This week in school we have been working to raise awareness of our partner school, St John’s in Korogocho, Kenya. In addition to assemblies and curriculum-based activities, students have been raising money through a number of initiatives from cake sakes through to sponging the teacher. This Friday was a non-uniform day. A number of staff switched roles and donned school, uniform much to the amusement of students.

Our Sixth Form Open Evening was held this Thursday; we hosted hundreds of students from Oaklands and other schools who are interested in studying A Levels with us. More information about our Sixth Form College can be found on our website.

A number of parents have contacted me this week. Firstly, to talk about the outstanding pastoral care that their children have received here at Oaklands, this is something that was recognised by Ofsted in their recent inspection. Pastoral care touches many areas of school life from safeguarding through to home visits made by staff to support families.
The second area on which I have been quizzed relates to how Oaklands is managing with the current rise in inflation and energy prices. Fortunately, we are locked into an energy contract until September next year, this is providing us with some protection. However, similar to all schools we are seeing increases in the cost of a number of products and services, particularly food supply in the canteen.

This week I was concerned to learn of a report written by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a much-respected think tank. They are warning of the risk of significant job cuts if educational funding does not increase. Talking to other Heads and College Leaders across all sectors, the problems faced are not isolated to secondary schools, it is across the educational sector. Our prudence in recent years puts us in a stronger place than others. However, reserves only last for a finite period and can only be spent once.