Message from the Principal

Dear Parents,

Welcome to this week’s Newsletter!

Wednesday morning saw the first of our Open Days for this academic year. Despite the very cold weather, the Auditorium was packed with families interested in joining Britannica either straight away or for the next academic year, beginning next August. After a lively and engaging presentation by the senior team and Key Stage coordinators, families were treated to a tour of the school with the opportunity to visit classrooms and see lessons in action. Our Year 6 students acted as tour guides for the occasion, offering the option of having a personalised tour in 14 different languages! I would like to thank them for their efforts, visiting parents commented on their impeccable manners, confidence and excellent knowledge of the school. There are some photos of them in action in the Primary news gallery.

I mentioned last week that several staff, including myself had grown moustaches during November, to raise money for and awareness of Men’s Health issues including prostate cancer. Thankfully, we are all now clean shaven but you can ‘enjoy’ the staff pictured in their fully glory today! I think the first picture is very similar to one of the Brat Pack back in the sixties!

We are all getting very excited about Christmas at Britannica! This week has seen the school decorated by the students with several trees and a lot of tinsel! Over the next two weeks, we have a wide range of events happening around the school, many of which parents can get involved in, if you have the time. The students, especially the younger ones, always appreciate it when their parents take the time to come in to school and see them perform or take part in activities.

Things kicked off today with the Primary Music assembly, which was, as usual, a joyous occasion. This will be followed tomorrow by the Year 13 Ribbon ceremony at the wonderful Military Museum in the Castle District (look out for photos of the event taken by two budding photographers from Year 9 in next week’s edition of the Newsletter).

Next week sees the Secondary Music assembly, which is set to be spectacular, with students from all year groups showcasing their talents, plus some very special adult guests. If you want to see what this event was like last year, please see the video section on our website. Later in the week, the Key Stage 1 Christmas production of Penguin Pete is set to bring the house down! Secondary students who have represented the school at sports events this term, also have the opportunity to go ice skating next Thursday afternoon.

Then, of course, in the last week of term, we have reports being issued for Years 1-9 and also our Christmas Fayre, Brilliant Britannica. You will have received a separate communication about this event from the school today. All in all, an extremely busy couple of weeks. We hope you are able to join us for some or all of these events.

Have a great weekend!

Kind regards,

Neil McGarry

Principal