Dear Parent/Carer
As we enter the last few weeks of the summer term, under normal circumstances we would be planning and holding all our celebration events. Year 11 and Year 13 would have completed their exams and Proms would have taken place, rewards events would be underway, and we would be planning our Sports Day. We would also have been welcoming our new Year 7 and Year 12 students into school for their induction.
Sadly, we cannot run these events in college this year but we want students to be able to experience at least some of those fabulous experiences. With this in mind, we are running a number of virtual events. Our Year 6 and Year 12 Induction days have been virtual ones, we have run virtual sports challenges this week, and have a series of Live Celebration Assemblies planned for the last week of term.
It has been lovely to have our Year 10 and Year 12 students back in school for some face to face sessions prior to the end of term. Staff have been able to spend time focusing on well-being, academic tutoring and providing subject support in Maths, English and Science. These sessions will continue until the end of the term.
Thank you all for your support during this really challenging time, and whilst we know we are still not operating normally, we are now able to start putting in place more concrete plans for the next academic year.
I would like to take the opportunity to update you on a number of important developments:-
Start of the Autumn Term
Whilst at this point we are still unclear about exactly what the start of term may look like, we very much hope we can welcome all students back. We are planning for all students to return at the start of term, though there will be a staggered start for students so we can ensure they have time to adapt to new processes and systems that will be in place.
I will write to you again before the end of term about this, but it is unlikely we will have any specific detail until a few weeks before the start of the academic year. I appreciate this is very frustrating, but we continue to be guided by government advice which only comes out a few days before something is due to come into effect.
Please be assured that as soon as we have more information, we will share it with you.
Consultation on changing the timings of the college day and the name of the college has now finished
Thank you for all your positive comments. There was overwhelming support for the changes to be made which mean: -
- From the start of the Autumn Term the timings of the school day will be:-
| Years 7,8 and 10 | Years 9,11, 12&13 | |||
| Registration /Assembly | 08.45 | Registration/Assembly | 08.45 | |
| P1 | 09.00 | P1 | 09.00 | |
| P2 | 10.00 | Break | 10.00 | |
| Break | 11.00 | P2 | 10.25 | |
| P3 | 11.25 | P3 | 11.25 | |
| P4 | 12.25 | Lunch | 12.25 | |
| Lunch | 13.25 | P4 | 13.00 | |
| P5 | 14.00 | P5 | 14.00 | |
| End of day | 15.00 | End of day | 15.00 |
We will also be changing the name of the college from CLCC to Countesthorpe Academy. We have no plans to change our uniform. There will be a new logo for the school but we would only expect to see this on new items of uniform bought once the new logo is in place. Any uniform being bought for the start of term will continue to have the CLCC logo on.
Changes to our pastoral structure
From the start of next term, pastoral care will be structured in Year Groups and not Houses. At the moment, your child is in a tutor group and belongs to one of our six Houses across the college. Each House is led by a Head of House who takes responsibility for a number of tutor groups of all year groups. We also have Heads of Year who provide vital pastoral support to students.
To provide more personalised and targeted support for our students, staff who are currently Heads of House will move to become Year Team Leaders with specific responsibility for a year group. The Head of Year will continue the really important role of providing pastoral support for each year group. Mr N Williams (Senior Teacher) will oversee Years 7,8 & 9 and Mrs Hunt (Senior Teacher) will oversee Years 10 and 11.
| Year Group | Year Team Leader | Pastoral Head of Year |
| 7 | Mrs S Richardson | Mrs C Barker/Mrs B Wakefield |
| 8 | Mr J Hayes | Mrs J Salmon |
| 9 | Mr Z Fox | Ms A Howell |
| 10 | Mr M Page | Ms G Burley |
| 11 | Mrs A Rashleigh | Mrs Macdonald Brown |
| Sixth Form | Mrs A Howe | Mrs Macdonald Brown |
Houses will still form an important part of College life. All students will still belong to a House and all our competitions and events that take place will be run through Houses.
New build
Finally, I am delighted to be able to inform you that our planning application for the new build to replace the Leysland building was approved last night. Thank you all for your help with this. The submissions you made in support of the application really made a difference. The approval of this building will make a significant difference to whole school community and gives us great opportunities to build on the work we have already been doing.
Once again, thank you all for your support during this time.
Mrs C. Aitcheson
Principal