“THE events of the last week caused us to pause and reflect on the many and varied impacts of the pandemic on the wider school family. Whether you feel remote and reliant on your wifi signal to stay connected to King’s Ely or if you are journeying out and about due to your personal circumstances, our bond with you over the children and their educational endeavours here at King’s Ely unites us during these testing times.
“Losses are woven into the tapestry of life and despite our horror at the number and scale of loss being experienced due to Covid, we remain strong together. Thank you for the support shown towards students, colleagues and friends of the school as we absorb the loss of a beloved colleague. We appreciate that for many of you there have been personal and family losses to come to terms with away from school too. Please do make use of the warmth and range of support available through the Pastoral and Welfare Teams, Tutors and the Chaplain here at King’s if we can be of service.
“Next week is Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week and we will be encouraging the children to take some time to be creative as part of it. The theme this year is ‘Express Yourself’. During the afternoon of Thursday 4th February, teachers and children are being encouraged to leave their computers, to take time away from tech and ease off for an afternoon of optional relaxed and creative pursuits. The children will have access to a range of suggested activities and things they might decide to do to help ensure that their time is personally fulfilling but the afternoon has been identified as a time when, across all of King’s Ely, wellness and mindful activities should be the priority. There is no one way being promoted as the way to spend the time because in each household we appreciate there will be different considerations determining what is appropriate. Please feel free to treat the time as flexibly as you can within your constraints. The suggested activities are there as a resource but equally, some of you may decide to get outdoors, build a tree house or just take a deep breath and catch up. We hope that the time will be well used and meaningful for the children. Please do send us any pictures capturing the essence of the afternoon because we would love to share them.
“We send our best wishes to all of you and the children for the weekend and look forward to a reflective and enthusiastic week to come – both on and offline too!”