Headteacher Update

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope that all of your family and friends are all safe and well. We continue to hear stories from all members of our school community who have been affected by the pandemic in different ways. Our thoughts are with you all. Please keep us updated on your circumstances and we will help in the best way we can.

A number of letters and emails have been shared by the school over the past month, these relate to the different aspects of school life that we are providing during our partial closure. Providing a clear message and communicating effectively is really important during this time. Our school reception area is open from 8.30am – 3pm every day for those of you who would like to speak to a member of staff. Alternatively you can email us at info@redhill.dudley.sch.uk with any questions, concerns or updates. At this time, we request that these are the two ways you contact the school. We are not yet in a position to receive visitors on site.

Life has been very busy at school; this week we have seen the wider reopening of Redhill to the Year 10 students. It has been emotional seeing the students arrive in their uniforms, smart and ready to engage with our exceptional teachers; it reminds us of how much we miss all of our students coming to school. The attendance for the face to face lessons has been excellent, we look forward to seeing more Year 10 students joining us over the next few weeks.

Alongside the opening of school for Year 10, this week has also seen us develop our online learning for all year groups. By the end of the week, we will have delivered over 50 subject specific VITs (Video Instructional Teaching) to all of our pupils. We believe that these VITs will support the online learning and provide all year groups with a familiar voice to ‘teach’ them whilst they are learning at home. I encourage all students to keep asking their teachers questions via Google Classroom if they have any queries about their work. We have also launched our Google Classroom email summaries for parents. When you accept the invitation for this you will be able to receive daily or weekly summaries on your child’s progress with their online learning. Further information on this can be found here: https://www.redhill.dudley.sch.uk/latest-news/2020/6/12/google-classroom-email-summaries-for-parents

The government has recently announced that food vouchers for students eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) will be provided over the summer holidays. If your circumstances have recently changed, the website link below will be able to help clarify if you meet the FSM voucher criteria. Alternatively, you can call the school and we will be able to offer guidance. https://www.dudley.gov.uk/residents/benefits/free-school-meals/

We have received a number of questions from parents over uniform for the next academic year. Our uniform is an important part of our school culture and identity. However, we will need to work together and be flexible at this time. Our blazers will not be available for sale until mid-August due to the supply chain being slower than usual. We are also conscious of the uncertainty around whether or not the school will be fully open in September. We will be guided by the government on this. As an interim measure, we are happy for students to wear a navy blue V-neck jumper in the short term as an alternative to a blazer. For those of you who would like to purchase a blazer then information on how to do this will be shared on the website.

On another note, I am delighted to welcome Nigel Ford to Redhill School, he joins us as the new Deputy Headteacher. Nigel brings a wealth of school leadership experience to the post and he is already making a significant impact on the day to day to running of the school alongside the longer term strategic planning.

Seeing the Year 10 students on site has been bittersweet for all of us involved. It is fantastic to welcome them into school and offer them the face to face lessons; however, it reminds us of what we are missing day in day out. Our students make our school, they bring the energy, the drive, the emotion, the curiosity, the intelligence, the humour and the character to the buildings. We know why we are ‘staying safe’, we want you to know that Redhill is still there for all of our community.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Best wishes,

Mr J Clayton

Headteacher