A MESSAGE FROM RICK
 

Dear Parents 

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The view from my office of the Surrey Hills has provided much needed relief as we have limped to the end of term. After the high in the last two weeks of being able to host the wonderful ‘Peter Pan’ and the spectacular dance and music concert in the Aldridge Theatre, to having to postpone and cancel all events this week, it has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. I want to thank all those parents who have been supportive of the difficult decisions we have had to make, juggling our desire to run as many events as possible with the pressing need to protect the health and safety of the whole community.  

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Plans for January 

Looking ahead to next term, we are planning for the worst, but hoping for the best! There is talk of a January lockdown, but what shape this may take is unknown. In the Senior School, we have asked all students to ensure that they take as many of their books, files and notes home as possible in case we have to revert to online learning. Staff are planning for this, in both the Senior and Junior Schools, but we are hopeful that this does not happen. I want to reassure you that we will do all we can to ensure that no learning is disrupted, building on the successes of our last period of online teaching and learning.  

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Calendar 

Hopefully, you will have seen by now that we have published on our website the term dates up until the end of Summer 2023. As we are on the border of Surrey and Hampshire, we always need to look carefully at their published dates before we publish ours, balancing this with the HMC school dates too. We ask that parents stick to these dates when booking holidays and avoid as far as possible removing children from school. 

I want to mention, and I apologise for the short notice of this, that there will be an extra day's holiday at the end of February half term next term. We have a staff training day on Monday 21 February, so lessons resume on Tuesday 22 February. We have already written to boarding parents to say that if you are unable to change flights then boarders are welcome to return as usual on Sunday 20th February, and they will be supervised in the boarding houses on the 21st.  

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Fee Invoices 

An important message from the Bursar and the Finance team. You will shortly be receiving your Spring term fee invoices by email and we want to remind you that we will never change our bank account details without plenty of prior notification.  If you are ever unsure of the school’s bank account details or would just like to confirm them before you make a payment, please don’t hesitate to call the Finance Department on 01252 792299 or email us. We would also like to let you know that paying your child’s school fees by direct debit remains one of the safest ways to pay.  If you do not have a direct debit set up and would like to arrange this for the Summer term fees, please get in touch via FeesAdmin@frensham.org  If you do pay by direct debit, total fees (per your invoice) will be taken from your chosen bank account on the first day of every term. 

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School Values 

You will be aware that we launched the new school values this term. We have been working hard behind the scenes on a number of ways of instilling these values across the school. On a practical level, we have used them in the Junior School to help with the creation of a new behaviour charter to help children understand their rights and responsibilities both in and out of the classroom. In the Senior School, we draw attention to them in weekly notices, departments have been looking at ways of incorporating them into their curriculum planning, and we have made them a part of any staff recruitment processes we have conducted this term, with specific focus on asking values-based questions of candidates. 

We sincerely hope that parents embrace our values too and on the whole, interactions with parents are nearly always positive and in the spirit of togetherness and mutual respect that is at the heart of Frensham. On rare occasions, these interactions aren’t as positive and I wanted to reassure you that we always aim to do the very best for the children in our care. Of course, we get things wrong sometimes, but by approaching issues with generosity of spirit the school, and the community around it will be enhanced and enriched. 

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I want to end by thanking you again for your support. We are pleased that for the majority of the term we have been able to run things as close to normal as possible, and we have really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with parents on a number of occasions. We are planning further opportunities next term, COVID-dependent, and we look forward to seeing you all again soon. 

Have a wonderful (COVID-free) Christmas and New Year with loved ones. 

Best wishes 

Rick