Dear Families,

It has been great to welcome young people back to school for what has been a very busy first week back! All young people have enjoyed a visit out of school this week, to either the Yorkshire Wildlife Park or Cannon Hall Farm. They had a fantastic day and all arrived back to school worn out after their day of exploring. These trips have kick started our learning this half term.

Our big question we are focusing on this half term is ‘Where do I come from?’ and the changemaker we are working on is ‘love’. Parent overviews will be sent home by the end of next week, which provides some further information to families about what young people will be learning specifically within their classrooms.

To finish the week off, this morning we welcomed Sublime Science into school. Lower school have had an exciting Friday and have been amazed at the scientific wonders they have seen from our visitors! Pupils experienced a range of scientific experiments and were amazing asking and answering, while consolidating their learning. They all had a wonderful time!

Friends of Bader Change of Meeting Date

Our next friends of Bader meeting is due to take place on Thursday 27^th April at 1:30pm, unfortunately due to further NEU strike action now taking place on this day, the meeting has been rearranged for Thursday 4^th May 1:30pm. Thank you to those who confirmed your attendance previously, if you could please contact the office either via telephone or Class Dojo to let them know if you would like to attend for the rearranged date, that would be fantastic. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

The King’s Coronation Tea Party

On Friday 5^th May, we will be having a tea party in school to celebrate the King’s coronation as a school community! Families are welcome to come into school and enjoy a traditional English tea party, where there will be sandwiches, cakes, scones and other party food. We hope that you will be able to join us and you are welcome to arrive from 11am. We will send a Microsoft Form out next week, so that we know catering requirements.

Art Work in the Atrium

Across the Easter break, we are delighted to say that we have had some art work completed within the atrium. We thought we would give you a quick glance! During the Spring Term, our Pupil Parliament have been gathering the voice of pupils across school to develop the atrium area. Our Lords met together to share the views of young people and designed a brief for the artist. The following was shared with Leigh Irvine from Raze Murals:

Young people wanted the style of graffiti street art with a colour pallet of blues and purples. They requested diversity links including the infinity fish, representing neurodiversity and a butterfly representing ADHD. Pupils asked that our change maker and ethos be included also, along with the Bader logo and motto and were very keen to ensure that we remember Sir Douglas Bader too.

I am sure you will agree there was quite a lot to consider but I think there has been a wonderful job complete bringing the wishes and feelings of young people to life!

PSHE and RSHE Consent / Withdrawal

Earlier this week, all pupils received a letter regarding the PSHE and RSHE curriculum and content for this half term. The letter detailed what young people would be learning about and gave information around topics they will be covering. We believe that this is extremely important for our young people to be educated and to keep themselves safe within the wider community.

If you have not received the letter please contact the office and a new one can be sent. If your child is in Class Base 5, 6, Upper School or the Hub, please use the following link to register your consent or to request for your child to be withdrawn from the sex education element of the curriculum this half term. As stated in the letters send out, there is a statutory duty to ensure our curriculum covers this. Details of the link can be obtained from the school office.

Provider Event

On Wednesday 19^th April, we were very happy to welcome families in Year 7 – Year 11 in to school for our very first provider event. There were a range of colleges who attended, along with those who run apprentices to share a range of opportunities for young people as they think about their post 16 journey. Sarah Richardson, our independent careers advisor attended and was on hand to speak to families and support this. Thank you to those who have provided us with feedback from the event and we will continue to run these events in future, so if you were unable to attend there will be another opportunity across the next academic year.

We have started discussing with young people currently in Year 9 & 10 what subject areas they would like to focus on in the next academic year and are looking at the qualification and accreditation which will be available. We will be inviting parents into school again to further discuss this specifically for Year 9 and 10 families. Please look out for the date and further information will follow.

If you attended the event and would like to feedback but have not yet had the opportunity please do so via the the link which can be obtained from the school office.

NEU Strike Action – Thursday 27^th April & Tuesday 2^nd May 2023

You may be aware that further NEU strike action has been announced for Thursday 27^th April and Tuesday 2^nd May 2023. We will be operating a partial closure on these dates. School will be open with a full curriculum offer for pupils in Year 6 who are sitting their SATS and those in Upper School preparing for their GCSE examinations. We would ask that all young people this affects attend school to ensure that further support and preparation work can continue and there are not two days of support missed. 

We will also be operating an in-school offer for young people who are not able to access home learning on these two days and need to be in school, however this is likely not to be a full curriculum offer due to staffing but we can provide child care should this be needed.

As always, the intelligence we can’t gather is how many staff in other schools are going on strike, which in turn impacts on our whole workforce as – where an employee has a child of school age – they may not know until the morning of the 28^th April / 2^nd May whether their child’s school is open or not, which may impact on their ability to attend work.  Unfortunately, we cannot therefore fully rule out having to fully close at short notice, but hope you understand we are doing all we can to give families as much support and notice as possible to minimise any 

We would like to confirm which pupils are attending on Thursday 27th April & Tuesday 2nd May 2023, when strike action will be taken and therefore ask that you complete a Microsoft form to support us in planning. The link can be obtained from the school office.  Please note, there is an option to request a packed lunch if your child is in receipt of free school meals.

Whilst we respect a trade union’s right to strike, we also apologise for the inconvenience and uncertainty this causes for families during this time. We thank you as always for your continued support.

Dates for Your Diary

Please see below activities which are already planned for the coming half term and into the final half term. There will be more dates added as we move through the summer term. We will provide more information closer to the time where needed.

• Monday 24^th April – Wednesday 26^th April – Residential

• Tuesday 25^th April – Trust Parliament Sports Day at English Institute of Sport – Secondary representatives

• Monday 1^st May – Bank Holiday

• Tuesday 2^nd – Friday 5^th May Jewish Festival Learning

• Friday 5^th May – The King’s Coronation Celebration (tea party) 11-12:30pm 

• Monday 8^th May – Bank Holiday

• Tuesday 9^th – Friday 12^th May Year 6 SATS week

• Thursday 11^th and Friday 12^th May – Duke of Edinburgh bronze award (practice expedition)

• Week Commencing 15^th May – Year 6 celebration visit (TBC)

• Tuesday 16th May - The Hub Visit - Go Ape

• Wednesday 17^th May GCSE English Literature Unit 1 Paper 1 (please note change of date as it had been incorrectly written on previous letters)

• Friday 19^th May GCSE Maths non-calculator Paper

• Monday 22^nd May – Class Base 5 – 11 Visit to Manor Lodge Sheffield

• Wednesday 24^th May – Class Base 1 Visit to National Coal Mining Museum

• Wednesday 24^th May GCSE English Literature Unit 1 Paper 2

• Thursday 25^th May – Class Base 2 – 4 Visit to Royal Armouries

• Thursday 25^th May – The Hub Visit (Outdoor adventurous activities)

• Friday 26^th May – School closes for half term

• Monday 5^th June – School closed to pupils INSET day

• Thursday 8^th & Friday 9^th June – Duke of Edinburgh bronze award expedition (letters sent)

• Tuesday 13th July - Active Day

• w/c 17th July - Pride and Diversity Week

• Thursday 20th July - Pride Festival and Summer Fayre - 1.30pm (parents welcome)

Finally…

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. Please do not hesitate to contact us if there is anything you wish to discuss further. We hope you have a wonderful Easter break.

Kind regards,

Viki Drew
Headteacher