Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends
The school buildings and IT system are unlikely to be top of the list of things your children tell you about after a day at school. I know, you are lucky to get much out of them at all! Therefore, I thought I would use this Blog opportunity to assure you that despite funding being tight, we are doing our best to maintain and even improve the school environment.
The summer break was a busy period for building works across the school site. The science building got a fresh lick of paint and new flooring, moving away from the 1990s purple walls! Within PE the changing rooms have been extended to support our increased student numbers and our tennis and netball courts have had a refresh. In addition, The Learning Link and Business classrooms have had new carpets and ceilings installed along with LED lighting.
This term the drama studio is being re-plastered and decorated and, within the library, the dividing wall is being removed to open up the space and we are investing in new shelving.
The Easter and Summer breaks next year will, we hope, see several larger projects going ahead, including update to the AV systems within the classrooms. The Technology and Music department toilets will also get a renovation this year to bring them up to date.
In addition to all this, we have put in bids for financing from the government for two larger projects: (i) a site-wide fire alarm upgrade; and (ii) a re-roofing project that covers the café, library, and drama hall. We can but cross our fingers and hope to be successful.
Last, but certainly not least, IT is being heavily invested in this year, with 80 new pcs being purchased to get the school ready for Windows 11; an investment in building connectivity to bring a faster network to the school; along with a brand new Wi-Fi system.
The governors are grateful to Tom McWilliam, our Operations and Estates Director, and his IT and site teams for driving this progress forward. We are also really grateful to those of you who responded to our plea for volunteers to assist at future fundraising events. We have organised a social evening for volunteers to get together and exchange ideas on Thursday 3 November at 7.30pm in the Sixth Form Centre. If you are willing to help at a future event or, indeed, have any ideas as to how we can raise money to fund more works to the school, please do come along. I simply ask that you RSVP by completing the form at the link below so that we know how many to cater for. I look forward to seeing you then!
Friends of The Holt School – Volunteers’ ‘Get together’ event – Autumn Term (03.11.22) (office.com)
Fiona Cross
Chair of Governors