I hope this letter finds you and your family well.

I wanted to write to you and give you some general updates regarding Covid guidance and also some exciting updates about the school’s expansion project.

Covid Guidance

Devon continues to see high numbers of Covid cases and I wanted to reassure you, managing our Covid response remains a high priority. We continue to operate under the Risk Assessment which focuses on good infection control such as ventilation, hygienic routines, enhanced cleaning and carrying out regular Lateral Flow Testing helping to identify asymptomatic cases. We have returned to full access to the curriculum this year, including running three after school clubs and restarting trips into the community, all following the important measures outlined above.

If your child is unwell, we recommend they stay at home and if Covid is suspected to seek a PCR test for confirmation as soon as possible. Please notify us of all suspected and positive cases.

We continue to follow Public Health England South West Centre Health Protection Team’s guidance in the event of confirmed cases. We no longer play a role in Track and Trace but will send a warn and inform letter to identified close contacts if advised by Public Health and/or the Dfe.

Expansion Project.

The first stage (a) of the expansion project completion was delayed due to the impact of Covid, difficulty sourcing building supplies as well as the impact of the weather seen at the start of term. Our students have demonstrated incredible resilience this term as this stage has also included important roofing repairs which has brought additional noises and smells. I am pleased to share the roofing work is now almost complete.

This stage has seen the most wonderful refurbishment of the current Upper School classrooms and of the meeting room as well as creating an additional classroom. Our students have moved into these classrooms and are benefiting from the improved classroom spaces. Outside, the new multi-use playground (MUGA) is being completed and this will become a new playground and PE space from January 2022. All of this work has supported the addition of 16 new students joining the school from January 2022. We will therefore have 148 students at the school from January 2022.

In January 2022, stage (b) will commence. This is the building of a new two-story building which will house additional classrooms, work spaces and a new sports hall. This will be built where the current MUGA is, and the space will be fenced off, separating the building work completely from the school thus reducing the impact on our students. This is likely to take up to a year to complete.

Stage (c) is the refurbishing of a classroom into a second food tech room, refurbishing small changing room spaces into a new medical room as well as creating a new multi-resource space. This stage will begin once Stage (b) is fully completed.

The expansion project is bringing much needed investment into the school which will eventually provide an increase in specialist spaces, improvement to outside and classroom environments in areas that need it most and provide additional classrooms.

I am looking forward to sharing any pictures/drawings of the new build once they become available from Devon County Council via the school website, so please keep an eye out for these.

Christmas Fayre- Save the Date

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Thursday 16^th December at our Covid-adapted Christmas Fayre – timings are:
Lower School 9.45am-10.45am 
Middle School 11am-12pm
Upper School 1.20pm-2.30pm.

More information will follow.

Thank you for your continued support across this term.

Yours faithfully,

Sam Barham
Headteacher