Dear Parents/Carers,
When the school reopens again after the May half-term break it will be known as Leigh Academy Bexley (LABex) and join Leigh Academies Trust (LAT) as its 31st academy. Mr Dixon will lead LABex as its substantive Principal to continue the transformation underway since last September. We are grateful for all of the support shown by parents and carers so far this year and look forward to developing our relationship with you further.
We know things have not always been easy this year and that some of you have had frustrations. We too have been frustrated by the situation we inherited, but are determined to put it right. Pupils and families at King Henry School had been badly let down and deserve much better from now on. We cannot promise that everything will be plain sailing as there are bound to be further challenges along the way, but we can promise that we will work hard every day to ensure that the quality of education for your son/daughter continues to improve. So far this year, three LAT secondary schools have been judged outstanding in all areas by Ofsted. We will bring our considerable experience and expertise to bear for the benefit of LABex pupils and their families.
To prepare for the next stage of improvement in September, we have appointed a wide range of new leaders, teachers and support staff to LABex. This is to support our new small school model of education, due to launch in September, to provide much higher levels of care to pupils so that they achieve better at school. Mr Dixon will write to you to set out full details of all these changes in due course, including how pupils can collect their new uniform for September.
As you know, we will be embarking on a significant programme to update the buildings and IT at LABex to address the neglect we have inherited. A large proportion of this work will be implemented over the summer holiday and will continue throughout next academic year. Our plan is to issue all pupils with their own Chromebook at no expense to families to make learning between school and home seamless. We also look forward to reopening a fully restocked and refurbished library.
Crucial to the future success of the school will be its positive relationships with parents, carers and the wider community. We have seen significant improvements on that front this year, but if there are any other points you wish to raise with us about how we can make LABex an excellent school for your child, please get in touch in the normal way.
Yours faithfully,
Simon Beamish
Chief Executive
