Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Dear Parents and Carers, 

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 

We hope this letter finds you well. 

We were intending to write to you to welcome you back to the new academic year and to congratulate our academies on the many successes of last year, to inform you of a very positive start to the new term and to wish everyone associated with the Trust best wishes for the new academic year. While we can assure you that term has indeed started well, we are now writing to reflect on the significance of recent events and to reassure you about the Trust’s response. 

We are all now entering a time of national mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Trust joins with the nation in mourning the passing of Her Majesty and holding the members of her family in our thoughts, especially His Majesty the King, who met with some of our young people at an event before the pandemic, and Prince William, who visited Saltley in 2015. 

Her Late Majesty the Queen’s impact on our country, the Commonwealth and the world was extraordinary. As you know, our Trust’s vision is to enable our young people to be ‘contributing, articulate, happy and healthy citizens’. The Queen set an example of service and humility, values which underpin a well-lived life in whatever context. As a Trust, we mourn her loss and reflect on her life-long service. 

We want to reassure you that all our academies will be helping the young people to reflect on the Queen’s life and the significance of her passing. Today, all our academies have had special presentations and assemblies. This will build on the learning and the enjoyment the Trust family of academies shared when we celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in the summer term. We want all our young people to understand what will happen next and encourage them to follow events over the coming days. They will be guided through this significant and sad time in our nation’s history in a way that is appropriate to their age.
 
Academies will remain open during the period of national mourning: at the time of writing, we are awaiting confirmation of the date of Her Late Majesty’s funeral. It Is expected that this will be a national holiday and therefore all schools will be closed on this day. Each academy will contact parents and carers with information on this when it is confirmed.  

The last academic year was one of very significant progress in our academies. The way our academies have responded to support our young people in relation to these recent sad events shows the quality of the collaboration which now exists in the Trust. 

We hope this gives you reassurance in relation to the response of the Trust to the passing of Her Majesty and also in relation to the quality of education which will be provided to your child/children in the year ahead.

Best wishes,

Mr Pete Weir, CEO

Mr Graham Parker, Chair of the Board of Trustees