Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Well what a few weeks it has been! It has certainly been a busy start to the school year, clearly evidenced by the fact that this is the first blog in a long time…….

It has been great to get all pupils back in school, challenging, but great.  We have been overwhelmed by the support that has been shown for the school; in the local community, from parents, pupils and everyone in our wider Hastings family.

In these strange times it seems like important decisions are being made every minute, of every day.  In the last couple of weeks, we have had to make quick informed decisions about such things as; who should need to self-isolate, how do we set work for remote learners whilst the majority of other pupils are in school, how to run an Open-Evening (if you have watched it you will know that I am no film star!), where can pupils go when it rains and many others……

Whilst Hastings is an amazing place in the dry, when it rains we could do with some extra facilities. I would love a canteen / dining room / sports hall, where pupils could go, still have space and ultimately have a better lunchtime experience.  I would love a few more classrooms, as during Mocks every single room in the school can be in use for the whole day.  It would be great to have more outdoor playground space or even one of those amazing playground covers where about 100 pupils can sit under it; nice and dry.  These are all on what we call the ‘Wedding list’; this is the list of things that we happily give out to anyone who visits the school,  who might be able to fund something that will improve facilities for our students. (If anyone has a large amount of money they would like to donate please let us know; I can happily spend it!)

None of the above are difficult decisions. When making any decision we consider the following;  what we think is best for our pupils, what keeps them safe and what gives them the very best chances in life.  This core purpose makes the difficult decisions easy to make and the support we get from parents re-affirms that this is the right approach to take.  Sometimes there are differences of opinion, but we will always discuss and work together  to reach a positive outcome; finding the best way forward for your child. 

We like to hear the views of pupils, parents and staff; ensuring that we take into account all perspectives when making future decisions for the school.  The school are currently completing a large piece of work, gathering pupil, parent and staff views, which will help the school to identify what approach we should next take, following the completion of the 50-day timetable.  Whilst  this is a difficult decision to make, the decision will be made simpler by taking into account the feedback, from all groups, that has been shared with us.

The world is a fast moving place at the moment and even locally this feels like the case.  We don’t know what will come next, but what we do know is that our pupils are at the heart of everything we do. The difficult decisions that we have to make become easier when, on a daily basis, we can see our pupils being successful, developing into inspirational young adults and achieving their aims and goals,

Mr Shipman