Dear Parents / Carers and Students

I hope you are all well and coping with these uncertain times.  

Just a few updates and reminders:

  • The school will be closed next week for half term – students are not expected to complete tasks and I would really like them to take a well-earned break.
  • We will not be planning for any classes of students to return on 1st June, other than Key Worker and Vulnerable students.  
  • 1:1 meetings have been set up for Year 10 students (9th and 10th June) and Year 12 students (17th June) – time slots are being organised so that there will only be a small number of students in at any one point, meeting their tutor in the Sports Hall for a general review meeting. 
  • We have managed to contact almost all Year 11 and 13 students to have 1:1 conversations with them about their next steps.  We will be writing to you after half term with further information regarding Examination Result collection (13th August for Sixth Form / 20th August for Year 11), Sixth Form and University enrolment.   We have been very impressed with the number of Year 11 students who have started to prepare for their A-Levels using our starter packs
  • We have nearly completed the process of finalising each Year 11 and 13’s Centre Assessed Grades for GCSE, A-Level or BTEC. These will be submitted to the relevant exam boards and then to the DfE.  Teachers have worked meticulously on this to estimate that each student achieves a grade which truly reflects their ability in each a subject.  I am sorry that we are unable to share any grades with you until the 13th or 20th August.
  • We are looking to expand our on-line teaching capacity through Microsoft Teams – so your child can interact with their teacher directly
  • We will continue to set work using SMHW and this is working very well – we will also be looking to celebrate outstanding work in June’s Birchwood News as we did for the May edition
  • We have no plans to re-start lessons at the present moment.  Teachers are being consulted about what they could offer – particularly with Year 12 in mind – but I am mindful of not forcing anyone to do anything which compromises their health and safety. We will await further guidance from the DfE with regards to Secondary School provision as this has not yet been published.
  • For children in Year 7-9, we will continue to set work on-line, give feedback and look to ways to improve virtual lessons. I hope you understand that we need to prioritise Years 10-13 as this Covid-19 pandemic continues.  There are clear signs that things are improving and that the SE England is well past the peak of infection but we do not want to contribute in any way to the spread of the infection by allowing younger children into school as they are not very good at socially distancing! 

 

Have a safe and restful half term

Dr Chris Ingate

Principal