Letter to Parents – 2nd February 2021

Full Re-Opening of Schools / GCSE Assessment

With regard to the full re-opening of schools, the Prime Minister announced last week that the earliest date upon which schools could expect to return to ‘normal’ operation and opening would be March 8^th and not straight after the half-term holiday as originally proposed. He also made clear that this plan was dependent upon a number of other factors relating to the control of the pandemic and that the full re-opening of schools could be delayed even further. In addition, it is likely that some type of phased or gradual re-opening will be recommended, but we await further details of this. As soon as any updated information is released we will communicate it to you.

Those of you who have children in Year 11 will know that the government’s consultation on the arrangements for GCSE assessment closed on Friday. The DfE and Ofqual will now reflect upon the thousands of responses that have been submitted nationally and draw up the formal guidance that will be issued to schools. Although we do not have an official timescale for this process, it is expected to take several weeks: we will obviously be in touch with students and their families as soon as any further announcements are made. In the meantime it is crucial that all Year 11 students continue to follow the curriculum delivered by their teachers and remain fully focused on their studies.

Remote Learning – Mr Halls & Mrs Black

Students are expected to follow their timetable each day.  For each lesson students are set a recorded lesson which they should follow and complete the learning activities as instructed.  At the end of the lesson students should complete a quiz – in most cases will be a Microsoft Form.  This provides teachers with valuable feedback about what has been learned.  Students receive daily emails from their teachers.  If a student has a question or needs further guidance they can contact their teacher via email.   In addition, the Guided Learning Pages are available on Frog and offer additional learning resources and extension activities.

Our online learning provision is ‘device neutral’ so everything can be accessed on any device. If a student is unable to access the internet on a suitable device we can provide a curriculum pack – please contact the school if you require one.

In some other schools, lessons are delivered live.  However, as Ofsted has recently identified, it is not whether a lesson is recorded or delivered live that has the greatest impact on learning, rather it is the opportunity for independent practice and quality feedback that is important.  We are currently piloting some ‘live elements’ to enhance the learning diet in Years 10 and 11 and there will be further details about this in the coming weeks.  Further details about the advantages of recorded lesson over live for our school can be found here: Further information about ‘live’ and recorded lessons.

Online attendance is monitored through Frog and you will receive a weekly update via text message to confirm that your child has accessed their learning.  Engagement (i.e. how well a student is working) is best gauged by class teachers who know their students and are collecting information from a range of sources to indicate engagement. The ‘bench mark’ for engagement with the lessons is accessing the lesson and completing the quiz. Correct responses on the quizzes indicate how well student are engaging with and learning what they have been taught.

Support for Mental Health & Well-Being – Mr Meehan