We also were pleased to have in school our new teaching staff who will be joining us in September. There will be lots of changes in September and I am pleased that the government's announcement this week matches the planning that we have already put in place.

The new year

In September, we will increase our classroom capacity and there will be some changes to class groups.

Our day pattern will keep the successful aspects of staggered breaks and lunches and also combine shorter lesson periods for key stage three with longer and more sustained sessions for key stage four.

Morning breaks will be twenty minutes long and lunches will return to their longer length of forty minutes. All students will finish the day at 3.10pm.

We expect the school will be a busier place with all students having access to all parts of the school. We will therefore keep a number of our routines including separate entrances and exits into school for different year groups and identified area bases at break and lunch. 

Schools have been alerted that we will be undertaking lateral flow tests with all students at the start of term. We will need to undertake two tests some days apart and so this will definitely affect and possibly delay our planned start of 1st September for years seven, eleven and sixth form and 2nd September for all other years.

We are currently planning the testing timetable and as soon as we have confirmed start of term dates we will inform you.

The end of this year

We will end this academic year on Friday 23rd July, with year eight and nine students leaving school at 12.00pm and years seven and ten at 12.10pm. It will be with a mixture of pride and relief to have reached the end of term and I want to thank all families again for the support you have given the school. The last week has been especially challenging, with increased numbers of students needing to self-isolate.

Whilst there have been national changes announced which are scheduled to start from July 19th, we do not plan to make any changes to our expectations this term so that we can move through the last week with little internal disruption so that we are in a position to face any disruption caused externally.

Chilwell school - past, present and future

It was a delight to receive an original copy of the student handbook from one of our local residents. This dated back to September of 1974. As we look forward to the school's fiftieth birthday next year, it was really good to see the provision the school had in place from the 1970s and how the principles of a strong and all round education have been sustained for the community.