Daily update 13th May 2020 – Today we move into a new phase of these strange times, with some of the restrictions being relaxed by the government. Whilst this is welcomed by some, it will undoubtedly cause others to feel unsettled and worried. At school this week, nothing will change. We continue this week as we have done since lockdown began. The new announcements have raised a lot of questions from you as parents and for our staff too and has been quite unsettling, as we start to consider how we move safely into the next phase. I want to reassure you all that this will all be considered extremely carefully and communicated with you at the earliest opportunity. If you have questions and concerns, please feel free to let us know at any stage. We want to work with you all to do the best thing for our whole school community.

Update
I re read all of the information and guidance yesterday and met (virtually) with three other headteachers, all of whom had interpreted the information and guidance differently to each other! For secondary schools they have said that they expect us to “offer some face-to-face support to supplement the remote education of year 10 and year 12 students who are due to take key exams next year, alongside the full time provision they are offering to priority groups.” The actual expectation of what they mean is unclear and I will continue to work with and take advice from sector and school leaders on this in the coming days. The senior team at NK discussed the new information and guidance at length yesterday and we have started to create a plan that can take shape once further details are available. I will, of course, share this with you as soon as I possibly can to give you a chance to fully understand what this will mean for your child, how this will work and enable you to ask any questions.

Art Competition
Well done to everyone who entered the competition this week. We really enjoyed looking through your keyholes seeing your creative and imaginative responses. We have two winners again this week! Kaitlin in Year 7 has let her imagination run wild when designing both the inside and outside of her key hole.

Eva has shown an outstanding knowledge of the formal elements when producing her imaginative entry, including elements of zentangle which is a form of artistic meditation known to develop self-confidence and help you to relax. Well done to both

Next week’s competition is inspired by the work of artist Tom Croft, a portrait artist who couldn’t focus on his own studies during the outbreak of Covid 19 so decided to paint portraits free of charge for frontline workers to celebrate the hard work they are doing. Other artists have since taken this initiative and are also gifting frontline workers with personalised portraits. Further information can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/entertainment-arts-52319539/coronavirus-artist-tom-croft-paints-nhs-key-worker-portraits-for-free

We would like to see entries from you of portraits of family members/ close friends who are frontline workers or key workers who you feel deserve to be gifted with a self portrait of them supporting the country during the Covid 19 pandemic inspired by Tom Croft’s portraits for the NHS. Please submit entries to melanie.hibbs@nkacademy.co.uk by the end of Tuesday 19th May.

Take care everyone.

With very best wishes,

Jo Tunnicliffe
Headteacher