One of our students took the opportunity presented by lockdown to take part in an excellent initiative intended to bring the community together and combat loneliness. Lucy, now in Year 11, plays football with Chesterfield FC Women's team. During lockdown, she joined a Community Trust programme in which she was teamed with a 'pen pal' from one of Chesterfield Community Trust's walking football teams. Lucy and her older correspondent shared a common interest: their love of football. This helped the conversation to flow and both parties discovered a different view of the game about which they share a passion. Well done to Lucy for taking advantage of the opportunity to broaden her horizons and to create positive links with different parts of the 'football family'. What a great use of time during lockdown!

Due to current circumstances, we are replacing our usual Open Evenings for Year 7 entry with an Online Open Event. The event will take place online on our website. If you are considering secondary schools for your child please visit www.ladymanners.net/admissions from Thursday 24 September, 4pm, to get a feel for our school. We are looking forward to introducing you to our school, from the comfort of your own homes!

It was wonderful to have all of our students back at school today – all in their year group bubbles. They were able to see many of the improvements that we have made to the site over the summer break. The more visible improvements include refurbishment of the Main Hall and redecoration of the Sports Hall, Sports Link and Music Corridors as well as several classrooms. We also now have new lockers for students in Years 7, 8 and 9, additional outdoor seating and new signage around the site. We hope everyone has a good weekend after their first days back at school.

Today was the first day of the new school year for our Year 7 and Year 12 students. The day was devoted to these new students as they met new classmates and form tutors, started to find their way around their 'bubble' in the school and took part in activities designed to help them settle in to school. They began to feel at home in their form rooms – as is demonstrated by 7C in the photo. It was lovely to meet all of our Year 7 students. Tomorrow we welcome back our Years 8 and 10. Years 9, 11 and 13 students will return on Friday 4 September.

Staff were back in school today (an Inset Day) to make final preparations for the start of the new school year. The premises team, and others, have been very busy over the summer with dozens of projects, big and small, which all improve the school environment and to make sure it is safe and secure for the return of students and staff this week. Preparations this year have included a raft of measures in light of COVID-19. These include, amongst other things, the installation of one way systems, hand sanitisers, additional toilet and washing facilities and the use of a specialist fogging device by our premises team that helps to sanitise classrooms. We are ready and waiting to meet our Year 7 and Year 12 students on their first day in school on Wednesday 2 September. We look forward to welcoming back Years 8 and 10 on Thursday 3 September and Years 9, 11 and 13 on Friday 4 September.

Lady Manners School students are celebrating excellent GCSE results achieved in the very unusual circumstances presented this year. Year 11 students performed strongly across a broad range of subjects. There were many outstanding individual successes, and students are now busy preparing for their post-16 destinations. Staff at Lady Manners School are looking forward to welcoming many of these students back in September to start their A Level studies. Others plan to go on to other forms of post-16 education, such as apprenticeships and college courses. First and foremost, staff and governors congratulate this wonderful group of students on their high achievements and for the hard work they have put in during their time at school. They have done extremely well and we are proud of them all. This has been a particularly challenging time for students, who have shown high levels of adaptability and resilience during this exceptional period. We send all of them our best wishes as they progress to the next stage of their education, and we look forward to hearing about their future successes. We remain available to help students with any queries they may have about their results. Further details are available at www.ladymanners.net/examinations.