Dear Carers/ Parents/ Students

As we come to the end of two weeks of school closure, I hope you and your families are well and coping with social-distancing, self-isolation, working from home, exercising from home once a day and keeping your hands clean!  These terms seem so familiar to us now.  

With this Covid-19 pandemic, some people talk about being at ‘war’ with an invisible enemy.  I was talking to my elderly mother over the phone yesterday. She was born the year that World War 2 started, and she remembered how strange things were when the war ended in 1945. By the age of 6, she thought that normality was about war, rations and bombings.  Even though rationing continued into the 1950s’, she recalled how euphoric everyone was when peace was declared and how strange this was to her. 

Perhaps we will get used to this unfamiliar new world that we live in and will also find it hard to readjust when things eventually go back to how they used to be.  I have a feeling that we may not go back to ‘normality’ and may have learnt some important lessons about the importance of family, friends, neighbours, and particularly those who dedicate their lives to helping others. Moreover, there is no doubt that the natural world is benefiting from this global lock-down.   However, I do think that things will get tougher before they get better and my thoughts go out to any of you who have family members who have been made more seriously unwell by this virus.    

Thank you to all the support you have given us by doing on-line work using Show My Homework.  We have modified and tweaked homework as we have progressed, taking on board feedback from students and parents.  We will not be setting homework over Easter which will give you a chance to relax, look after your well-being and perhaps catch up if you have fallen behind.

Birchwood will be open over Easter for Key Worker children and we have had no indication of when schools in England will re-open so I would imagine a continuation of the current status quo throughout April and May. We are also still awaiting clarification from the DfE about GCSE and Post 16 qualifications, but we do know these are expected to be awarded to students in July.  We will also be writing to Sixth Form Applicants after Easter with next steps regarding induction.  

Parents in receipt of Free School Meals – we will continue to be using Sainsburys and Tesco vouchers from 20th April, but these are likely to be superseded by the government’s scheme and we will be informing you of this in due course. The main aim is to ensure that your child does not go without their entitlement.  

With the Easter Holidays looming, and hopefully some warmer weather, the main message is to follow the Government’s safety rules and keep healthy.  It will be difficult, but can you please remind your son or daughter that they need to keep away from meeting up with their friends as this would completely undo all the social isolation measures you and your family have been undertaking so far.  Children remain a low risk in terms of serious illness, but they have been found to be very good ‘spreaders’ of Covid-19.  Using social media to have group chats or video link-ups is a good solution.  

Thank you for all your support

Dr Ingate

Principal