As we come to the end of Term 1, many of us may be left feeling a bit disappointed and frustrated at how the term has gone. We hoped COVID restrictions would be lifted and we could enjoy life as normal again. Sadly, as the virus has spread amongst us, we have had home isolation, and this has resulted in many staff and students being absent.

So far, we have coped but I am conscious of senior students in particular who due to staff absences or their own, are anxious about falling behind. Our experience of the past two years, however, shows that this has not been an issue and those students will catch up. Much of the work is available online for students and they should, if they are well enough while in isolation, be online doing what they can and emailing their teachers for instructions.

The biggest challenge is teachers off work and feeling very unwell with COVID and often taking some time to recover. We have tried to provide casual staff and used our own staff internally as much as possible. Many teachers have been able to teach on-line with their classes too. Please ensure you read my emails about COVID changes carefully and follow the guidelines. We are trying to restrict the spread of the virus while not imposing burdensome restrictions of our own on the staff and students.

The wet weather has also not helped! I saw on one of the class Facebook pages a comment about children’s school bags getting soaked. We do have cover outside all our classes for bags but given the extent of the rain and its occasional heaviness, it is possible that a bag that looked safe, may well get soaked. My apologies to those who had had to replace books due to this happening.

We have also had some instance of graffiti and vandalism in a Secondary toilet block and outside one building. This is very unusual for GPCC, and we are working to track down the culprits and deal to them. I know it has been frustrating for students that they have often been unable to get outside during break times due to the rain and this can lead to poor behaviour. Generally, our students have been fantastic in spite of the challenging conditions.

Thank you to those who have been trying to work with us on our traffic problems in the afternoon. With the help of one of our Secondary parents who is a traffic engineer, we will be exploring some solutions. Part of that will be a survey that will go out to you, and I ask that you complete that promptly when it arrives.

We had a very encouraging Open Day on Thursday and it is great to hear positive comments about the school from so many prospective parents. While we do not claim to be a perfect school, we are working to make improvements and to serve your children well.