Newsletters

News from Mr Grady

Hello everyone,

This week, typing my usual newsletter musings is actually quite a painful affair.  This is because over two days, I've injured either my hand or fingers on three separate occasions.  The first injury was whilst I was slicing a potato, and as I cut through the potato, the knife sliced briefly into the fleshy part of my palm next to my forefinger.  I have been cutting potatoes for years and have never done this.  Then, the following day, whilst reaching for a drawer handle, I caught my fingernail and bent it right back.  Middle finger.  Same hand.  The same day, as I was cooking, I hadn't realised the handle of a saucepan was also slightly over the flame of the cooker, and so as I put my hand to it, burnt the tip of the middle finger on my other hand.  That one really hurt.

I am not normally a clumsy person.  I normally take great care around the kitchen, so what is the cause of this self-injury spree?  My wife maintains it's concentration, or in this case a lack of it. I suspect I have to agree, but with the added reflection of not making sure I'm in the present enough to take care of myself.  

I suspect we might all have this as an issue at the moment.  We're so busy thinking about what we might need to be doing later, or what we were doing earlier on, we're not concentrating enough on what we're doing now.  On each of the occasions when I injured myself the pain bought me crashing back to what I was actually doing, and after feeling a bit foolish for such easily avoidable injuries, I then took greater care.

With us all pottering about our homes with everyone else also doing the same thing, I think we should all take care to make sure we're focusing on the present, because it is so easy, when you're in familiar surroundings, but not concentrating, to make those unforced errors that lead in a direct line to the first aid box.  

As we're all trying to make sure we relieve pressure on our health service, we should be taking extra-special care not to add any further burdens.  I cannot begin to tell you how embarrassed I'd have been if any of my minor injuries had meant I'd have to call 111, or visit the Doctor or A&E!  I'm sure they have far more important things to be dealing with.

We all have to do our bit, and if taking that extra bit of care as we go about our daily lives means we take a little more time to do things, then I think that's very sensible indeed.  Take it from someone who's currently typing with 25% fewer working fingers...

Best wishes,
Mr Grady

Easter Message from the Senior Team

Dear All,

We feel that it is really important that you all take a break over Easter. Teachers will not be setting regular school work until the week beginning 20^th April. However, you may find that you are at a bit of a loose end and so we thought we’d give some suggestions of things to do.  We’ll not be checking up on you, but we wouldn’t want you to get bored!

If you enjoy reading or feel that now is a good time to start reading more widely, here are some useful links:

https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/libraries

Using your library card you can access a wide range of ebooks, enewspapers and emagazines via the Borrowbox app:

You can also access a brilliant range of free audio books in a range of languages from :

https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

And the FROG literacy page has lots of great reading links.

Likewise you might want to take a virtual museum tour, here are a couple of suggestions:

Natural History Museum, London

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/natural-history-museum

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/musee-dorsay-paris

https://m.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html

Remember too that it is important to keep active.

Try PE with Joe Wicks on YouTube Monday to Friday 9am - an invigorating workout to start the day.

Download a tracker app to track your daily walk/run – MapMyRun and Strava apps are good for this – see if you can speed up your walk or build up to running parts of it.

Keep hydrated -  fill a water bottle each morning and aim to refill it twice again throughout the day and limit the snacks!

Have a good break and get some rest too, we’ve had a lot to take on board over the last couple of weeks. 

Happy Easter.

Please find below information that has been passed to us that may be of interest to you and your family.

Click HERE for the latest Warwickshire Family Information Service Newsletter.

Click HERE for the Parent Support Guide and links

For all Year 11 students hoping to  participate in the National Citizen Service this summer

NCS RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS [COVID-19]

Last Updated: 25/03/2020
 

To our NCS community,

Firstly, we hope you are keeping safe and well in these unprecedented times. We know that uncertainty can be a difficult place to be so we’ll keep you updated every step of the way.

Following the recent government announcement, we are continuing to work daily with the government, alongside our network of partners, on our long-term planning. This includes the delivery of this year’s NCS summer programme – and the vital role that NCS can play to help with the nation's recovery.

Whilst we are still in discussions and are working on the details, we hope to have clarity next week and will be updating you all as soon as we know more and are able to do so.

What we do know is that we are dedicated to creating a country of connected, confident and caring citizens; One where everyone feels at home and young people have a voice. And even in the toughest of times, we’ll do all we can to fulfil this mission – even if it’s not quite in the way we anticipated. We encourage young people to live by the words 'No We Can', and are equally committed to challenging ourselves to do the same.