I hope you and your families are well. Further to letters sent out last week by the headteacher, I would like to send out some further information to you in relation to some specific matters.
Uniform
All pupils are required to be in full uniform if they are on school site from 15th March. This includes pupils that will still be accessing our hub provision. However, we recognise that there may be pressures with this due to restrictions and financial concerns. If there are any issues with uniform, please contact your child’s Head of Year and we will address these considerately. Furthermore, if you have any uniform that you no longer need, we would welcome any donations of old uniform that is still in good condition so that we can launder these and offer them to families who may require this support. These laundered clothes will be fully compliant with any Covid-19 risk management procedures.
Cashless systems
We operate ParentPay in school to ensure that there is no physical transfer of cash. However, there have still been some occasions where pupils have brought cash to school. Please be advised that due to concerns relating to Covid-19 that we are insisting on a completely cashless system and so all parents and carers need to use ParentPay. If there any concerns with this, please let us know so that we can resolve any issues.
Free School Meals
Between 15th and 26th March, for those pupils who are eligible for Free School Meals in years 7-11, if a particular year group is on site then pupils who receive FSM will need to eat their meals from the Diner as would normally be the case. These payments will be deducted to the payments you receive. The system for years 12 and 13 is different and these students have been informed of this. Payments will be received during the Easter holidays. If school returns to full capacity as expected on 12th April, all pupils who are eligible for Free School Meals will resume receiving these in school and payments home will cease.
Transport
Please see attached document with reminders about arrangements for transport. Please ensure that pupils who use transport are wearing face coverings, are socially distanced where possible and are fully compliant with the instructions of the driver.
Testing for students in years 10 and above
As mentioned in previous correspondence, we will be asking all students in years 10, 11 and 6th form to test themselves using a Lateral Flow Testing system. This will further support our risk reduction measures to allow for wider reopening of the school. Further information about testing will be sent out with an information letter and privacy notice being given to parents so that they can then give their consent for this to take place. The consent can be given electronically. For those learners above the age of 16, they can give their own consent to take part in the testing programme. This information will be sent out as soon as possible.
Teaching and learning
We are grateful for the many messages of support and positive feedback on our online learning provision which has been in place since January. Indeed 83% of parents said they were pleased with the online provision which has been in place for pupils. One of the key aspects or reopening the school for face to face teaching is the provision of a full and balanced curriculum. During the next two weeks many pupils will be having blended learning.
Year 11, 12 and 13 students will return to school full time, and return to their normal timetables. This will give them contact time with their regular classroom teachers and time to work on generating the evidence for their centre determined grades. Nearly all aspects of school life should return to how things were before Christmas for these pupils.
Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 pupils will be in for days to check in, catch up and prepare for a full return after Easter. In the first instance we will be completing some wellbeing sessions with the pupils, and checking in. But through their time in school we will be focussing on skills such as literacy and numeracy to help to ensure that pupils are back up to speed ready to learn new and exciting content when we return in April. We also aim to ensure that pupils are inspired to enjoy their learning and cover things in an interesting way.
Online Learning will continue to be provided via Microsoft TEAMS for all students when they are not on site. This will continue to be a combination of set work and live lessons. However, with all staff on site delivering face to face sessions with pupils it will be impossible to maintain the level of live lessons we have been over the last few weeks. All students should still have access to some live learning in each subject, but the majority of work will be set for pupils to complete.
We hope to be able to welcome all pupils back full time after Easter, and to return to the way we were working before Christmas for all pupils
