On Wednesday 26 January, ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day, Year 9 students took part in an event where they heard Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke BEM share her family’s testimony.

The students heard about the family’s experiences in pre war Prague, what life was like under Nazi occupation and finally, what persecution they faced in the concentration camps such as Auschwitz. Eva described how her mother became pregnant whilst awaiting transportation to Auschwitz and concealed her pregnancy until a few weeks before her labour. In early April 1945, Eva’s mother was sent to Mauthaussen concentration camp on an open air coal waggon where she started to give birth to Eva. Eva was born on the 29th April 1945. If her mother had arrived in the camp one day earlier, it is very likely that she would have been killed. The day before Eva’s mother arrived in the camp, the Nazis had run out of gas and so Anka and Eva survived and were liberated on 5th May 1945.

The students taking part in this event behaved in a very respectful and mature manner and demonstrated their gratitude to Eva by giving her a standing ovation.

This year the Queen is celebrating her Platinum Jubilee and to recognise and celebrate this the Government has announced that there will be an additional bank holiday.

The late May bank holiday will be moved to Thursday 2 June 2022 and an additional Jubilee bank holiday will be on Friday 3 June 2022.

Therefore, I am writing to inform you that the last day of the summer term for all our Trust schools: The King Edward VI School, Chantry, Dr Thomlinson and Newminster Middle Schools, Abbeyfields, Harbottle, Stobhillgate and Thropton First Schools will be Thursday 21 July with the summer holiday beginning on Friday 22 July.

The letter sent to all Parents and Carers can be read in full here

The government announced this morning that, from 11 January, those who do not have symptoms and have a positive lateral flow will still have to isolate, but will no longer take a PCR. I would therefore like to outline the new reporting procedure for our school.

If your child tests positive for Covid either by a LFT or a PCR test you must complete this form immediately.  There is no need to call the attendance line. The form can also be found on our website. You must also report the positive result on the government website here.

The letter issued to all Parents and Carers can be read in full here 

Please see updated Schedule of School holidays for this academic year. Due to the extra bank holiday we close for the summer on Thursday 21 July 2022.

Download (PDF, 28KB)

In response to latest DfE COVID-19 Guidance for Schools, a letter has been sent to all parents and carers in relation to new measures being introduced from Wednesday 5th January 2022. Please read the letter in full here. 

• All staff, and students have been advised that unless exempt, they should wear a face
  covering in classrooms as well as communal areas of school including corridors
  and halls.
• All staff and students should complete an LFD test before they return to
  school on Wednesday 5 January.

We thank you for your continued support and will continue to update you as
further information becomes available.

To help celebrate the new year, we would like to celebrate the hard work and talents of our students and staff who have recorded a selection of performances. We know lots of you  have enjoyed our 12 Days of Christmas performances, so we have uploaded a new set of music to enjoy – click here to see all of our December 2021 recordings.