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Dear Parents and wider Mougins Community, 

It’s the first Friday of my first week and I am reflecting positively on the conversations and communications that I have been able to have with you. I am truly sad not to have been able to spend time with our students this week and feel the real rhythms of the school. Schools are always strange places without children!

During this first week I have presented some of my ideas about schools and in particular the importance of a positive school culture built on an agreed set of values. It has been great to read some of your responses to the form that I sent out asking you, as a family to consider what the values of our school should be. For anybody who missed the presentation on Wednesday you still have the opportunity to contribute to this discussion by completing the short form below: 

Community Values Questionnaire 

 

I hope you enjoy having conversations about this. It is incredibly important. Having gone through this process a number of times now I have found the following prompts extremely useful: 

  • Think of a person you know personally and have a great deal of respect for. Describe them to someone else and ask that person to write down what they think your values are based on what you say about your chosen person. . 
  • The values you choose should be so important that you would keep them no matter how the world or the organisation changes. They should be timeless, enduring and require no external justification. 

I believe that this exercise is perhaps one of the most important discussions an organisation can have. Far from just being turned into an infographic and stuck on the wall (this will happen too!), these values should provide the foundations on which our systems and processes are built. They should provide us with an identity and a common language. This can and should drive behaviour, rewards, curriculum, recruitment, communication and everything else that we do in school and as a community. 

I would also like to extend my thanks to the community for such a warm welcome. It has been lovely to get a first taste of what this school is about and feel the strength and depth of caring that exists. I think the future looks bright. 

As a final note I would like to extend my thanks to Brian Hickmore for his support and work during this transition period. His knowledge has been invaluable and his ease of manner and genuine care for this school has made him a pleasure to work with. I am pleased to share with you that I have asked him to stay on until the end of the school year as a consultant. I feel that this helps provide stability and a sure footing as we move forward into the next stages of the school’s development. 

Have a lovely break. 

James Wellings
Head of School 

COVID Update

As you are aware the current situation is that the primary school will be returning on the 26th April with secondary students the week after. We will monitor government advice carefully over the break and inform you immediately if there are changes to the regulations and protocols. 

We would like to remind all parents to read our COVID POLICY as it provides important processes that we will follow. The policy is driven by advice and requirements from French health authorities and this will always be the basis of school decision making with regard to any matters linked to the pandemic. 

In order to keep the school as safe as possible we would like to inform you of the following: 

  • We will be asking all teachers to take a COVID test before returning to school after the break. 
  • We ask all families to take a PCR or antigen test less than 72 hours before returning to school. We then expect to be informed immediately if any household member receives a positive test. This should be directly emailed to a.vibert@mougins-school.com 

Whilst there remains a range of opinions on how COVID should be tackled the one thing that is not debatable is that we all have a responsibility to keep ourselves and others safe. We therefore greatly appreciate your assistance in helping to ensure that we do so.

Year 11, 12 & 13 Exams

All parents and students from Year 11, 12 & 13 have received an update on the (I)GCSE, (I)AS and (I)A2 cancelled examination series for this year. If you missed this communication it can be accessed HERE