Good afternoon everyone,
We hope you and your families are all safe and well and enjoyed the recent bank holiday weekend. Staff at the College really miss our students, schools are more than just buildings, they are communities and we are really looking forward to the day our community can be back together. Our staff have made a short film (below) to tell our students that we miss them and to let them know that we are still here for them. We hope you enjoy watching and listening to the messages from staff.
I am sure you will have listened to the Prime Minister’s announcement on Sunday evening about some of the changes to the national lockdown. Further details on what this means for our school and our families can be found on the GOV.UK website:
View the guidance for parents and carers
It is now clear that students in Years 7, 8 and 9 will not return to school until after the summer holiday. We will continue to support our students in these year groups by staying in contact and setting work via the platform of Show My Homework. We are already thinking about how we can best support the wellbeing of these students when they return to school and how we can reduce any gaps in their learning. We know lots of our students will be anxious about having so much time out of school but we want to reassure them and you that we will do everything we can to support their successful return to school.
The guidance above states that from 1 June ‘secondary schools should begin some face to face support with Year 10 and Year 12 students, although we do not expect these students to return on a full-time basis at this stage’. We are now going to start planning what this will look like and ensuring that any plans we put in place fully adhere to Department for Education and Public Health England guidance. In the next few days we will be consulting with parents/ carers and students in Year 10 and Year 12 to find out your thoughts and concerns about any partial return to school. It is vital that we continue to work in partnership, we understand that some of you may not currently want your children to return to school and all of you will want reassurance from the school about how we will support students returning in a safe way. Once we have consulted with families, we will share our plans with you and look forward to welcoming students in Year 10 and 12 back to school on a part time basis.
Some of you may have children in Year 6 who will be starting at the school in September. Transition arrangements for this year group will be very different to normal but we will still be running an appropriate and revised transition programme. We will be in touch shortly with what this will look like for your child.
Thank you for the great job you are doing in supporting your child to continue with their education during the enforced closure. We really appreciate it.
Please do contact us if you have any concerns or questions.
Take care and stay safe,
Alison Brannick
Principal