Dear Students / Parents / Carers

This is day 4 of our school’s forced closure due to the Corona Virus epidemic.   I hope you and your family are coping with the significant changes to our way of life but if this helps reduce the burden on the NHS and the potential loss of life, then so be it.  From a personal perspective, my daughters have returned from London to work from home – they are fortunate in that their work can be done on-line but their return takes my wife and I back to a time when they were both at school – we are all having to get on, do our one piece of daily exercise and try to avoid going to our nearby Tesco  if we can help it.  

We have a rota of staff coming in to look after children who need to be in school – but we are very grateful to the vast majority of you who have made arrangements for your son or daughter to stay at home and access Show My Homework.   This is, ultimately, the best way to keep your child safe and away from Covid-19 infection.  

We are monitoring the situation with on-line learning as we progress through this week and next.  We can see that over 95% of classes have had work set across the board, and we can also see how and when students are logging on.  The tricky bit is supporting you when you get stuck.  In a classroom situation, this is quickly rectified. The best solution here is to not get too worked up – it is fine to skip a piece of work and move on to another piece of work.  You can contact your teacher through Show My Homework or email them directly via the school website Contact link.  I have had 6 of my Year 7 science class contact me by email and I have been able to help them by return.  The other issue is about printing and/or saving completed work.  We understand that things are not normal.   To save running out of A4 paper or print toner, you can save your work on your PC for when we return to normal.     In terms of general feedback, please feel free to contact me – our excellent Parent Council are also picking up and sharing feedback on their FaceBook page.    

I’m sure you read the story about our Technology and Science staff making face visors for NHS staff:

• Coronavirus: Bishop’s Stortford secondary’s teaching staff make visors for health workers

Today, we have manged to connect with schools in the Midlands, the South East and even France to widen production.  These visors are a big improvement on face masks.  Feedback from the Church Street Practice is as follows:  “these face shields are a wonderful design and comfortable to wear. The shield can be lifted up off the face which is helpful.  We are wiping down after use with antibacterial wipes. Some clinicians require 2- one to wear while the other is drying after being wiped.”   It is heart-warming to help those on the front-line.  

For those of you with children in Year 11 and 13, we heard from Ofqual today that the DfE  is  rapidly working up plans to implement the arrangements the Secretary of State for Education has set out for exams this summer and, with exam boards and teaching bodies, making considerable progress – this will be made clear by Easter.  It would appear that GCSE levels and A-Level Grades will be awarded in July based on teacher assessment and prior attainment, benchmarked so they replicate the grade profile of 2019. This will create a sense of stability and allow students to progress onto Post 16 or Post 18 options unhindered.   Once this process has been unveiled, we will be writing to all Year 11 students who have applied for Sixth Form Places in order to make this process simple and transparent.  

Tomorrow, I will write a piece about how to look after your mental health during this turbulent and anxious time.  I will be sharing some useful links sent to me by Dr Annie Swanepoel. Dr Swanepoel is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Vice Chair of Governors at Birchwood and also a parent.  

Dr Chris Ingate

Principal