Message from the Principal

On Tuesday 8^th October, at 3.45 in the canteen terrace area, there will be a meeting for any parent(s) interested in volunteering to be part of the PSA (Parent/School Association). The PSA provide support to the students and staff at the school by helping to organise events, such as International Day, Spring Fayre, World Teacher’s Day, Cookie Friday’s and Ice Cream Social’s and also acts as a focal point for the views and thoughts of all parents to be collated and shared with the school management. Over the last few years many excellent ideas and thoughts have come through from the PSA group, leading to actions that have further improved the experience of being part of the Britannica community. Examples of these include the introduction of a psychologist in Primary, changes to our Bring Your Own Device policy in secondary and the introduction of a wider variety of clubs and sports teams.

If you do feel able to give up some of your free time to help with school events or would be interested in taking one of the official roles on the PSA committee, please do come to the event on Tuesday and put yourself forward.

It has been lovely to welcome Miss Spivey as a new teacher for year 4 this week. It has been a tough few weeks for the lower key stage two team, since Mrs Durbridge’s unfortunate departure due to illness. I would like to thank Miss Bilska, Miss Hajdu and Miss Bogi for stepping in and working so hard to cover. A real team effort!

Also returning this week has been Mrs Erdelyi, teacher of German. It is great to see Kriszta back and we look forward to her resuming full-time duties after the half term break. In the meantime, a big thank you to Mrs McGarry-Haigh for stepping in and covering the year 5-9 German groups.

In other news, Mrs Sarran-Gilmour, teacher of secondary English left the school this week to return to the UK, due to some difficult family circumstances. We thank her for her hard work in the time she has been with us. She will be replaced by Mrs River after the half term break.

A reminder that International Day is coming up on Friday 18^th October. You will today have received a letter detailing the timeline and the activities for the event. It is always one of the best days of the school year and I am really looking forward to seeing what the students come up with this time. They are always so creative and dynamic. To confirm, school will finish for all students at 2.30pm with late pick-up running only until 3.30pm. Please do make sure you have made suitable childcare arrangements for that afternoon.

After we return from the half-term break on Monday November 4^th, we switch to our winter uniform, including ties and blazers for years 7-11. This week’s photographs have provided an excellent test of whether students can still fit in to last year’s clothes! Hopefully, the next four week’s provide enough time to resolve should any new purchases need to be made. Isn’t it amazing how quickly the children grow out of things!

This is a polite request to all parents collecting their children to be off school premises before 5.30pm. Access cards do not work after this time and the front office is closed making leaving the school problematic. Please continue your conversations with others outside of school grounds. Thank you for your support with this.

Have a fantastic weekend

Kind regards

Neil McGarry

Principal