Dear Parents and Carers of Year 10 and/or 12 students

I hope that you and your families are keeping safe and well. 

As you are aware from our previous communication, the government have suggested June 1^st as a start date for schools to begin broadening their educational offer to students.  The government have highlighted Year 10 and 12 students as priority year groups due to their proximity to important exams next academic year (by which stage we all very much hope to have returned to normal school provision for all students).  

Please read the below carefully so that you are clear on our next steps for your child. 

For Year 10 parents, please note that we will send further information on the 1st June, including a link to an important questionnaire should our plans for opening on the 8^th June go forward. 

You will need to complete this questionnaire by 5pm Wednesday 4^th June to enable your child to take part in on site learning from the following week.  Please be reassured that it will be extremely brief and I thank you in advance for your co-operation.

When will any new developments take place?

There will be no change to our provision in the first week back after half-term.  We hope, on 8^th June, to partially open for Year 10.  However, this will depend on updated guidance after half-term.

We will use the first week back to ensure that adequate preparations can be made to make provision as safe as possible should we be able to partially open.  This will also allow us to amend plans based on any new information or advice from the SAGE meeting of government scientific advisors on May 28^th.  Additionally, this will allow parents/carers time to make any necessary adjustments to family/household routines. 

What does current guidance say?

To be very clear, there is no suggestion that schools should reopen as normal, or even with full year groups on site, or with any students attending for a full timetable at this stage (apart from those in vulnerable groups or whose parents/carers are key workers to whom we have always been open).  Sadly, this means it looks highly likely that students in Years 7-9 will not be able to return to school until September.  For these students, we will continue to do our absolute utmost to provide as broad and rich an online curriculum as we can until we are able to reopen more widely.

The expectation now is that schools offer some ‘face to face’ learning to ‘supplement home learning’ for students in Years 10 and 12.  We are keen to do all we can to support this initiative.  Please bear in mind, however, that any change in current provision is dependent upon the continuing reduced spread of the coronavirus so may be subject to change at short notice. 

What will be offered to Year 10 and 12 students?

We are currently finalising plans for exactly what we will be able to offer our Year 10 and 12 students.  Of course, we will be taking a number of very important steps to make things as safe as possible for students, staff and their families before face to face work of any kind begins.

The provision for each year group will be different. 

Year 10:

We intend to offer Year 10 students some face to face teaching, in small groups, in Core (English, Maths, Science) and Humanities (History and Geography).  Initially, students will receive 2 hours of face to face learning per day, Monday-Thursday.  We need to manage this carefully so, for the first week, the year group will be split into two halves and each half will attend on alternate days.  We hope to then expand this so that all Year 10 students can be on site Monday-Thursday.

Year 12:

The offer for Year 12 will be more bespoke, including, for example, more individualized online face to face learning and some on site provision.  This is to ensure that we take into account the range and different combinations of subjects that students study post-16.  Extensive consultations with departments are well underway to determine what will most benefit students in each subject area.  Further guidance, including relating to safety procedures for any student attending school site, will be provided following the half-term break.  These will be broadly in line with the safety procedures outlined for Year 10 students via the link below.

What additional health and safety measures will be in place for students attending school site?

Of course, the health and safety of students, staff and the wider community is paramount.  Please click 2410/safety-information  for details of additional safety measures that will be implemented for Year 10 students when they are able to return to the school site.

Further Information

Following the half-term break, we will write to Year 10 and 12 parents and carers separately with further details regarding timetabling and how provision for students in each year group will work

We very much look forward to welcoming more students back to the school site when we are able to do so and hope that the safety measures being undertaken will reassure you about your child’s safety at school.

As always, I hope that you are all keeping well and please do contact us via the usual channels if you have any questions or queries.

I wish you all a restful half-term break

With best wishes

 

Amit Amin

Headteacher