January 18th 2021

 

Dear Parents / Guardians

 

Thank you for your support of Home School today.

 

We hope you received your weekly Guardian Summary last Friday afternoon in respect of your daughter or son’s learning for the week. If not, please do let us know.

We will then re-send you an invitation. Where a student submits an assignment and the teacher returns it with suggestions for improvement the Guardian Summary will show this assignment as an undone, until the student resubmits.

The large majority of students are now attending all their Live Online lessons and our Guidance Managers are continuing to make welfare calls to families. Our aim is to make telephone contact with every family in the coming 2 – 3 weeks to catch up with parents about their children’s learning. This week, we will continue to monitor student attendance to Live Online lessons throughout the day and try to ensure all our students participate in all Live Online lessons. 

As we move forward over these coming weeks, teachers will be asking students to undertake some – mostly brief - tasks under test conditions, as we have been working hard to develop this skill with students and it is important they continue to develop in this area.

 

Whilst we do not know the detail of how GCSE and A level grades will be awarded this summer, it is already abundantly clear that the views of teachers will inform grades. We will do all we legally and properly can to support our students, but it is important to be clear that assessments of content we are currently teaching students via Live Online lessons will, along with the assignments submitted by students, inform significantly any grades we are invited to submit by Examination Boards.

 

Today, the DFE have launched a consultation seeking teacher, parent and student views about how they think grades should be awarded.

Consultation on how GCSE, AS and A level grades should be awarded in summer 2021

 

Last half-term, we sent out 450 student commendations to parents in recognition of all the hard work they had undertaken. Prior to the end of this half-term, we will again be asking teachers to nominate students for commendations to recognise their commitment to their learning through this period of Remote Learning. When making their nominations teachers will consider:

1. Attendance to and contribution to Live Online lessons
2. Submission of good quality classwork assignments
3. Submission of good quality homework assignments
4. Response to feedback on assignments and re-submission

 

Please look out later on today for a second letter from us about COVID-19 testing, and separately, if you are a parent of a Year 8 or 9 student, we sent out important NHS information on Friday about HPV vaccination. 

 

The Daily Tutor Time activity tomorrow is;

Digital Library

Reading is so very important for student development and just 20 minutes reading per day has been demonstrated to be hugely beneficial in raising student attainment in the range of subjects they study. Please do ensure they have chosen a book and are reading daily.

 

If you are a critical worker, please do keep your child at home, unless there is genuinely no other realistic option for you. School closures intervened on account of the rapidly rising levels of Covid-19 infection, both in the community and in schools themselves. Staying at home avoids social contact and is the safest option for students. Please check school transport provider websites in advance of making contact with ourselves, as services have now reduced considerably.

 

Here is the link to the BBC Lockdown Learning Programme Schedule, which we recommend watching on i-player as a complement to Live Online lessons.

Lockdown Learning: BBC Bitesize

 

This week’s WONDE system voucher in respect of Free School Meals will be activated on Wednesday. Please see our Parent and Guardian ordering document.

                                                                                   

We want all our students to remain safe by following the National Lockdown Guidance

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-lockdown-stay-at-home

 

as well as to remember social distancing, hand washing and face coverings, so as to play their part in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

Sonette Schwartz      

Principal   

 

Charles Joseph

Senior Vice Principal