News

Dear Families,

Welcome to the end of our second week back, and our first full week of teaching. The return of the students continues to have run very smoothly and I am very impressed with how they have re-adapted to school routines and expectations. A number of things to make you aware of this week.

Year 11 and 13 assessments

Monday sees the start of our Year 11 and Year 13 exams which will now run through to the end of term. Best of luck to all of the students as they prepare to sit their assessments. The way in which they have approached the last few weeks in preparation for the assessments has been excellent and I’m sure they will do very well.

Lateral flow tests reminder – test kits being sent home

Following the end of our on-site testing programme on Tuesday we are now issuing the students with home testing kits which they will bring home with them, and which we ask you to support your sons / daughters in taking twice weekly, 3-5 days apart. It is important that this testing process continues as it provides another layer of protection against the virus. Students will be given enough test kits to last them through to the end of the Easter holidays.

Please remember that students must report their lateral flow test results both with Track and Trace and with our school’s online recording system. The link to our online system has been sent to the students through Microsoft Teams. Any student who tests positive with a lateral flow test must self-isolate. The full guidance around isolation is available on our website.

Bromley Winter Grant Fund

The attached flyer gives you information about the Winter Grant Fund which exists to support families who have suffered financial hardship as a result of the Covid 19 lockdowns. The self-referral form will need to be submitted to BCWG@bromley.gov.uk for processing. If as families you are eligible, you can receive assistance to help pay household energy and water bills, other essentials like warm clothing, soap, sanitary products, blankets or other essential household items. It may not be spent on rent payments, other housing costs or managing debt or general financial hardship. Payments will be made electronically or by e-voucher. Any queries on this scheme can also be directed to the email address above and will be answered by our Housing colleagues.

Cameron Parker – motivational speaker

This week our older students were able to enjoy a fantastic motivational talk from Cameron Parker who is currently one of the most sought after public speakers in schools. He also ran workshops with some of our students and the feedback has been very positive. We are grateful to Cameron for working with our students.

Covid 19 reminders

You will have seen the letter I sent around earlier today informing you that a member of the admin’ staff at the school has tested positive for Covid 19. This must serve to remind us all that Covid 19 is far from gone and we must remain vigilant and we must continue to take the appropriate safety measures both in and out of school to minimise the risk of spreading the infection. Please remind your sons and daughters again of the need for frequent hand washing, the importance of wearing a mask at all times in the school building, and in particular of the need for appropriate social distancing whenever it is possible to do so. Students should not be travelling to and from school in large groups, and students should not be hanging around at the end of the school day but should go straight home as we are still in a state of lockdown. It is heartening to know that infection rates in Bromley are now very low compared to other parts of London, but we cannot relax our level of vigilance yet.

A reminder as well that you must not send your son / daughter in to school if they have any of the following symptoms:

• A new or persistent cough
• Fever
• Loss of change of taste or smell

If your child displays any of these symptoms then they must self-isolate and book a PCR test. If a member of your household tests positive for Covid 19 then the whole household must isolate for 10 days, regardless of whether or not other members of the household have had negative PCR tests. The 10 day isolation period begins from either the date of the onset of the symptoms, or the day of the positive test if there were no symptoms.

Lunch times and cashless cards

Please ensure that your child has their lunch card with them each day and that it has sufficient funds on it for them to be able to pay for their lunch. It can cause delays to our lunch provision if students do not have sufficient funds or come to school without their lunch cards and with our tight lunchtime schedule due to Covid this can cause problems.

LPGS and LPSB joint approach to violence against women

As two single sex schools with mixed Sixth Forms, we feel a particular responsibility that all our students are educated about the inequalities and sexual violence and harassment that women and girls experience.  There has been much discussion following the murder of Sarah Everard, and the publication of the UN report that found that 97% of women aged 18-25 in the UK, have experienced harassment. The language that is used to discuss the experience that women and girls have is important.

“We talk about how many women were raped last year, not how many men raped women. We talk about how many girls in a school district were harassed last year, not about how many boys harassed girls … Even the term ‘violence against women’ is problematic … It’s a bad thing that happens to women, but when you look at that term, ‘violence against women,’ nobody is doing it to them. It just happens to them … Men aren’t even a part of it.” (Jackson Katz, P.H.D, from his Tec Talk ‘Violence against women: it’s a men’s issue’.)

Ms Scott (LPGS) and myself are committed to working together to ensure that:

• Our curricula promotes the achievements and experiences of both men and women
• Our PSHCE curriculum ensures that all students understand their rights and responsibilities within the law and beyond
• All students know how to report instances of misogyny, sexism and harassment (as well as other issues related to protected characteristics) in order that they get the support they need

We will be holding an cross-school equalities working party each term to ensure that we share best practice and work together to educate and empower all our young people.

In the meantime, we would continue to urge any student experiencing unkindness and harassment of any kind to report to a trusted adult within school.  The Safeguarding Teams at each school can be contacted at:

LPGS:

Safeguardingteam@lpgs.bromley.sch.uk

LPSB:

Siobhan Bullen sbullen@lpsb.org.uk

Richard Guy rguy@lpsb.org.uk  

Ben Jones   bjones@lpsb.org.uk

End of term

A reminder that our term finishes on Wednesday 31^st March which will be a normal teaching day and which will finish as normal at the end of the day with our staggered finishing times. The school then re-opens for students and staff on Monday 19^th April at the usual time.

There is now just a week and a half left until the Easter break. Thank you for your support of our return to school, and I hope you all have a good weekend.

Best wishes

Mr S. Parsons

Headteacher

Langley Park School for Boys

BCWG-Flyer-To-Parents.pdf