10Th May 2021 Dear Parents And

Robert Blake Science College Aspire | Achieve | Celebrate

10th May 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

This year has been an incredibly tough year; the toughest I can remember since I went into teaching, almost 30 years ago. Numerous events have led to some unrest within the school population, which we strive to resolve every time anything arises. The COVID pandemic and outside influences have not helped and we have found some students challenging since returning to school in September.

Our students, your children, have had a really difficult year having to live through the fear of a devastating pandemic, which has affected many families in our community and at school. It cannot have been easy for the majority having to learn from home, learning how to communicate over the internet and having to remain in year group bubbles at school. Social restrictions have also meant that students have been unable to mix or go to many areas of the school that they would have been free to wander previously, missing out on friendships and social interactions as part of their growing up. Many students have had periods of self- isolation and possibly, and unavoidably, spending long periods of time at home alone. Despite the welfare calls and the ‘live’ learning, electronic contact does not take the place of being in school daily and that face- to-face interactions we all thrive on. It has been a stressful time for the whole country and I am delighted that there does appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel and the beginnings of being able to return to some kind of normality.

I strongly believe that all of these mitigating circumstances have compounded issues within the town of Bridgwater and other places across the country. We communicate with the Police weekly so that we can keep each other abreast of developments within the town, the local community and school. You will not be surprised to learn that crime within the town has increased dramatically including drug issues and knife crime. This really concerns us as a school and we are doing all that we can to educate our students to steer away from the pressures they will face from other individuals determined to take the wrong path in life.

As part of our Confidence for Life programme on Friday, our students were delivered an assembly and watched a video about knife crime. This was in order to build awareness of some of the difficulties they may face but unfortunately, a few students and parents have misinterpreted this, thinking that the school has a problem with knife crime. I can assure you that there have been no issues what so ever at school involving knives. If we have a report that someone has something on them that they shouldn’t, under our statutory rights to keep students safe, we always search the student in question and not one single child has been found in possession of a knife. The video that was shown to students can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtqqcjIYS-g . Please do take the time to watch the video and have a conversation with your child(ren) about knife crime, how to keep themselves safe and how to report such incidents.

Not only are knife and drugs crimes on the rise, so too are reports of vandalism, violence, physical assaults and intimidation and bullying through social media. We have seen an increase in events escalating in school following a social media attack or physical attack the previous evening. This is a real concern for us. It appears at present, that a growing minority of young people turn to violence very quickly and see nothing wrong with attacking an individual, which ultimately could result in death if no one is around to help. Resolving these issues takes a huge amount of time and effort from many staff at the school rather than us concentrating on learning, which is incredibly frustrating. We will not tolerate any unkind words or violence towards others and take any confrontation very seriously.

Headteacher Miss Deb Loveridge BSc (Hons), NPQH Robert Blake Science College, Hamp Avenue, Bridgwater, Somerset, TA6 6AW Telephone (01278) 456 243 Web robertblake.org.uk E-mail [email protected] @RobertBlakeSC facebook.com/RobertBlakeSC

Robert Blake Science College Aspire | Achieve | Celebrate

I am sure you will have heard through social media that on Friday, five of our older students were involved in a fight. Those students have been asked not to attend school whilst the incident is investigated. We have a duty of care to our students and our number one priority is to keep students safe. We will not tolerate poor behaviour choices and will not allow any child who is out of our care and control to remain on site.

I am determined to find a way to ensure our school and the local community work together to stamp out any undesirable behaviour. As parents, I would urge you to ensure you know the whereabouts of your child(ren) when they are out and who they are with as there are so many social situations that are spilling into school, which prevents the learning environment from being as productive as it should be. Thank you to the number of parents and public that report incidents to us that take place outside of school. It is good to be kept informed and any information is very helpful but please support the Police and the school by reporting all incidents that you see or hear about outside of school to the Police. You can report crime in a number of ways:

 Using a ‘suspecting crime’ form online at https://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/forms/isc/ .  Calling 101 to report a crime or one you have heard is planned to take place.  Anonymously calling Crime Stoppers on 0800 555111.  Anonymously reporting online at https://www.fearless.org/ .  Calling 999 in an emergency.

The Police are increasing their capacity in the local area by recruiting six PCSOs and two Police Officers to this area of Bridgwater. There is also a violence reduction unit, an anti-social behaviour unit and youth offending team in the local area.

It saddens me to write such a letter to our parents and carers but I want to be transparent so that we can all help each other. 97% of our school community do exactly what they should in school, both in lessons and in social time and should be congratulated for their efforts. It is such a shame that the 3% have such a negative impact across the school. We will continue to work hard to eradicate these poor behaviour choices.

Thank you so much for your support in person, by letter and email and on social media. It is very much appreciated. If you wish to discuss this further, please contact the school in the usual way to book an appointment.

Yours sincerely

D Loveridge Headteacher