A message from the Principal
Welcome to ‘Our Manor’, our new weekly newsletter to keep parents and carers up to date with all the great things that are happening at Manor School Sports College. We had planned to launch this exciting venture back in April and then the world changed!
We are very proud of our school and the significant improvements to the curriculum, quality of teaching and learning, the environment, and our inclusion structures to name but a few. We recognise that there is still much to do but we would like parents and carers to be fully immersed in our plans and be able to celebrate with us the rich fabric of activities that Manor School offers students from Year 7 to Year 13. In the current climate we will also highlight changes in any government guidance for schools in terms of COVID-19 and how that will impact us here at Manor.
To be really up-to-date, we would also encourage you to follow us on Twitter @Manor_School where you can receive more regular updates on all things Manor. Our Twitter site is generally a ‘push’ only service and we are unlikely to respond directly to individuals through this medium. As always, if you have any queries at all please do not hesitate to contact the school.
From my perspective we have had a really positive start to the term. Students and staff alike have coped superbly with all that we have asked of them. We will to continue to be INSISTENT and PERSISTENT with reminding all of our students about the basics - keeping their distances and washing their hands. We are in the business of education and we recognise that many of our young people will not have been in large groups of people for a significant period of time and so we are being firm but patient. We would be grateful if you could continue to reinforce this at home.
Having now completed our first full week back, we are looking forward to returning to focus much more on education, progress and enrichment, whilst still maintaining high levels of safety through our routines. I will look forward to sharing with you all that we achieve over the coming weeks and months. For now, please enjoy this first edition.
Jay Davenport, Principal
Progress Leader messages
Mr Royle, Mr Sturgess, Miss King, Mr Isaacs, Mr Brown - Year 7-11 Progress Leaders
Over the course of the past week and a half we have welcomed back all of our students, and what a great few days they have had.
With new procedures for COVID-19 such as hand washing and social distancing, getting used to being in their own 'pod' within the school and a new timetable to adjust to, they have taken it all within their stride, showing great resilience and a positive can-do attitude.
From our Year 7s who are only just starting their Manor journey to our Year 13s who are approaching the end of their time with us, students have settled into being back to school well, showing excitement to get back to learning and being among friends again. Having visited some lessons it’s great to see them getting stuck straight in to working hard.
We have really enjoyed seeing all of our students back and look forward to supporting them through this academic year.
Mr Carter - Assistant Principal and Sixth Form Lead
I hope students enjoyed their first full week in the sixth form this year. It has been fantastic to see them all again. The atmosphere has been overwhelmingly positive and calm. In their extended tutor time, students have been completing a range of activities including: finalising their timetable, action planning for the coming year, participating in online training for UCAS or apprenticeships and completing induction or study skill activities.
If there are any barriers preventing students from learning, please do not hesitate to let me know so we can put things in place to support them.
The importance of keeping one's distance
Now that all students have returned to school, it has been very pleasing indeed to see how well the vast majority of the students have responded to the full range of measures we have put in place to keep everyone as safe as we possibly can. These measures include handwashing, sanitising, arrangements of pods, distancing, and classroom organisation to name just a few.
Keeping one's distance is one of the measures that we are actively promoting and encouraging. In some cases we have had to robustly enforce this requirement in isolated cases where students are actively defying the instructions given to them. A significant role for us as leaders, teachers and adults in our community is to educate our children and young people on what this should look like and - for those who are unsure - the reasons why it is vitally important. However, in cases where students choose not to comply we will be forced to take robust action for the health and wellbeing of everyone in our small community. We do not want to find ourselves in the situation where we have to partially or fully close when it could have been avoided. To this end, we will continue to promote, encourage and enforce distancing, and we would welcome the support of families in reinforcing these school expectations.
Thank you for your continued support. In particular, I would like to say a heartfelt and sincere thank you for words of encouragement from those of you that have contacted us since our return to school.
Lee Towers, Vice Principal
A reminder of lunch arrangements for this term
We are currently providing grab bags for students at lunch times. Wisepay accounts will be charged, unless your child is in receipt of Free School Meals. This provision enables the catering team to deliver lunch to each of the year group ‘pods’ in a safe and efficient manner. We are asking all parents/carers to use the link Lunch Order Form - Term 1 and follow the instructions to pre-order lunch for your child. We will review the submitted orders every Monday morning. Parents/carers can therefore complete the form weekly or for the whole term.
We will review the provision of grab bags after the first two weeks in September in the hope of transitioning towards a hot meal provision. We will of course keep you updated should we be able to expand the lunch provision.
Students are welcome to bring their own lunch if they wish.
House Competitions
This year we are excited to announce that we will be running a competitions programme throughout the year where students can represent their House and earn points in a bid to win the House Cup. This term three competitions will be taking place, as shown on our poster. Our first competition is running until Wednesday 16th September and we can't wait to see what new skills our students have developed during lockdown. If students would like to take part, they should record a video showing off their new skill and email it to House@manor.school. If your child doesn't have a school email address yet you can send it in for them. May the best House win!