Charlton School

13.07.21 LCT Update to Parents and Carers, 

Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you are well, this is my last letter of the academic year as the Summer holidays are fast approaching. 

As I reflect on this year, I know it is hard to describe what we have all been through but I am really proud of our schools and staff who have done their very best to look after our children and young people. It has been an unprecedented year in education and last September I never imagined we would go into another lockdown and have to close schools again. Since March we have focussed on getting children back into the routine of school and learning, they have been amazing and it is great to see them just getting on with school life despite the restrictions we have had to have in place. 

The last few weeks have seen a rise in Covid cases particularly in Telford and we have had to close a number of bubbles in our schools. The pattern is unpredictable and we just have to respond. We have asked all secondary students to return to wearing masks this week and they have been brilliant in supporting that, we just need to reduce any spread of infection as much as possible. The recent Government announcements have made it clear that from September we will not have to close bubbles and ask children or staff, who have been double vaccinated, to self-isolate which is good news and means we keep schools running as normal. We will still keep all our hygiene and cleaning regimes in place as we know that Covid has not gone away. We will still need parents and carers to keep children, who are unwell, at home and get them tested as this will continue to reduce the risk of infection spreading. 

All our secondary age students will have two LFTs when they return to school in September, each 3-5 days apart and we will reopen our testing stations for the first 2 weeks of term. You will receive information regarding this from your child’s school before term starts. 

Over the holiday we have summer schools open for our new Y7 students, run by our own staff, there has been a really good uptake of places. Queensway and Severndale will be supporting parents and families by providing important links to services and opportunities over the summer break. We have GCSE results day on the 12th August and it is good that this is early so our Y11 can access their post-16 destinations, and know their next steps after the disruption they have had to deal with over the last two years. 

We say goodbye and a huge thank you to some long serving members of staff who I would like to acknowledge - Sabrina Hobbs (Principal at Severndale), and Mark Hignett (Deputy at HLC Secondary) are moving on with their careers to new schools and Sally Serrell-Cooke (Assistant VP at Charlton) and Jim Rounsley (Science teacher at EWA) are both retiring after many years’ service in their respective schools. 

Finally, I would like to thank you for all the support you have given us this year. We genuinely have tried, in the most difficult of circumstances, to look after our children and do the very best for them. 

We are all looking forward to the new academic year and bringing back all the lovely trips, activities and events that everyone enjoys, which is such an important part of school life. 

Have a lovely, safe Summer and I look forward to being able to meet many more parents next term. 

Kind regards, 

Dr. Gill Eatough 

CEO LCT