currently preparing for their GCSE exams which begin in May. We are extremely proud of our attendance record and we  appreciate your support in helping us to maintain such high standards for your son.

We appreciate the challenges that the strike action will be presenting in having to make alternative arrangements to ensure that your children are able to attend school as usual and are grateful to all students and their families who have made adjustments to their routines to be able to attend as normal. 

The latest news this evening indicates that there may be further information  regarding the bus strike action over the weekend. However, as nothing has been confirmed, we would ask that you consider how this may affect your son's journey into school tomorrow and particularly into next week. We would like to share our expectations with you and reassure you that we are supportive of any student who may arrive late to school due to walking distance from home.

Please consider all options in regard to making travel arrangements for your son to get to school. This could include;

• dropping students off earlier to school and collecting later if required

• considering an alternative to National Express services - there are additional routes running via Diamond Buses (full list of routes available via Birmingham Live)

• asking relatives/friends to drop off/collect students

• encouraging your son to walk to school - we would expect students who live within a 3 mile radius to do so and there will be no late detention set for any student who arrives later (before 9:15am) to school as a result of this.

As part of our safeguarding commitment, we will continue to call and make contact with parents/carers if we have not received confirmation of your son's attendance. Your cooperation will be much appreciated and we would kindly ask that you contact us by telephone/email should you have any difficulties regarding transportation.

Year 11 students who have not been able to make arrangements to attend school will be expected to attend support and catch up sessions on Monday next week between 3pm - 5pm in support  of their GCSE preparation. If you are a parent of a Year 11 student and have any question or concerns about the recent information shared, please email o.king@lordswoodboys.co.uk or r.kang@lordswoodboys.co.uk 

Once again, thank you for your support. We will continue to review the current situation and guidance and provide updates to the messages shared above if this is required.

If you have any questions relating to the details above, please use the contact details below:

• Mr Deeks, Lead Professional for PE, j.deeks@lordswoodboys.co.uk

• Mr Janes, Director of Sport, d.janes@lordswoodboys.co.uk

I hope you have a good week and I look forward to updating you with more news next week. Until then you can always contact me directly at: l.williams@lordswoodboys.co.uk

Mr. L. Williams,

Principal,

Lordswood Boys' School.