Coronavirus response update 22nd May 2020

Today is the last day of this half term. Please ensure that your sons and daughters spend time to recharge their batteries and do different things next week. They’ve worked really hard over the last ten weeks and they deserve a bit of a break. We’ll resume our offer on Monday 1st June.

A few updates.

This weekend sees the end of the holy month of Ramadan for our Muslim staff and students. The period ends with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr (the festival of breaking the fast), a festival of prayer and celebration. On behalf of the whole community at Ashton Sixth Form College, we would like to wish all who are celebrating Eid Mubarak when the time comes.

Today is another anniversary. Three years ago, Manchester suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks on British soil. The attack of the Manchester Arena cost 22 people their lives and injured many more. I’m sure we’ll be thinking of the family and friends of those who lost their lives on that day. The outpouring of support, love and kindness which followed was overwhelming for many from our region. Sometimes, something positive can come from the darkest of days; there’s an analogy in there somewhere about our current crisis. We will get through this and we will learn much about ourselves and our society.  

Our planning for June continues. I am aiming to have a guide to our potential reopening available to staff, students and parents during the first week in June. Thank you too all of your parents who took the time to complete and return the Google form about re-opening the college in June; these will be used in our planning.

And finally, today is the last day of Mental Health Awareness Week.  To finish off the week, some words on kindness:

A 2018 study on Kindness

A 2018 study focused on employees at a Spanish company. Workers were asked to either a) perform acts of kindness for colleagues, or b) count the number of kind acts they received from co-workers. The results showed that those who received acts of kindness became happier, demonstrating the value of benevolence for the receiver.

However, those who delivered the acts of kindness benefited even more than the receivers. That’s because not only did they show a similar trend towards increased happiness, but they also had a boost in life and job satisfaction, as well as a decrease in depression.

Furthermore, the effects of altruism were contagious. Those colleagues on the receiving end of the acts of kindness ended up spontaneously paying it forward, themselves doing nice things for other colleagues. This study suggests the ripple effect really is one of the benefits of being nice.

If we can all do a little more of this, we’ll all benefit.

Taken from: www.Happiness.com   

That’s it for today and this half term. I won’t bother you next week, you’ll be pleased to hear! I’ll return on the 1st June with another daily update.

Take care, look after yourself, your families and each other; be patient and stay positive.

Anton

Principal