Good evening,
I am sure you are aware of last night’s very sad announcement to close schools as part of the new national lockdown. We understand that the rapidly rising numbers of Covid 19 cases across the country and the intense pressure on the NHS means that every measure possible needs to be taken to reduce contacts outside of the home and one of these measures is to close schools for the remainder of this term.
I know you will be worried about what this means for your son/daughter and the increased pressure this will create for you when you are managing home schooling, working and caring for others. The school will continue to support all our students by providing high quality remote learning for the period of this second enforced school closure. Yesterday, we used MS Teams for some lesson delivery and the feedback we have had from staff and students has been really positive. We appreciate that we will have a few teething problems as we get used to this new way of working but we know our students are enjoying this more interactive approach to remote learning. For your reference, I have again attached our guidelines for using MS Teams. This is in addition to support for remote learning on our website. If you have any concerns/ questions about remote learning please do contact the school. We can be contacted via email, the contact form on our website and our Reception and telephone lines remain open from 8.00am until 3.30pm, Monday to Friday.
During this period of enforced closure the school will remain open to vulnerable students and children of key (critical) workers only. Further information on the definition of these two groups can be found here. If you would like to request a place in this provision please email the PA to the Principal, Miss Walendziewski, [email protected] All other students will continue to learn remotely for the remainder of this term. We appreciate that students in Years 11 and 13 will be anxious about the comments made by the Prime Minister last night regarding alternative arrangements being made for GCSE/ A level and vocational examinations. At the moment, we don’t have any further clarification on this and we would advise our students to continue to work to the very best of their ability in all subjects and remain engaged with their work and their teachers.
We are aware that a further period of school closure may have a detrimental impact on the wellbeing of our young people. I have attached the document shared before Christmas that details sources of support for young people who may be feeling anxious and worried about the current situation. If you do have any safeguarding concerns regarding your child or another young person at the school please make contact with the school’s safeguarding team via telephone (01332 204040) or by emailing [email protected]
Thank you for your ongoing support, it is a pleasure to work with such a wonderful group of students and such supportive families. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you need us. Although we are not fully open to students, our staff remain available to support all members of the Landau community.
Alison Brannick
Principal