St Anne's Catholic School St Anne's Catholic School

3rd April 2020: Easter message

3rd April 2020

Dear Parent,

St Anne’s Easter message

As we approach the end of this term, all the normal events that would have taken place are on our minds here at St Anne’s. We would have had the Easter Concert on Monday, our ski trip to Austria would have been underway, and today would have been our passiontide services and celebration assemblies. The disruption to these annual or biannual events reminds us again of the pattern of life we normally take so much for granted. I, for one, will cherish these events all the more when we are back up and running again.

However, as a wise member of staff reminded me recently, disruption is the mother of innovation. The ski trip has only been postponed and will take place again. Our termly concerts will restart when we are all back together and we look forward to experiencing them. The heads of year have still spent time creating their celebration assemblies which they are issuing remotely via Teams to their year groups today, and staff have spent time selecting those students they want to celebrate within their subjects. Also, our passiontide services are replaced by a special message to all teachers, pupils and families from Bishop Philip himself! It can be accessed via the Portsmouth Diocese website at: https://www.portsmouthdiocese.org.uk/ at 10am this morning. Our school community continues, albeit differently, as strong as ever!

Need help?

This has probably been the biggest disruption to the routine of St Anne’s since the school was evacuated in the Second World War. Any former students may like to correct me on that if you have other stories of unusual disruptions to the normal working of the school that you have experienced since 1945! It has been amazing to see the resilience and good-humour that has abounded in both staff and student alike. However, we know that this lockdown will be causing pressure and stress in many families. If you need help and live with Southampton, the city council have launched a new scheme which can be found by going to: http://www.southampton.gov.uk/coronavirus-covid19/i-need-help.aspx.

How are we doing?

This new way of working comes with the challenge that it is hard for us to know how well it is working! We can’t do lesson drop-ins! We would value your feedback on what is working well to encourage our colleagues, and to see what could be tweaked. We would also really appreciate any thanks you have for staff members on what is going well. As this is such an unusual time that future generations will look back on, any particular stories or anecdotes about the St Anne’s community at this time that we can save now can also be added. We have created a form for your feedback which can be accessed online here: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=aofGCgor3EmpXbGvy0NNH2Z4DjSSsBZHuedvLkBgRdpUQU8wSlpHT0EzUFZVTEpES1I1TFJHNjVYNi4u

The Easter break

As the vast majority of us have not been in school these last few weeks, the move into the Easter break is going to be less obvious than usual. We will not be expecting learning to continue in the same way as they have done these last few weeks. Staff also need a break to look after themselves and their families. We have asked for optional work to be set for the Easter break to give our pupils something to do which may help families with activities. It is important for families to understand, and for pupils to know, that this is OPTIONAL. A break from this new term-time routine is just as important as before. Our aims for anything that pupils may want to do over the Easter break are threefold:

Aim 1: To enable students who have been slow to log in to Teams or ill or caring for others to catch up.
Aim 2: To allow any completion of learning for this term rather than start anything new.
Aim 3: To avoid creating work for work’s sake for both students and staff.

To end, all the staff at St Anne’s would like to wish you a peaceful, healthy Easter break. May you and your family be blessed as you celebrate the true meaning of Easter, from the reflection of Good Friday to the joy of Easter Sunday and the promise of eternal life.

God Bless

Mr Rouse

Headteacher

St Anne’s Catholic School