Executive Principal’s Blog – 10.7.20: ‘Great Teamwork Achieves Great Things’
I have always been increasingly impressed and proud of the strong sense of team spirit that exists at Bushey Meads School and a genuine willingness to trust in this power of team as we carefully manage change. This has been strongly evident in the past few months as we continue to transition through this recovery phase of the Covid-19 chapter in the life of our school community.
Working within the parameters of the detailed DfE Guidance, our dedicated Senior Leadership Team have worked incredibly hard, along with all staff, to manage the safe return to Bushey Meads School of over 740 students in the past few weeks. This has included over 50 Key Stage 3 students who have chosen to return to school to catch up with their remote learning and 160 students in our Year 10 and Year 12 cohorts who have really enjoyed their 2 – 3 hours of face to face lessons. This week a similar number of our superb Year 11 cohort have experienced taster lessons for their chosen potential Sixth Form options, setting them up for the summer and life in our outstanding Sixth Form next year.
In addition, over the past week we have also arranged a number of transition mornings for more vulnerable Year 6 students and no less than four exciting Secondary School Experience Days for the 60 Year 6 students within our Multi Academy Trust. Today a well-planned Transition Day is taking place for our incoming Year 7 cohort. Despite the anxieties caused by the pandemic, over 150 parents and carers of our new Year 7 cohort have put their faith in our school and sent them in for what has been a very happy and safe day in their ‘rite of passage’ to secondary school.
Events like this don’t just happen and it is because of the BMS Team – going the extra mile to ensure all the health safety measures are in place, the organisation and logistics of the day are ‘second to none’ and communication to all parties is effective. Today also marks a day when every member of staff is back in school, indicating once more that team spirit to safely make things happen and achieve great things.
Feedback from colleagues in the primary sector and indeed from so many Year 6 parents on our gates this morning is one of immense gratitude for what we have put in place to help prepare our new students for their exciting time ahead within our wonderful school. The pictures show the welcome assembly, a maths lesson and tour of the school in the sunshine.
We are now planning for September and the return of all students to the school. The challenge is to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum (which means that students will be following their usual timetables) but with an emphasis on keeping year groups separate – particularly at break and lunchtimes which will be at slightly staggered times.
We are finalising our plans and will let you know the details as soon as possible. It is likely we will need to phase in year groups to the school in a carefully managed way to fully support the implementation of the slightly different daily routines. However we are planning that all students will be back in school by Wednesday 9th September at the latest. Please wait for further details about exact start dates.
As always I would like to thank our parents and carers for their full support and encouragement for all the staff at BMS. You are all key players in our Team!
With best wishes for a good weekend and as usual don’t forget to click on the link to this week’s BMS News.
Jeremy Turner
Executive Principal
