Dear Parents / Guardians

The Royal Wedding, on Friday 29 April 2011, is an extra day’s holiday for schools in England, but this creates problems for this School.

Boarders return for the Summer Term in the evening of Easter Monday and lessons begin on the Tuesday. To give the first Friday as a holiday would create huge problems as boarders could not be required to go home for just 24 hours and so we would have to look after them for the day before teaching again on the Saturday morning.

We have considered a variety of options particularly thinking of parents who have already bought plane tickets for travel to and from School for the Summer, meaning that it is difficult to alter term dates. We also need to ensure the correct number of School days in the year.

What we propose is to teach on Royal Wedding Day (which is 29 April) with pupils having the option of watching the Royal Wedding on the electronic whiteboards in classrooms. Pupils and staff would then be entitled to a day off in lieu of that day and we propose to end the Summer Term on Thursday 7 July rather than Friday 8 July 2011.

This will ensure the maximum amount of teaching before Primary SATs, GCSE and AS level examinations.

If this is going to cause problems for any parents then please do contact me directly.

Paul D Spencer Ellis
Headmaster