Dear All,

The excitement and anticipation from children (and their families!) has been a feature of the communication I have received since Monday’s announcement (as well as a great deal of anxiety about how it will all look). Once again the ESW ‘wheels’ have rolled into action with Headteachers and Shared Service Managers seamlessly co-ordinating the mass testing of all of our secondary children 3 times over a 9 day period, whilst continuing to ensure that we do what schools are set up to do. I am very proud of the way all staff have stepped up once again and met this latest hurdle in the narrative of ‘returning to normality’, whilst simultaneously maintaining a normality of educational provision as much as possible.

And this is what we all continue to do, try to provide stability for our children and for our colleagues amongst all the uncertainty that exists. Whilst maintaining a positive outlook for all.

For Christmas I was given the book ‘The Happiest Man on Earth’. Written by Eddie Jaku it relates his story, without over-dramatisation, as a Jew growing up in Nazi Germany. As a Holocaust survivor he shares his story and bundles of wisdom. In ESW we try to live by the philosophy of working hard and being kind to people; nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in this book. If you want an uplifting but, admittedly at times, harrowing read, I can thoroughly recommend it.

Thank you to all of you for the part you continue to play in making young people’s lives better.

Have a great weekend (in sunshine it would appear!) when it comes,

Matthew