Dear Students, Families, Staff and Governors
Thanks so much to those of you who were able to complete the parent consultation, I will be looking at the outcomes and feeding back in the New Year.
Unfortunately, we have had to cancel our Christmas event at the church due to the exceptional staffing difficulties we are experiencing at the moment. Hopefully, we will be able to have some events planned in the spring term where we are able to invite parents, families and carers to attend. Apologies for the short notice but our priority is always safety for the students.
Over the last few months we have worked really hard to reduce the out of hours correspondence between staff either via email or telephone contact at evenings, weekends, or school holidays, this is reported to have had a positive impact on staff wellbeing. At St George’s, we have an open policy with staff communicating directly with families via email as we appreciate that, this is the preferred method of communication for many. On discussion with special school heads in Hampshire, this is quite unusual and many schools only offer an admin email for correspondence from families. Generally, the use of emails by parents / students is useful, informative and respectful to staff who deserve time away from school. Some staff have recently been contacted during evenings and weekends, which has then had a negative impact on them and their time with their own families. Could I politely ask that if you are sending email communication it is sent during working hours 8am – 5pm Mon – Fri.
Emails can be kept as a draft and then sent at an appropriate time or there is a scheduled send option on email systems – we would be happy to show people how to access this if necessary. Both methods would enable the email to be written at the time of concern but sent when a staff member has the time to respond effectively during the working day. If there is an urgent safeguarding concern then please email either myself as Head or Sarah Tolfrey as Deputy Head, we are both Designated Safeguarding Leads. Thank you in advance for your understanding with this matter.
Staff at school are encouraging students in KS3 / 4 to wear school uniform so that the option to wear non-uniform remains a privilege for our 6th Form students. We appreciate your ongoing support with this issue.
We are fast approaching the end of term and I am looking forward to our Christmas sing a long and Christmas dinner next week. Students have also requested the opportunity to watch a Christmas film on the last day so we will be offering a range of films for students to watch.
Best wishes
Steff Gleeson
Head teacher
