Page 1 - September 2020 Newsletter

ABBERLEY
1
ADVENTURES
PART OF THE MALVERN COLLEGE FAMILY
OF SCHOOLS
ISSUE 1 | SEPT 2020
Dear Parents,
Welcome to our new-look Newsletter, which I will be sending out each half term in order to provide news, updates and an overview of all the exciting things that your children will be getting up to at Abberley Hall. The next edition will come out at around Half Term. I apologise that this edition will be taken up largely with matters relating to Covid-19 and a somewhat complicated return to school.
I hope that you have all had a very restful and well-deserved summer break after what was a challenging period of online learning. We moved to the school on 1st August and have enjoyed exploring the magical grounds and buildings as well as the local area. We have very much enjoyed meeting lots of friendly Abberley families as well as lots of staff. Our children, Archie and Florence, have had some lovely ‘play dates’ with new friends. We slept in the amazing tree house a few nights after moving and had a delicious breakfast cooked over an open fire the next morning. Our children have enjoyed exploring the grounds and have been particularly drawn to The Inkpot. Mr Richardson has taught them to use his paddleboard and they have enjoyed kayaking and swimming. Our dog, Rollo, has
enjoyed getting covered in black mud and then coming into the house to jump on the sofas. We’ve done some fishing in The Inkpot too and Archie was delighted to land his biggest catch to date. It’s been a very busy but a very rewarding summer. The massive pile of empty boxes has now been cleared and we’re starting to feel very much at home. Thank you for making us all feel so welcome.
Staff are excited about the prospect of welcoming our pupils back to school after almost six months away and I suspect that children are secretly looking forward to getting back to normality as well. I expect that parents can’t wait to see their children learning again, running around and spending much-needed time with their friends. Life will certainly not be entirely normal for a while, but we have worked hard to ensure that our pupils will be able to have a rich and rewarding school experience whilst staying safe and operating within government and medical guidelines. The picture is fast-changing and so we thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation as we adapt to our new way of operating. We sent a Return to School Interim Guide in early July and a more detailed Back to School
Guide in early August, which I would urge you to read again carefully by clicking here Please also read our final updates below in order to help us ensure that the start of term is as smooth as possible.
We look forward to seeing many of our pupils for Pre-Season training on Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th, to welcoming our full-time boarders back on Sunday 6th September and the rest of our pupils on Monday 7th for the first day of our new academic year.
We hope to meet many more of you over the coming weeks and we wish you all a very happy and healthy Autumn term as we embark upon a new and exciting chapter in the history of Abberley Hall. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to get in touch by emailing me on jonnie.besley@abberleyhall.co.uk
Jonnie Besley
Headmaster
IN THIS ISSUE
Message from Carey Leonard 2 Key dates 2 Return to School Logistics 3 Boarding 4 Prefects 5 Uniform 5 New Caterers 6 New Website 6 Calendar 7 Water Bottles 7 Face-coverings 7 Instagram 8 Thank you and Good luck! 9