I couldn't be more proud of the Blackheath High community

This year has brought many challenges, but many more successes, and I come out of this term incredibly proud of the whole school community. We are navigating something unprecedented, but we have all repeatedly come together in unison to overcome every new hurdle.

Our students have remained positive and thoughtful. Parents have been supportive and understanding despite facing huge challenges in their own personal and professional lives. Our staff have truly shone; their dedication, commitment and skilful responses during this time, whilst juggling their own family commitments, has been invaluable.

As we continue to adjust, it has been lovely to see how we are finding new ways to continue and transform our special Blackheath High relationships online. Reception story time, synchronous fitness club workouts and form time quizzes have been the highlight of our days and the more we participate and share in these activities, the better every day will become.

During my first virtual end of term assembly I spoke about how creativity and community can blossom in times of adversity. I am a strong believer in that sometimes it takes something drastic to give us all an opportunity to pause, recalibrate and think about what is truly important. If nothing else, COVID19 will provide us with the time to find new opportunities and question our usual way of doing things. What changes do we, our families and our communities need to do in order to come out of this period better and stronger?

Undoubtedly we have challenges ahead of us, but I know we can face them together. This quote seems timely:

“And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” - Haruki Murakami  

As we part for the Easter break, we hope you enjoy the end of term issue of Highlife with some of the wonderful news stories from across our school community.